COVID-19 has accelerated SG Hiscock and Company’s (SGH) four investment themes as it sees the world seismically shifting toward decarbonisation, gaming, national security and a new social infrastructure.
Speaking at an SGH media briefing, Hamish Tadgell, portfolio manager, SGH High Conviction Fund, said these themes were creating thematic tailwinds in areas of urbanisation, retirement living, gas as a transition energy source, electrification, gambling in videogames and cybersecurity.
Tadgell said it was unlikely that the Omicron COVID-19 variant would disrupt economies as much as the delta variant did because the government’s appetite for financial compensation was decreasing and the speed of a vaccine rollout would be faster.
“We’re still reasonably constructive around the reopening, we’re really using the dislocation as more opportunities to add to some of the reopening positions,” Tadgell said.
He said uncertainty was fundamental to understanding how societies and economies evolved and it was rapid uncertainty that created “seismic shifts”.
Tadgell said his fund reflected the gaming megatrend because it expected the industry to grow to $28 billion by 2025 with gambling in gaming expected to be a major drawcard.
Geopolitical pressures would also drive defence industry spending as governments focused on protecting critical supply chains such as rare earth materials, he said.
Uniti, Chorus, NextDC and Aristocrat were examples provided by Tadgell of quality companies that were emerging stronger from COVID-19 because of the four thematic tailwinds.
