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When was the last time your doctor mentioned your soul during treatment? I'm willing to bet never—and that's precisely the problem Dr. Catherine Kelly addresses in this profound conversation about what's missing from modern medicine and psychology."The father of medicine, Hippocrates, said the soul is present in every illness and every organ over 2,000 years ago. Carl Jung said the same for psychology. But where is it now?" Dr. Kelly asks. As a former medical school professor, she witnessed firsthand how the soul has been systematically removed from our healing traditions despite being the most foundational aspect of who we are.In this eye-opening discussion, we explore the Soul Health Model—a revolutionary framework visualizing our wellbeing as a tree with ten essential branches, including physical, psychological, interpersonal, financial, sexual, and recreational health. For practitioners interested in incorporating soul health into their work, Dr. Kelly shares details about her new certification program designed to bring this missing dimension back to healing professions. Whether you're struggling with anxiety, feeling disconnected, or simply curious about a more holistic approach to well-being, this episode offers a refreshing perspective on how reconnecting with your soul might be the missing piece in your healing journey.Bio Dr. Katherine Kelly, is a licensed psychologist in her own psychotherapy, soul-healing/coaching and consulting practice in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She completed her Bachelor's Degree in Psychology from the University of Southern Colorado (1992) and both her Master's (1995) and Doctorate in Counseling Psychology (1999) from Indiana State University. She also earned a Master of Science in Public Health degree (2000) from the University of Missouri-Columbia, where she completed a Post-Doctoral Fellowship in the university's Department of Family and Community Medicine. She has received specialized training from the Mind-Body Medical Institute of Harvard University and has been trained in various holistic, natural health, and spiritual methods of healing, including nutritional psychotherapy, aromatherapy, Pranic Healing, Reiki, Soul Realignmen,t and other practices. Her dedication to healing has been widely recognized as she was the recipient of the Provider of the Year Award by the regional Mental Health Association and was nominated as an Incredible Woman for a local community television network, which spotlights role models to inspire young women to pursue their own passions.Website and Social Media drkatherinetkelly.comSoul Heal https://drkatherinetkelly.com/level-one-soul-health-certification/We hope you have enjoyed this episode. Please like, comment, subscribe, and share the podcast.To find out more about Lynnis and what is going on in the V.I.B.E. Living World please go to https://link.tr.ee/LynnisJoin the V.I.B.E. Wellness Woman Network, where active participation fuels the collective journey toward health and vitality. Subscribe, engage, and embark on this adventure toward proactive well-being together. Go to https://www.vibewellnesswomannetwork.com to join. We have wonderful events, courses, challenges, guides, blogs and more all designed for the midlife woman who wants to keep her V.I.B.E. and remain Vibrant, Intuitive, Beautiful, and Empowered after 40+. Interested in an AI platform that meets all your needs? Click here
In this episode, I tell the story of Catherine Kelly, a 71-year-old woman killed in Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire, on February 11, 2017.Catherine had spent that Saturday evening attending a 21st birthday party with her 41-year-old son William Kelly and his partner Eleanor Banks. Within minutes of the three arriving back home, a fire broke out, which resulted in Catherine's death.It was soon revealed that Kelly had deliberately set the fire with the intention of killing his mum after first beating her up.A jury at Glasgow High Court found Kelly guilty of murder in November 2017. Judge Lady Stacey handed him a life sentence with a minimum term of 23 years.For all things British Murders, please visit my website:britishmurders.comIntro music:David John Brady - 'Throw Down the Gauntlet'linktr.ee/davidjohnbradymusicReferences:britishmurders.com/catherinekelly Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In this episode, I tell the story of Catherine Kelly, a 71-year-old woman killed in Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire, on February 11, 2017. Catherine had spent that Saturday evening attending a 21st birthday party with her 41-year-old son William Kelly and his partner Eleanor Banks. Within minutes of the three arriving back home, a fire broke out, which resulted in Catherine's death. It was soon revealed that Kelly had deliberately set the fire with the intention of killing his mum after first beating her up. A jury at Glasgow High Court found Kelly guilty of murder in November 2017. Judge Lady Stacey handed him a life sentence with a minimum term of 23 years. For all things British Murders, please visit my website: britishmurders.com Intro music: David John Brady - 'Throw Down the Gauntlet' linktr.ee/davidjohnbradymusic References: britishmurders.com/catherinekelly Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Get to know your hosts Marie Smith and Catherine Kelly on this week's episode of the Rally Onward Podcast. We will be discussing how we got started doing Rally Obedience with our dogs. Ever look at the arrows and designs on Rally signs and wonder how Rally got started? Catherine will cover the history of Rally. Next we will discuss some benefits of doing Rally with your dog. And we'll give you some suggestions on how to get started doing Rally with your dog.The AKC Rally Sign of the week: StartVisit our website: https://rallyonwardpod.comCheck out the Brags And Wags page to see brag pictures from our listeners, and send us a brag of your own.
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When the 118th U.S. Congress begins its session today, for the first time in nearly 70 years, Detroit will not have at least one African American representing the city in Washington. But what does this change mean in a city like Detroit, the nation's blackest big city? Bridge Detroit's Catherine Kelly and Orlando Bailey join Stephen to discuss their latest project "What Had Happened Was," a new podcast that takes a deep look at the state and future of Black political representation. The series features interviews with some of the key voices in the 13th congressional race last year, including primary candidates Adam Hollier and Portia Roberson, Wayne County Executive Warren Evans, Representative Tlaib, and Representative Thanedar.
Stephen checks-in on the landscape for the upcoming Detroit primary elections with political strategists Sheila Cockrel and Greg Bowens. Then, Orlando Bailey and Catherine Kelly of BridgeDetroit stop by to discuss the recent townhall discussions they have hosted with Detroit residents, what they have learned, how the information will help orient the organization's editorial coverage priorities for the city.
Donal Fallon, Brainstorm Host, Historian and Podcaster & Catherine Kelly, Brainstorm Contributors
"It's you and the water - this is a place for you to be yourself" This week's episode is with Dr Catherine Kelly. Dr Catherine Kelly is an academic, Brighton wellbeing practitioner & mother. She is the author of https://www.amazon.co.uk/Blue-Spaces-Water-Make-Better/dp/1789562848/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3O2ZSQ0EBQBP6&keywords=blue+spaces+dr+catherine+kelly&qid=1643643511&sprefix=blue+space%2Caps%2C435&sr=8-1. (Blue Spaces: How and Why Water Can Make You Feel Better.) Kate and Catherine talk about: How she found the water through grief and how her life has been impacted by water. The differences between green nature and blue space and how it helps our wellbeing. The need for humans to be close to the water, the mindfulness of cold water swimming and the stimulation of the vagus nerve through coldwater swimming How cold water can help with a lot of different health issues including depression, anxiety, low mood, menopause, hormones and energy The power of breathwork, meditation and gratitude and how they can help ADHD The Japanese phrase 'living water', which is the naturally calming and healing powers of water. Connect with Dr Catherine Kelly via her https://www.instagram.com/bluespaces_uk/?hl=en (Instagram.) Listen to Kate's previous episode on wild swimming over on the https://podfollow.com/the-ambitious-mum-podcast (Ambitious Mum Podcast) with Author and Photographer Anna Deacon look for "Ep4 Discovering the healing powers of swimming wild" Kate Moryoussef is a women's ADHD Lifestyle & Wellbeing coach and EFT practitioner helping overwhelmed yet unfulfilled (many with ADHD like her) women find more calm, balance, health, compassion, creativity and clarity in their lives. By using Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT/tapping) in her coaching practice, Kate guides more women to rediscover their inner voice, 'tap' into their expansive wisdom and potential, fulfil their desires and realise themselves outside of the overwhelm, inner pressure and family dynamic. She is also a mum to four children and hopes to write her own book someday! To download Kate's free ADHD Women's Wellbeing toolkit https://www.subscribepage.com/adhdwellbeingfirstaidkit (click here). Have a read of Kate's articles in ADDitude magazine https://www.additudemag.com/?s=kate+moryoussef (here) https://www.coachingbykate.me.uk katemoryoussef@gmail.com Instagram: @kate_moryoussef Facebook: Coaching by Kate UK Twitter: @KateMory Notes on our sponsors https://www.equazen.co.uk/ (Equazen) are fatty acid specialists with a range of products to support brain function*. Backed by clinical studies, Equazen's supplements are a precise blend of omega- 3 EPA and DHA from fish oil and omega-6 GLA from Primrose oil. Their range of supplements contains a synergistic and balanced formulation to help get the natural benefits of fish oils without the fishy taste. Suitable for all ages: available for pregnancy and babies, child-friendly formulations including strawberry flavoured chews and a citrus liquid, as well as tasteless, odourless capsules.” *DHA contributes to the maintenance of normal brain function. The beneficial effect is obtained with a daily intake of 250mg of DHA. Available fromhttps://www.boots.com/sitesearch?searchTerm=equazen ( Boots),https://www.hollandandbarrett.com/search/?isSearch=true&query=equazen ( Holland and Barratt),https://www.ocado.com/search?entry=equazen ( Ocado) and onhttps://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=equazen&i=drugstore&ref=nb_sb_noss ( Amazon). Use coe Kate15 for 15% off fromhttps://www.boots.com/sitesearch?searchTerm=equazen ( Boots.com) ----------------------------- https://ourremedy.co.uk/ (Our Remedy) is an award-winning female-founded brand with a focus on sustainability and self-care. We believe in happier periods, finding balance and caring for our planet. Our range is lovingly made in the UK,
Avoid procurement at all costs — this has been the sentiment among sales and marketing teams as they try to show value and secure advocates. However, after some executive tech buyer polling, building relationships with procurement partners may be a good idea.In this episode of our Takeover series, we hear an episode from Emisary's "ABM Mythbusting Series".Catherine Kelly, General Manager, Operational & Commercial Excellence, CP Operations at Shell, discusses how procurement has changed and what benefits it has to your company today.Catherine covers:Procurement's change in valueHow procurement has become more strategic with technology How to maintain a long relationship with procurement This is a #FlipMyFunnel podcast. Check us out on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or here.Listening on a desktop & can't see the links? Just search for Flip My Funnel in your favorite podcast player.
This week on Alive and Kicking Clare McKenna talks to Dr Joshua Wolrich who is the author of ‘Food is not Medicine' and in it he talks about the turnaround he made on how he views dieting, weight-loss and why now his life's work and personal view has changed to health and every size. Plus we hear from Dr Catherine Kelly on our relationship with water and why we are attracted to blue spaces. She is the author of ‘Blue Spaces-How and Why Water Can Make You Feel Better'
This week's guest is Dr Catherine Kelly, an academic, a Brighton based wellbeing practitioner, member of the wild swimming group Salty Seabirds, and author of Blue Spaces: How and Why Water Can Makes you Feel Better; something she discovered when her mother died and she was drawn to the rural Irish coastline to heal.Lou and Catherine discuss the trauma that brought her to the sea to heal, and later a terrifying near death experience of water, and finally back to to being at one with the sea as an everyday companion. Now as a well-being practitioner she is in the business of helping people find whatever it is that brings them calm, and often that is in or near water. Catherine says "If you want to get beach body ready, bring your body to the beach."She shows us that no matter our circumstances or environment, we can all seek out bluespaces to help soothe our minds, bodies and souls. You can find out more about Catherine's work on www.corejourneys.com/Buy her book Blue Space at your favourite book store and follow her on Instagram @bluespaces_ukJoin Lou on Linkedin, or sign up to her mailing list for her newsletter and a free bite-size short course on how to be a podcast guest. Follow her @brave_newgirl on Instagram and get her books Brave New Girl- How to be Fearless, and FEAR LESS on Amazon or Waterstones or Barnes & Noble. UK & US versions available.Lou is the founder of Silk Studios - the Podcast Guest Agency a podcast guest booking service https://silk-studios.co.ukMusic is licensed from Melody Loops Support the show (https://www.paypal.com/biz/fund?id=S7WVQQ2YC26RN)
Davinderpreet Mangat, Pamela Spicer, Jessica Merrill, and Catherine Kelly discuss the approval of Aduhelm in Alzheimer's disease. Topics covered include: • Drug development and approval - 01:45 • Pricing and commercial potential - 15:12 • National reimbursement processes - 30:55 Supporting links: • Datamonitor's Alzheimer's Disease Analysis report - https://service.datamonitorhealthcare.com/hkc/disease/central-nervous-system/neurology/alzheimers-disease/disease-analysis/article209751.ece • Biogen: Aduhelm's Price Is Part Of Alzheimer's ‘Evolution' - https://scrip.pharmaintelligence.informa.com/SC144754/Biogen-Aduhelm-Price-Is-Part-Of-Alzheimers-Evolution • Medicare Coverage Analysis Of Alzheimer's Drugs Begins With Focus On Outcomes, Patient Eligibility - https://pink.pharmaintelligence.informa.com/PS144631/Medicare-Coverage-Analysis-Of-Alzheimers-Drugs-Begins-With-Focus-On-Outcomes-Patient-Eligibility Other platforms: • Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pharma-intelligence-podcasts/id923189836 • Google Podcasts - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zb3VuZGNsb3VkLmNvbS91c2Vycy9zb3VuZGNsb3VkOnVzZXJzOjEwNjU1NDkyOC9zb3VuZHMucnNz • TuneIn - https://tunein.com/podcasts/Business--Economics-Podcasts/Pharma-Intelligence-Podcasts-p1140128/ • Spotify Podcasts - https://open.spotify.com/show/3DTc3eIh4xI6pVOd6DdO67
We all know drinking plenty of water is good for us. But how else can water improve our health and well being? On this week's show, I'm talking about how we can embrace water, from the sea to the shower - looking at the other ways it can help us. I'm joined by Dr Catherine Kelly, geography academic and Director of the Wild Beach School in Brighton. She's the author of the new book Blue Spaces: How and Why Water Can Make You Feel Better. Catherine believes water can be beneficial to our mental as well as our physical well being: “We feel relief when we see water. When we are in or near water our troubles and busy thoughts often quieten.” She says more than ever, experts are looking at how water can have a positive impact on our mood: “While the connection between ‘green' landscapes and mental health is well documented, researchers are increasingly intrigued by our psychological response to oceans, rivers, lakes, canals and waterfalls – and how they can induce a positive mood, reduce negative feelings while helping us to be present.” For more episodes, tips and advice from the show just go to: www.independent.ie/podcasts/the-re…health-podcast/ And you can get in touch - I'm @KarlHenryPT on Instagram and Twitter and realhealth@independent.ie. Don't forget to rate, review and subscribe on Apple and Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts from. The Real Health podcast is in association with Laya Healthcare.
Ahead of his 70th Birthday this weekend Lord Henry Mountcharles reflected on his life and times. Eurovision winner Charlie McGettigan remains an avid fan of the contest as he looks forward to getting back performing. Dr Catherine Kelly says the link between water and our well being is undeniable and boy was she so reassuring!eon Blanche brought us his usual weekend sporting preview and the Show was peppered with more about Eurovision in words and song.. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
In this weeks show we chat to Dr Catherine Kelly. Catherine is the author of a new book called Blue Spaces - why time near water is the secret to happiness. She talks to us about her personal journey towards water and how it helped her cope with the death of her mother. Catherine gives great insights into the healing power of water and why we should all try a dip in the sea. We hope you enjoy the show.
How Blue Spaces Make you Feel Better with Dr Catherine Kelly Dr Sabina Brennan talks to Dr Catherine Kelly author of Blue Spaces How and Why Water Makes You Feel Better about the science behind the health benefits of spending time in and near water and how swimming in the sea helped Catherine cope with bereavement and loss.For show notes, podcast transcripts, bonus links and bonus material visit the Episode Blog Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/superbrain. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Welcome to a podcast all about relevant and trending subjects. This episode focuses on a very important Canadian who is effecting the world today. Is the Provincial Health Officer British Columbia, Dr. Bonnie Henry the greatest Canadian? Let's find out by looking deeper into her past, her role today. Also discover this Canadian's impact in an exclusive interview with Catherine Kelly, all in this episode of Right Now. Works Cited: “Bonnie Henry.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 30 Oct. 2020, en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonnie_Henry. “First Nations Health Authority Honours Dr. Bonnie Henry for 'Kind, Calm' Leadership.” Vancouver Is Awesome, www.vancouverisawesome.com/bc-news/first-nations-health-authority-honours-dr-bonnie-henry-kind-calm-leadership-2820729. Health, Ministry of. “Biographies.” Province of British Columbia, Province of British Columbia, 9 Oct. 2020, www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/health/about-bc-s-health-care-system/office-of-the-provincial-health-officer/biographies. Kelly, Catherine. Personal interview. 3 November 2020.
Orlando's got a new gig at BridgeDetroit! His new boss, Stephen Henderson and his colleague Catherine Kelly came on to tell us all about the newest journalism and engagement organization in town!
Hattember is a competition that was founded by Milliner and Business Owner Catherine Kelly. Entrants of the Hattember Competition are sent a curated bag of materials supplied by Hatters Millinery Suppliers in which to create their entry from. The piece are received and judged by a panel of industry experts. The competition aims to raise funds for the John Skipper Kelly (JSK) Fund to create leadership opportunities for disadvantaged youth; promote wearing hats #hatsarenotjustfortheraces and to promote the millinery industry. See full article on Millinery.Info website https://millinery.info/resource/podcasts-and-interviews/ Thank you to our podcast sponsors - Katherine Cherry Millinery https://millineryaustralia.org/milliner/katherine-cherry/ The Essential Hat https://www.essentialhat.com/ Louise Macdonald Milliner https://millinery.com.au/ The Hat Academy https://hatacademy.com/ The Millinery Association of Australia https://millineryaustralia.org/ Become a Podcast Sponsor at www.patreon.com/millineryinfo
Composer Anthony R. Green talks to us about a new song in memory of Stonewall, the controversies of writing trans characters, and redressing classical music's race problem. Visit our BRAND NEW WEBSITE: https://www.lgbtqmusicstudygroup.com/ Visit Anthony's website: https://www.anthonyrgreen.com/ Learn more about Castle of our Skins: http://www.castleskins.org/ Read Anthony's article: https://nmbx.newmusicusa.org/what-the-optics-of-new-music-say-to-black-composers/ Special thanks to Cole M. Wilson, Thomas Gibbs, and Catherine Kelly for providing us with recording space.
The Investor's Guide to China from Fidelity International takes you deep into the workings of the Chinese economy and its financial markets. Paras Anand, Chief Investment Officer for Asia Pacific, brings you a cast of investment experts working in the world's second largest economy. Hear how they're uncovering this rapidly developing market and avoiding its pitfalls. Episode 2: Stock picking. China's businesses operate in a unique environment and understanding that matrix is imperative to those hoping to identify the best companies for investment. What are the most effective strategies for finding the winners and what are the warning signs of those to avoid? Joining Paras to take a closer look at China's equity market are Jing Ning, a senior portfolio manager at Fidelity with some 20 years experience investing in the country, and Casey McLean, an investment analyst with a focus on China's technology stocks. With additional contributions from portfolio manager Hyomi Jie and Fidelity's head of Asia trading, Kelly Clark. Click here (or below on Apple podcasts) for more episodes from this series. Transcript Paras Anand Hello and welcome to The Investor’s Guide to China from Fidelity International. I'm Paras Anand, Head of Asset Management in Asia-Pacific, and each episode I'll be taking you deep into China's economy to find out what's driving the country, where the exciting opportunities are and perhaps areas where we should be a little bit more wary. Today: stock picking - the art and science of researching and understanding which companies to invest in, whether those be SOEs - state owned enterprises - or POEs - privately owned enterprises - acronyms you'll be getting very familiar with. China is in many ways still an emerging market and it comes with its own idiosyncrasies. But as markets continue to open up - and there's been big news just as we record this episode - China offers significant rewards if you have the right tools. And bringing their toolboxes with them today to join me in Hong Kong are two of Fidelity's China experts. First we have Jing Ning, one of our senior China equity portfolio managers. Jing you've been looking at this market for some 20 years. What's the biggest misconception that you tend to come across when people think about investing in China? Jing Ning Every year I meet probably dozens of investors, they’re very interested in investing in China and they want to know what's going on from the policy and consumption story and new technology in China. But with that being said I can't feel there’s always a wall of worry with China. Everyone is asking about: China has been growing their credit very rapidly in the past decade and when is it going to stop. They've been building the bridges and railways and infrastructure investment - when is it going to be stopped? And I think the more pessimistic question is always asking, when is the reckoning moment that's going to come? So there hasn't been a year - I can be very honest with you - there hasn't been a year, if I visit my investors globally in Europe and Asia, that they I haven't asked this question, right. So there’s always been this wall of worry on China. Paras With Jing is Casey McClean. Casey, you’re an investment analyst who's covered Asia Pac for almost two decades. The last 13 years you've been really focused on China. You've covered almost every sector during your career in the region. From an analyst’s perspective, what are the big changes that you've observed? Casey McLean I think the biggest changes specifically with China really is the composition of the market. I think if you look back 10, 15, 20 years ago it was dominated by industrials, materials, financials, property. China was back then really the outsourcing factory for the rest of the world. But if you look at the market composition now it's changed a lot. You’ve had the emergence of internet. There's a lot of consumer brands with their own genuine brand value in China. And there's more and more services being delivered in the market every day. I think what's changed is China's gone from a an industrial manufacturing centre to a place of genuine innovation. And that innovation is being rewarded in the market as well. Paras So let's dive into the topic of today's podcast which is stock picking. Jing, how do you go about stock picking and what makes your investment approach unique? Jing You know China's an emerging market. The market is quite chaotic. Everyday we're dealing with policy changes, new competition, and there's always new changes to business models. I think for investors in the China market you really have to know your company well and it takes years, sometimes it takes ages to know the company, especially [because] you know your company better in a downturn than in the good times. Sometimes I tell my investors, although there are so many noises flowing around in the China market every day the key is to build conviction and what comes with the conviction is to know your company really well. And that takes time. Paras And Casey, how do you distinguish a good company from a from a bad company in a market like China? Casey For me, the first point of my process when I'm looking at a company will be to screen out any bad actors by looking for stocks that are potentially accounting manipulators or have some bankruptcy risk or what not. But I try and look for companies that have a minimum level of quality. I'm not saying high quality, I'm saying a minimum level of quality - one that's able to earn a return on invested capital above its cost of capital across a full cycle. There's a lot of cyclical companies in China, especially within the tech sector which I'm looking at. So I don't worry about what they earn last year, I worry about what they're going to earn next year. And if you pick a stock at the right point of the earnings cycle you can be rewarded for that. Jing Yeah, I think another thing is that most people coming to China are looking for growth. They're looking for the next Alibaba, the next Tencent, and people are constantly looking for the next growth story. But Paras, as you know, I’m probably one of the very, very, few value investors in China and actually I think that value plays a very interesting angle in China. The value story in China is not dull at all, it’s quite interesting. For example, Casey and I, we looked at a company called Lenovo. It was two years back and at that time Lenovo didn’t fit into any definition of a growth company. But when we looked at it, it used to have a great company history and it got into temporary trouble and we believed that the company still had a decent chance to turn around and to be a growth company sometime, a couple of years later. Would you say Lenovo was a value stock or growth stock? I would say it’s a very interesting growth stock but with an extremely attractive valuation at that time we looked at it. Paras Was it hard to get excited about Lenovo, Casey, as a technology investor? Casey Lenovo is probably not quite at the leading edge of some of the technology companies that you can look at out there. But I agree with Jing, it was very attractive value. It was spinning off a lot of cash flow from its main division which was PCs and if you could get confidence in their mobile division - which has been loss making for a long time - if you got confidence in that turnaround story there was a lot of money to be made. And so you do need to have very high conviction in those turnaround situations. But doing a lot of work and sitting down with management - we had a full day with management and every head of every division - we were able to gain that conviction. And fortunately that division did turnaround quicker than the market was expecting and they've gone on to do better things. Paras Turning to Jing, you talked at the beginning about this ‘wall of worry’ that investors often climb and one of the things that's often reflected to me is that corporate governance is a huge area of concern. People worry about protection for minority shareholders being different to what you might see in other parts of the world, balance sheets, ownership structures can often be sort of convoluted. So how do we consider those risks. What do you consider when it comes to corporate governance? Jing You cannot invest in China without thinking about corporate governance risks, that’s for sure. But for me, I think about the issue as many different layers of grey rather than straight black and white. Because when I talk to many companies, and sometimes they do things I wouldn't like them to do like related party transactions and they do irrational acquisitions. We you ask them, ‘Why you are doing that? You’re destroying minority shareholder value. As a result, your market value has been going downhill. And the usual answer I get from them, amazingly, is, ‘We don't think it’s a big deal. Why do you think it’s a big deal?’ It’s all about corporate culture and the way they think about what is a right form of governance for the minority shareholders. I think Casey, you probably agree with me, that the active manager plays a role here? Casey Yeah, definitely I agree. I think there is perhaps a perception and a reality that the level of corporate governance in China is lower than in some of the developed markets. But what I try and focus on is the delta in that corporate governance. It's the improvements which drive better quality in the companies and potentially the re-ratings in stocks. And you've seen evidence of that over the last few years particularly among some of the bigger SOEs who have really improved their capital allocation and doing a lot less national interest investing. Paras And you've talked a lot about this idea of trust and building trust in companies. How do we do that? How, Jing, in your process do you go and build trust in companies and the management teams that run them? Jing For me, people are the number one top priority in any business you look at. So usually when we meet a new company, identify a new interesting investment idea, the first step is you go to meet with senior management - CEO and CFO - but I don't think the research work usually stops here. Usually we'll try to meet further staff to try to meet the middle layer of the management - we want to meet the head of sales, the head of marketing, the head of PR and to understand the culture. But that takes time. Casey That's right. I think increasingly over the last few years we've been engaging, collaborating with companies a lot more and they're a lot more open to these discussions, dialogues, two-way streets here. We're not an activist investor in any way but we're trying to work together to generate better shareholder value. Paras So you actually feel your voice is being heard. When you go and see these companies and you engage with them, you feel that even as a minority shareholder your voice is heard and listened to. Jing Yes, sometimes. Every year we try to identify some companies and we send angry letters, we call them angry letters - just basically complaining about something that they have done, not taking care of the interests of minority shareholders. Sometimes they don't pay us dividend and sometimes we think they should do more. In the beginning most of our letters get ignored and we get no consequence whatsoever but gradually, very interestingly, and I think Casey would agree with me in the case of Sinopec, we sent a letter to them, to the board, asking for a sustainable dividend payout policy and they actually responded to us and said they would seriously take a look at our proposal. I'm not anticipating any fireworks coming at the end of the day, they're going to change their behaviour overnight, but that's a very encouraging development I would say. Paras And looking at the composition of the market, they're obviously state-owned enterprises as well as private companies. Casey, should investors approach those differently? Casey Not necessarily. At the end of the day you're just trying to find a company that's going to deliver a good return. But I think there's different risks that you need to be aware of when you're looking at those two different groups of companies. In private companies the potential for fraud, accounting manipulation, those things are probably higher. And they're also smaller, more nimble companies. They can move fast - they can break things though at the same time. Whereas you look at some of the SOEs, they're larger companies, they move more slowly. And I guess the biggest risk with those is that they have to undertake national interests and support the Chinese economy and other companies. Jing I think that basically what Casey is saying is there's always two sides of the same coin. SOEs - they’re taking the state support but on the other hand they will of course take on social responsibility, and private companies, they’re very nimble and very flexible but on the other hand they have a very strong incentive to do well and of course they will have incentive to cheat you to maximise their shareholder value. Casey But there can also be a valuation disconnect. Often the SOEs trade at a big discount to the private companies. And like we say, if you see this delta, the improvement in corporate governance or their earnings profile, that can be a great opportunity especially for a value investor like Jing. Paras So it really seems that it's all about making sure that you understand the individual company and doing the on-the-ground research. Jing Yes. Casey Yeah, that’s right. Paras Well, on the subject of on-the-ground research we spoke earlier to another one of our portfolio managers, Hyomi Jie. Our Asia Editor, Neil Gough, caught up with her for some window shopping in Shanghai to hear about her approach to consumer stocks and in particular how the trend of premiumisation is playing into her investment thinking. Neil Gough I'm standing here at a sprawling hypermarket in Shanghai with the Hyomi Jie, a portfolio manager at Fidelity International who focuses on China's consumer sector. We're at RT Mart in Yangpu, a mainly residential district a few kilometres north of Shanghai's historic riverfront Bund. It's a typical weekday morning in the summer and the store is busy with all kinds of shoppers from across generations. They're picking over produce, looking for bargains, stocking up on bulk items like rice. And this is a retail supercentre. They sell everything from leather shoes to air conditioners to live lobsters. Hyomi, you actively stock pick within China's retail sector and I'd mentioned to you previously that I was interested in seeing how you carry out research on the ground and I assume that's why you brought me here today? Is that right? Hyomi Jie Yes. Yes exactly. You come to this store and you see what kind of consumers are coming to the store and what kind of things they're buying, in which aisles they're spending more time. So that helps me to gain a bit more insight into what kind of brands are gaining traction and what kind of products are gaining interest from the everyday consumer. Neil One of the trends across the consumer space that we talked about before was premiumisation and how customers are upgrading their purchases across a whole bunch of different categories. How does that play out in an environment like this, in a supermarket? Hyomi Premiumisation is a trend that's going on across all the sectors in consumer, I should say. It's really driven by the growing income of Chinese consumers and expanding middle class and their desire to want and aim for higher quality products. And in a supermarket environment you can see that people will choose higher quality, higher price items within the same brands, or they might move up to the perceived higher-end brands. But also within the fresh produce that is happening as well. If you see that in the traditional supermarkets you can see the piles of meat products in the very typical Chinese supermarkets. Neil And some in front of us here today. I see the butcher swinging his cleaver here in the background. Hyomi That’s right, that's very normal and that's still the majority. But you can see in a small section, which is expanding, you can see that there’s branded pork, branded beef, and it is packaging in a small format that's suitable for a single households and younger generation who don't want to spend too much time cutting and cooking. Neil So individually wrapped in plastic as opposed to a giant slab of ribs or something like that. Hyomi Indeed. The per unit price should be higher by easily 20-30 per cent but from consumers’ perspective maybe you can actually save food by not buying too much at once. Also it's much easier for you to prepare your food. Neil So you're paying more per unit but you're probably wasting less on the whole. What does it mean for a company at the bottom line level? Are you seeing that feed through in revenue and in sales? Hyomi It's still a small portion of their revenue but the companies who can take advantage of this kind of trend with better marketing and better merchandise will obviously be able to attract more customers to lead to better revenue and at the product level, at the unit level, they should be able to generate better returns and better margins. Neil Beyond supermarkets, when you look across retail, what other areas are you seeing premiumisation playing out? What are some of the other sectors? Hyomi I should say that in services the premiumisation is also happening. The overseas travel has been growing faster than domestic travel in a very consistent way for the past few years. And that’s shown in the duty-free stores’ revenue growth trends in the past few years. Neil And then when you're not running around the aisles of supermarkets like these what are some of the other things you're doing on the ground to carry out research when you're coming to China? Because I know you do travel here quite often. Hyomi When I come to China I try to spend my time here as much as like locals. So, I take Didi and go to other department stores or I go to meet my friends and on the way I get to see many different things like what's happening, what's changing. Also, the payment pattern is definitely changing in China. So, it is indeed a cash free economy at the moment. You really need to pay for things with Alipay or Tenpay. Another thing that I have been doing for more in-depth research is to spend a couple weeks with a Chinese family doing homestays. So last year I spent two weeks in Shenzhen with a Chinese family of four members where I could learn about their consumption behaviour, their aspirations, what they care about for their children and their parents and their wealth creation, all these things. Soon I'm going to go to Chengdu and will spend another two weeks with a Chinese family over there. Neil Thanks Hyomi. That's a really interesting look at how stock pickers are doing their research on the ground in China. Paras So Jing, Hyomi paints a rich picture there. She's spending time in the new engine room of the Chinese economy as we can hear, in these shopping malls and spending time with families, really going in deep to help her understand the country's changing consumer trends. But stepping back a little bit, what about the equity markets more broadly. How have they been developing? Jing I think there is a key element currently missing from the whole story which I think is very important going forward which is the income element in China. The income story globally has been a very popular strategy but very few people associate China with the income element because people come here looking for the growth story, they’re not looking for the dividend story. But China is actually changing into a very interesting income story. We're not growing 10 per cent every year, right? This year we're going six, next year we’ll probably be growing at five or something. But for corporates they’re free cash flow is improving and with cash coming in they now have an opportunity to think about another capital allocation perspective which is paying dividends. Paras I mean when I think back to some of the changes we saw in the European market, so going back 10, 15, 20 years ago, companies were prevented from paying dividends because boards would often think that you were taking money out of the out of the pockets of the employees and giving it to shareholders. But I've always thought that there's an association with companies paying dividends and treating minority shareholders well with a maturity of an investment market. So, Casey is this good news from an analyst’s perspective? Casey Yeah, it definitely is Paras. I think the thought process for some of the Chinese companies in years gone by was that dividends were simply paying money out of the company away to foreigners. That's gradually changing and I think there's a recognition that the capital structure is more important. And they have made some significant progress. It's been helped by the government: SOEs are now mandated to pay out 30 per cent of their earnings. And I think if you look at the market as a whole I think it trades on about a 2.5 to 3 per cent dividend yield, which is actually higher than the US, the S&P 500. So, it's still got a long way to go but they've definitely made some significant progress. Paras And of course it's such a strong signal of the continuing evolution of these markets. As I mentioned earlier in the introduction there's another significant development, which is that the Chinese regulators have dropped quotas for foreign institutional investors, or QFII. This is a really big deal, isn't it Jing? Jing It is. It is indeed a very big deal. That means that the market will in some way become open access for everyone. You don't need a quota to buy China A shares. That actually brings a sweet memory for me. I remember back in 2004 I was at the door of CSRC [China Securities Regulation Commission] applying for the QFII license and applying for the QFII quota and we got thrilled when the regulator awarded us $50 million QFII quota. And we thought that was quite an achievement back in 2004. And now, 15 years later on you don't need a quota to buy China A shares - very exciting as well. So, I think that with the years it’s moved along, and without a quota or any kind of restriction tacked on to it that just means that the market becomes a very friendly, even playing field everybody. Casey Yeah, I remember I had a similar circumstance about 10 years ago, as well. I remember applying for an additional QFII quota and the process was very laborious, very bureaucratic. It was almost government-to-government-style negotiations and removing that sort of hindrance to foreign investors is a huge plus for the opening up of the China markets. Paras And obviously when we think as investors we're always thinking about investing for the long term and there's a difference that often people think about between long term investing and and then thinking about the market in China which they see as being very volatile and retail driven. Do you think that there is an opportunity reframe the investing proposition for those domestic savers? Casey Yeah, I think it's a gradual process. But all of these measures that the government’s instituted to get foreign investors, foreign institutions investing into China means that they're less driven by speculation, they become less short term, the market becomes much more fundamental-based. And I think if you have a long history of following those fundamentals you’ll have a big advantage in the A share market as it develops. Paras So what exactly do recalibrations like these mean on a practical level in terms of trading with and inside the country? Investment director Catherine Yeung spoke to Fidelity's head of trading in Asia, Kelly Clark, to find out. And a short caveat before we hear the interview: this conversation was recorded before the latest announcements around the scrapping of the QFII quotas. Catherine Yeung We've seen a whirlwind of changes relating to access and regulation for trading when it comes to the Chinese markets. Volumes have skyrocketed but there's still a number of hurdles to navigate. I'm with Kelly Clark, Fidelity's head of Asian equity trading, based here in Hong Kong. Kelly, you've been in the market now for eight years. Can you share some of the biggest changes you've seen over this period? Kelly Clark Sure. For starters, when I first started trading the only way to access China was through QFII. And I was actually at a hedge fund at the time so the only way we could do that was synthetically, which made it very difficult and very expensive to actually access the market. So, I would say the biggest change in my tenure has been Stock Connect, which went live in 2014 and that was far more affordable to reach. You didn't have the issues with putting cash upfront or with repatriating cash back out of China. So it made it much more palatable to invest in. That also piqued the interest of the MSCI and FTSE and why you have the interest I think you have in it now. Catherine So, in layman's terms, Kel, what's the key differences between QFII and Stock Connect, especially from a trading perspective? Kelly You've got the ability to trade with different counter parties, again you can move cash more freely, it's a lot more familiar and the counter parties that you’re trading with as well. It was just a lot easier to access and open accounts. Catherine With QFII? Kelly So QFII still has its advantages. You can trade during Hong Kong holidays, which you can't do through Connect. You can also invest in the full universe of stocks versus the limited amount that you have in Connect, which is about 1200. The bigger one being now that it's the only way that foreigners can access the Star IPO Board. Catherine Yes, the Star IPO Board, I'm glad you mentioned this - so this is a science and technology exchange similar to Nasdaq? Kelly Correct. So I think the driver of this, as you mentioned, was for the Nasdaq. So for new sort of unicorn tech type companies to come to market within China. Catherine So we are seeing more foreigners - whether it's institutional money, retail money - going into the market. This is obviously being driven a lot by the Chinese government's policies to open up the capital markets, both equities and fixed income. So when we have the second largest economy in the world, a government who's very pro opening up the capital markets, can you please put into perspective just how big China is? Kelly So China actually represents 70 per cent of all of the turnover in equity in Asia. Catherine If we're seeing all this turnover, is it an easy market to trade? Kelly It's a liquid market to trade. I wouldn't qualify it as easy because it's actually still very volatile considering you've got the retail investor base that you do. I think there's still a few hurdles in getting more foreign investment into China. One of them being access to hedging instruments, so futures would be the main one there that everybody's looking for as a way to hedge out their index risk. So, there are there steps that the government's taking there or that the exchanges are taking there too in sourcing solutions for that issue. There's also a number of nuances still around settlement cycles, funding, broker settlements, but again they're pretty small nuances and the government is focused on getting those looked at. Catherine Kelly, thanks so much for your time. I mean it's a fascinating market to trade and to watch the developments in terms of the progress. Paras, that's all from us here on the trading floor in Hong Kong. Paras So Casey, with your tech focus on China what do you make of the launch of the Star Board that Kelly just mentioned? Casey Yeah, the Star Board is a really interesting development. It's another one of these baby steps to opening up and broadening the Chinese markets. But I think the fact that it's a registration rather than approval structure to list a company there is is quite important. It means that these loss-making companies, these high-tech companies which are innovating, can list and it gives them a new source of funding. I think from then from investor point of view it also opens up the opportunities to some of these smaller innovative companies that were probably only available to PE or VC type investors previously. Paras And Jing, you’re a self-proclaimed value investor. Have you been looking at technology stocks at all recently? Jing Of course. Actually, last year a very decent amount of my time was looking at the technology sector, in particular in the context of the trade war between the US and China. A lot of technology stocks were falling victim because of that and valuation for some of them looks really, really compelling even from the perspective of a value investor. Paras Trade wars was one of those things that we talked about on the last episode and we made a call that it would be not a short-lived phenomenon and so it's proved. But for a stock picker such as yourself, Casey, how do you deal with a backdrop of trade wars when you're trying to find individual opportunities. Casey Like Jing says, the tech sector really has been in the crosshairs of the trade war and the volatility that that's brought has made it quite difficult, especially when the sentiment of the market can turn on a dime after just a single tweet. But having said that, it did introduce some value into the sector and there have been buying opportunities. And if you focus more on the longer-term trends there is an opportunity for Chinese companies to become more self-sufficient in some of the tech areas, take some revenue, some business opportunities off the US companies. And so I am increasingly looking for those opportunities on a long term basis. Jing I think like the Chinese always say, every crisis comes with an opportunity. So when we think about a trade war of course the relationship between these two countries - I think, in my personal view - is fundamentally changed going forward. But that actually leaves an opportunity for China to rethink its supply chain. They want to reduce their dependence of some of their key supply chain components to external parties and they want to rebuild some of the supply chain companies. And, of course, they want to build a domestic economy to fend off any uncertainty coming from global trade. And I'm hoping that this trade war will push policymakers to really seriously think about market reform because when one door is closed you want to open the other window. Paras So it really sounds like when we come to think about China from a stock picking perspective that despite all of the development of the market, all of the maturity and some really key changes that we've talked about with respect to companies looking at returns to minority shareholders, actually there's no shortcut to doing your homework properly. Jing Of course. For me, I have been investing in China for the past 15 years. That market for me today versus 15 years ago is equally challenging, equally new, and equally interesting. It’s just like a brand new market. Casey Yeah, I don't I don't think there's any substitute for boots on the ground and kicking tyres. Paras Great. Well that brings us to the end of our show today. Thank you to my studio guests Jing Ning and Casey McClean, and to our other contributors: Hyomi Jie and Kelly Clark with Catherine Yeung. And thank you for listening. If you like what you've heard then please rate and review us on your podcast app, we really appreciate it. And if you want to read more of what's been covered today then please go to our website. Our producers were Seb Morton-Clark and Neil Gough and our editor is Richard Edgar. Until next time, from Fidelity's Hong Kong studios, goodbye. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The Investor's Guide to China from Fidelity International takes you deep into the workings of the Chinese economy and its financial markets. Paras Anand, Head of Asset Management in Asia Pacific, brings you a cast of investment experts working in the world's second largest economy. Hear how they're navigating its markets to uncover the opportunities and avoid the pitfalls. Episode 2: Stock picking. China's businesses operate in a unique environment and understanding that matrix is imperative to those hoping to identify the best companies for investment. What are the most effective strategies for finding the winners and what are the warning signs of those to avoid? Joining Paras to take a closer look at China's equity market are Jing Ning, a senior portfolio manager at Fidelity with some 20 years experience investing in the country, and Casey McLean, an investment analyst with a focus on China's technology stocks. With additional contributions from portfolio manager Hyomi Jie and Fidelity's head of Asia trading, Kelly Clark. Click here (or below on Apple podcasts) for more episodes from this series. Transcript Paras Anand Hello and welcome to The Investor’s Guide to China from Fidelity International. I'm Paras Anand, Head of Asset Management in Asia-Pacific, and each episode I'll be taking you deep into China's economy to find out what's driving the country, where the exciting opportunities are and perhaps areas where we should be a little bit more wary. Today: stock picking - the art and science of researching and understanding which companies to invest in, whether those be SOEs - state owned enterprises - or POEs - privately owned enterprises - acronyms you'll be getting very familiar with. China is in many ways still an emerging market and it comes with its own idiosyncrasies. But as markets continue to open up - and there's been big news just as we record this episode - China offers significant rewards if you have the right tools. And bringing their toolboxes with them today to join me in Hong Kong are two of Fidelity's China experts. First we have Jing Ning, one of our senior China equity portfolio managers. Jing you've been looking at this market for some 20 years. What's the biggest misconception that you tend to come across when people think about investing in China? Jing Ning Every year I meet probably dozens of investors, they’re very interested in investing in China and they want to know what's going on from the policy and consumption story and new technology in China. But with that being said I can't feel there’s always a wall of worry with China. Everyone is asking about: China has been growing their credit very rapidly in the past decade and when is it going to stop. They've been building the bridges and railways and infrastructure investment - when is it going to be stopped? And I think the more pessimistic question is always asking, when is the reckoning moment that's going to come? So there hasn't been a year - I can be very honest with you - there hasn't been a year, if I visit my investors globally in Europe and Asia, that they I haven't asked this question, right. So there’s always been this wall of worry on China. Paras With Jing is Casey McClean. Casey, you’re an investment analyst who's covered Asia Pac for almost two decades. The last 13 years you've been really focused on China. You've covered almost every sector during your career in the region. From an analyst’s perspective, what are the big changes that you've observed? Casey McLean I think the biggest changes specifically with China really is the composition of the market. I think if you look back 10, 15, 20 years ago it was dominated by industrials, materials, financials, property. China was back then really the outsourcing factory for the rest of the world. But if you look at the market composition now it's changed a lot. You’ve had the emergence of internet. There's a lot of consumer brands with their own genuine brand value in China. And there's more and more services being delivered in the market every day. I think what's changed is China's gone from a an industrial manufacturing centre to a place of genuine innovation. And that innovation is being rewarded in the market as well. Paras So let's dive into the topic of today's podcast which is stock picking. Jing, how do you go about stock picking and what makes your investment approach unique? Jing You know China's an emerging market. The market is quite chaotic. Everyday we're dealing with policy changes, new competition, and there's always new changes to business models. I think for investors in the China market you really have to know your company well and it takes years, sometimes it takes ages to know the company, especially [because] you know your company better in a downturn than in the good times. Sometimes I tell my investors, although there are so many noises flowing around in the China market every day the key is to build conviction and what comes with the conviction is to know your company really well. And that takes time. Paras And Casey, how do you distinguish a good company from a from a bad company in a market like China? Casey For me, the first point of my process when I'm looking at a company will be to screen out any bad actors by looking for stocks that are potentially accounting manipulators or have some bankruptcy risk or what not. But I try and look for companies that have a minimum level of quality. I'm not saying high quality, I'm saying a minimum level of quality - one that's able to earn a return on invested capital above its cost of capital across a full cycle. There's a lot of cyclical companies in China, especially within the tech sector which I'm looking at. So I don't worry about what they earn last year, I worry about what they're going to earn next year. And if you pick a stock at the right point of the earnings cycle you can be rewarded for that. Jing Yeah, I think another thing is that most people coming to China are looking for growth. They're looking for the next Alibaba, the next Tencent, and people are constantly looking for the next growth story. But Paras, as you know, I’m probably one of the very, very, few value investors in China and actually I think that value plays a very interesting angle in China. The value story in China is not dull at all, it’s quite interesting. For example, Casey and I, we looked at a company called Lenovo. It was two years back and at that time Lenovo didn’t fit into any definition of a growth company. But when we looked at it, it used to have a great company history and it got into temporary trouble and we believed that the company still had a decent chance to turn around and to be a growth company sometime, a couple of years later. Would you say Lenovo was a value stock or growth stock? I would say it’s a very interesting growth stock but with an extremely attractive valuation at that time we looked at it. Paras Was it hard to get excited about Lenovo, Casey, as a technology investor? Casey Lenovo is probably not quite at the leading edge of some of the technology companies that you can look at out there. But I agree with Jing, it was very attractive value. It was spinning off a lot of cash flow from its main division which was PCs and if you could get confidence in their mobile division - which has been loss making for a long time - if you got confidence in that turnaround story there was a lot of money to be made. And so you do need to have very high conviction in those turnaround situations. But doing a lot of work and sitting down with management - we had a full day with management and every head of every division - we were able to gain that conviction. And fortunately that division did turnaround quicker than the market was expecting and they've gone on to do better things. Paras Turning to Jing, you talked at the beginning about this ‘wall of worry’ that investors often climb and one of the things that's often reflected to me is that corporate governance is a huge area of concern. People worry about protection for minority shareholders being different to what you might see in other parts of the world, balance sheets, ownership structures can often be sort of convoluted. So how do we consider those risks. What do you consider when it comes to corporate governance? Jing You cannot invest in China without thinking about corporate governance risks, that’s for sure. But for me, I think about the issue as many different layers of grey rather than straight black and white. Because when I talk to many companies, and sometimes they do things I wouldn't like them to do like related party transactions and they do irrational acquisitions. We you ask them, ‘Why you are doing that? You’re destroying minority shareholder value. As a result, your market value has been going downhill. And the usual answer I get from them, amazingly, is, ‘We don't think it’s a big deal. Why do you think it’s a big deal?’ It’s all about corporate culture and the way they think about what is a right form of governance for the minority shareholders. I think Casey, you probably agree with me, that the active manager plays a role here? Casey Yeah, definitely I agree. I think there is perhaps a perception and a reality that the level of corporate governance in China is lower than in some of the developed markets. But what I try and focus on is the delta in that corporate governance. It's the improvements which drive better quality in the companies and potentially the re-ratings in stocks. And you've seen evidence of that over the last few years particularly among some of the bigger SOEs who have really improved their capital allocation and doing a lot less national interest investing. Paras And you've talked a lot about this idea of trust and building trust in companies. How do we do that? How, Jing, in your process do you go and build trust in companies and the management teams that run them? Jing For me, people are the number one top priority in any business you look at. So usually when we meet a new company, identify a new interesting investment idea, the first step is you go to meet with senior management - CEO and CFO - but I don't think the research work usually stops here. Usually we'll try to meet further staff to try to meet the middle layer of the management - we want to meet the head of sales, the head of marketing, the head of PR and to understand the culture. But that takes time. Casey That's right. I think increasingly over the last few years we've been engaging, collaborating with companies a lot more and they're a lot more open to these discussions, dialogues, two-way streets here. We're not an activist investor in any way but we're trying to work together to generate better shareholder value. Paras So you actually feel your voice is being heard. When you go and see these companies and you engage with them, you feel that even as a minority shareholder your voice is heard and listened to. Jing Yes, sometimes. Every year we try to identify some companies and we send angry letters, we call them angry letters - just basically complaining about something that they have done, not taking care of the interests of minority shareholders. Sometimes they don't pay us dividend and sometimes we think they should do more. In the beginning most of our letters get ignored and we get no consequence whatsoever but gradually, very interestingly, and I think Casey would agree with me in the case of Sinopec, we sent a letter to them, to the board, asking for a sustainable dividend payout policy and they actually responded to us and said they would seriously take a look at our proposal. I'm not anticipating any fireworks coming at the end of the day, they're going to change their behaviour overnight, but that's a very encouraging development I would say. Paras And looking at the composition of the market, they're obviously state-owned enterprises as well as private companies. Casey, should investors approach those differently? Casey Not necessarily. At the end of the day you're just trying to find a company that's going to deliver a good return. But I think there's different risks that you need to be aware of when you're looking at those two different groups of companies. In private companies the potential for fraud, accounting manipulation, those things are probably higher. And they're also smaller, more nimble companies. They can move fast - they can break things though at the same time. Whereas you look at some of the SOEs, they're larger companies, they move more slowly. And I guess the biggest risk with those is that they have to undertake national interests and support the Chinese economy and other companies. Jing I think that basically what Casey is saying is there's always two sides of the same coin. SOEs - they’re taking the state support but on the other hand they will of course take on social responsibility, and private companies, they’re very nimble and very flexible but on the other hand they have a very strong incentive to do well and of course they will have incentive to cheat you to maximise their shareholder value. Casey But there can also be a valuation disconnect. Often the SOEs trade at a big discount to the private companies. And like we say, if you see this delta, the improvement in corporate governance or their earnings profile, that can be a great opportunity especially for a value investor like Jing. Paras So it really seems that it's all about making sure that you understand the individual company and doing the on-the-ground research. Jing Yes. Casey Yeah, that’s right. Paras Well, on the subject of on-the-ground research we spoke earlier to another one of our portfolio managers, Hyomi Jie. Our Asia Editor, Neil Gough, caught up with her for some window shopping in Shanghai to hear about her approach to consumer stocks and in particular how the trend of premiumisation is playing into her investment thinking. Neil Gough I'm standing here at a sprawling hypermarket in Shanghai with the Hyomi Jie, a portfolio manager at Fidelity International who focuses on China's consumer sector. We're at RT Mart in Yangpu, a mainly residential district a few kilometres north of Shanghai's historic riverfront Bund. It's a typical weekday morning in the summer and the store is busy with all kinds of shoppers from across generations. They're picking over produce, looking for bargains, stocking up on bulk items like rice. And this is a retail supercentre. They sell everything from leather shoes to air conditioners to live lobsters. Hyomi, you actively stock pick within China's retail sector and I'd mentioned to you previously that I was interested in seeing how you carry out research on the ground and I assume that's why you brought me here today? Is that right? Hyomi Jie Yes. Yes exactly. You come to this store and you see what kind of consumers are coming to the store and what kind of things they're buying, in which aisles they're spending more time. So that helps me to gain a bit more insight into what kind of brands are gaining traction and what kind of products are gaining interest from the everyday consumer. Neil One of the trends across the consumer space that we talked about before was premiumisation and how customers are upgrading their purchases across a whole bunch of different categories. How does that play out in an environment like this, in a supermarket? Hyomi Premiumisation is a trend that's going on across all the sectors in consumer, I should say. It's really driven by the growing income of Chinese consumers and expanding middle class and their desire to want and aim for higher quality products. And in a supermarket environment you can see that people will choose higher quality, higher price items within the same brands, or they might move up to the perceived higher-end brands. But also within the fresh produce that is happening as well. If you see that in the traditional supermarkets you can see the piles of meat products in the very typical Chinese supermarkets. Neil And some in front of us here today. I see the butcher swinging his cleaver here in the background. Hyomi That’s right, that's very normal and that's still the majority. But you can see in a small section, which is expanding, you can see that there’s branded pork, branded beef, and it is packaging in a small format that's suitable for a single households and younger generation who don't want to spend too much time cutting and cooking. Neil So individually wrapped in plastic as opposed to a giant slab of ribs or something like that. Hyomi Indeed. The per unit price should be higher by easily 20-30 per cent but from consumers’ perspective maybe you can actually save food by not buying too much at once. Also it's much easier for you to prepare your food. Neil So you're paying more per unit but you're probably wasting less on the whole. What does it mean for a company at the bottom line level? Are you seeing that feed through in revenue and in sales? Hyomi It's still a small portion of their revenue but the companies who can take advantage of this kind of trend with better marketing and better merchandise will obviously be able to attract more customers to lead to better revenue and at the product level, at the unit level, they should be able to generate better returns and better margins. Neil Beyond supermarkets, when you look across retail, what other areas are you seeing premiumisation playing out? What are some of the other sectors? Hyomi I should say that in services the premiumisation is also happening. The overseas travel has been growing faster than domestic travel in a very consistent way for the past few years. And that’s shown in the duty-free stores’ revenue growth trends in the past few years. Neil And then when you're not running around the aisles of supermarkets like these what are some of the other things you're doing on the ground to carry out research when you're coming to China? Because I know you do travel here quite often. Hyomi When I come to China I try to spend my time here as much as like locals. So, I take Didi and go to other department stores or I go to meet my friends and on the way I get to see many different things like what's happening, what's changing. Also, the payment pattern is definitely changing in China. So, it is indeed a cash free economy at the moment. You really need to pay for things with Alipay or Tenpay. Another thing that I have been doing for more in-depth research is to spend a couple weeks with a Chinese family doing homestays. So last year I spent two weeks in Shenzhen with a Chinese family of four members where I could learn about their consumption behaviour, their aspirations, what they care about for their children and their parents and their wealth creation, all these things. Soon I'm going to go to Chengdu and will spend another two weeks with a Chinese family over there. Neil Thanks Hyomi. That's a really interesting look at how stock pickers are doing their research on the ground in China. Paras So Jing, Hyomi paints a rich picture there. She's spending time in the new engine room of the Chinese economy as we can hear, in these shopping malls and spending time with families, really going in deep to help her understand the country's changing consumer trends. But stepping back a little bit, what about the equity markets more broadly. How have they been developing? Jing I think there is a key element currently missing from the whole story which I think is very important going forward which is the income element in China. The income story globally has been a very popular strategy but very few people associate China with the income element because people come here looking for the growth story, they’re not looking for the dividend story. But China is actually changing into a very interesting income story. We're not growing 10 per cent every year, right? This year we're going six, next year we’ll probably be growing at five or something. But for corporates they’re free cash flow is improving and with cash coming in they now have an opportunity to think about another capital allocation perspective which is paying dividends. Paras I mean when I think back to some of the changes we saw in the European market, so going back 10, 15, 20 years ago, companies were prevented from paying dividends because boards would often think that you were taking money out of the out of the pockets of the employees and giving it to shareholders. But I've always thought that there's an association with companies paying dividends and treating minority shareholders well with a maturity of an investment market. So, Casey is this good news from an analyst’s perspective? Casey Yeah, it definitely is Paras. I think the thought process for some of the Chinese companies in years gone by was that dividends were simply paying money out of the company away to foreigners. That's gradually changing and I think there's a recognition that the capital structure is more important. And they have made some significant progress. It's been helped by the government: SOEs are now mandated to pay out 30 per cent of their earnings. And I think if you look at the market as a whole I think it trades on about a 2.5 to 3 per cent dividend yield, which is actually higher than the US, the S&P 500. So, it's still got a long way to go but they've definitely made some significant progress. Paras And of course it's such a strong signal of the continuing evolution of these markets. As I mentioned earlier in the introduction there's another significant development, which is that the Chinese regulators have dropped quotas for foreign institutional investors, or QFII. This is a really big deal, isn't it Jing? Jing It is. It is indeed a very big deal. That means that the market will in some way become open access for everyone. You don't need a quota to buy China A shares. That actually brings a sweet memory for me. I remember back in 2004 I was at the door of CSRC [China Securities Regulation Commission] applying for the QFII license and applying for the QFII quota and we got thrilled when the regulator awarded us $50 million QFII quota. And we thought that was quite an achievement back in 2004. And now, 15 years later on you don't need a quota to buy China A shares - very exciting as well. So, I think that with the years it’s moved along, and without a quota or any kind of restriction tacked on to it that just means that the market becomes a very friendly, even playing field everybody. Casey Yeah, I remember I had a similar circumstance about 10 years ago, as well. I remember applying for an additional QFII quota and the process was very laborious, very bureaucratic. It was almost government-to-government-style negotiations and removing that sort of hindrance to foreign investors is a huge plus for the opening up of the China markets. Paras And obviously when we think as investors we're always thinking about investing for the long term and there's a difference that often people think about between long term investing and and then thinking about the market in China which they see as being very volatile and retail driven. Do you think that there is an opportunity reframe the investing proposition for those domestic savers? Casey Yeah, I think it's a gradual process. But all of these measures that the government’s instituted to get foreign investors, foreign institutions investing into China means that they're less driven by speculation, they become less short term, the market becomes much more fundamental-based. And I think if you have a long history of following those fundamentals you’ll have a big advantage in the A share market as it develops. Paras So what exactly do recalibrations like these mean on a practical level in terms of trading with and inside the country? Investment director Catherine Yeung spoke to Fidelity's head of trading in Asia, Kelly Clark, to find out. And a short caveat before we hear the interview: this conversation was recorded before the latest announcements around the scrapping of the QFII quotas. Catherine Yeung We've seen a whirlwind of changes relating to access and regulation for trading when it comes to the Chinese markets. Volumes have skyrocketed but there's still a number of hurdles to navigate. I'm with Kelly Clark, Fidelity's head of Asian equity trading, based here in Hong Kong. Kelly, you've been in the market now for eight years. Can you share some of the biggest changes you've seen over this period? Kelly Clark Sure. For starters, when I first started trading the only way to access China was through QFII. And I was actually at a hedge fund at the time so the only way we could do that was synthetically, which made it very difficult and very expensive to actually access the market. So, I would say the biggest change in my tenure has been Stock Connect, which went live in 2014 and that was far more affordable to reach. You didn't have the issues with putting cash upfront or with repatriating cash back out of China. So it made it much more palatable to invest in. That also piqued the interest of the MSCI and FTSE and why you have the interest I think you have in it now. Catherine So, in layman's terms, Kel, what's the key differences between QFII and Stock Connect, especially from a trading perspective? Kelly You've got the ability to trade with different counter parties, again you can move cash more freely, it's a lot more familiar and the counter parties that you’re trading with as well. It was just a lot easier to access and open accounts. Catherine With QFII? Kelly So QFII still has its advantages. You can trade during Hong Kong holidays, which you can't do through Connect. You can also invest in the full universe of stocks versus the limited amount that you have in Connect, which is about 1200. The bigger one being now that it's the only way that foreigners can access the Star IPO Board. Catherine Yes, the Star IPO Board, I'm glad you mentioned this - so this is a science and technology exchange similar to Nasdaq? Kelly Correct. So I think the driver of this, as you mentioned, was for the Nasdaq. So for new sort of unicorn tech type companies to come to market within China. Catherine So we are seeing more foreigners - whether it's institutional money, retail money - going into the market. This is obviously being driven a lot by the Chinese government's policies to open up the capital markets, both equities and fixed income. So when we have the second largest economy in the world, a government who's very pro opening up the capital markets, can you please put into perspective just how big China is? Kelly So China actually represents 70 per cent of all of the turnover in equity in Asia. Catherine If we're seeing all this turnover, is it an easy market to trade? Kelly It's a liquid market to trade. I wouldn't qualify it as easy because it's actually still very volatile considering you've got the retail investor base that you do. I think there's still a few hurdles in getting more foreign investment into China. One of them being access to hedging instruments, so futures would be the main one there that everybody's looking for as a way to hedge out their index risk. So, there are there steps that the government's taking there or that the exchanges are taking there too in sourcing solutions for that issue. There's also a number of nuances still around settlement cycles, funding, broker settlements, but again they're pretty small nuances and the government is focused on getting those looked at. Catherine Kelly, thanks so much for your time. I mean it's a fascinating market to trade and to watch the developments in terms of the progress. Paras, that's all from us here on the trading floor in Hong Kong. Paras So Casey, with your tech focus on China what do you make of the launch of the Star Board that Kelly just mentioned? Casey Yeah, the Star Board is a really interesting development. It's another one of these baby steps to opening up and broadening the Chinese markets. But I think the fact that it's a registration rather than approval structure to list a company there is is quite important. It means that these loss-making companies, these high-tech companies which are innovating, can list and it gives them a new source of funding. I think from then from investor point of view it also opens up the opportunities to some of these smaller innovative companies that were probably only available to PE or VC type investors previously. Paras And Jing, you’re a self-proclaimed value investor. Have you been looking at technology stocks at all recently? Jing Of course. Actually, last year a very decent amount of my time was looking at the technology sector, in particular in the context of the trade war between the US and China. A lot of technology stocks were falling victim because of that and valuation for some of them looks really, really compelling even from the perspective of a value investor. Paras Trade wars was one of those things that we talked about on the last episode and we made a call that it would be not a short-lived phenomenon and so it's proved. But for a stock picker such as yourself, Casey, how do you deal with a backdrop of trade wars when you're trying to find individual opportunities. Casey Like Jing says, the tech sector really has been in the crosshairs of the trade war and the volatility that that's brought has made it quite difficult, especially when the sentiment of the market can turn on a dime after just a single tweet. But having said that, it did introduce some value into the sector and there have been buying opportunities. And if you focus more on the longer-term trends there is an opportunity for Chinese companies to become more self-sufficient in some of the tech areas, take some revenue, some business opportunities off the US companies. And so I am increasingly looking for those opportunities on a long term basis. Jing I think like the Chinese always say, every crisis comes with an opportunity. So when we think about a trade war of course the relationship between these two countries - I think, in my personal view - is fundamentally changed going forward. But that actually leaves an opportunity for China to rethink its supply chain. They want to reduce their dependence of some of their key supply chain components to external parties and they want to rebuild some of the supply chain companies. And, of course, they want to build a domestic economy to fend off any uncertainty coming from global trade. And I'm hoping that this trade war will push policymakers to really seriously think about market reform because when one door is closed you want to open the other window. Paras So it really sounds like when we come to think about China from a stock picking perspective that despite all of the development of the market, all of the maturity and some really key changes that we've talked about with respect to companies looking at returns to minority shareholders, actually there's no shortcut to doing your homework properly. Jing Of course. For me, I have been investing in China for the past 15 years. That market for me today versus 15 years ago is equally challenging, equally new, and equally interesting. It’s just like a brand new market. Casey Yeah, I don't I don't think there's any substitute for boots on the ground and kicking tyres. Paras Great. Well that brings us to the end of our show today. Thank you to my studio guests Jing Ning and Casey McClean, and to our other contributors: Hyomi Jie and Kelly Clark with Catherine Yeung. And thank you for listening. If you like what you've heard then please rate and review us on your podcast app, we really appreciate it. And if you want to read more of what's been covered today then please go to our website. Our producers were Seb Morton-Clark and Neil Gough and our editor is Richard Edgar. Until next time, from Fidelity's Hong Kong studios, goodbye.
An introduction to prayer and Ignatian Spirituality by Catherine Kelly, Retreat Director at St. Mark's Parish, UBC.
What kind of character should Americans have? Is it possible to create a shared sense of national character and identity that all Americans can subscribe to? Americans grappled with many questions about what it meant to be an American and a citizen of the new republic after the American Revolution. They grappled with these questions because the people who made up the new United States hailed from many different cultural and ethnic backgrounds. So they wondered: How do you unite the disparate peoples of the United States into one national people? Catherine Kelly, author of Republic of Taste: Art, Politics, and Everyday Life in Early America, joins us to explore the world of art, politics, and taste in the early American republic and how that world contributed to the formation of American character and virtue. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/201 Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute Babbel (Use promo code BFWorld to save 50 percent off your first 3 months) OI Books Flash Sale (Use promo code 01BFW before September 4, 2018 to save 50 percent) Complementary Episodes Episode 024: Kimberly Alexander, 18th-Century Fashion & Material Culture Episode 076: Nathan Perl-Rosenthal, Citizen Sailors: Becoming American in the Age of Revolution Episode 084: Zara Anishanslin, How Historians Read Historical Sources Episode 127: Caroline Winterer, American Enlightenments Episode 136: Jennifer Van Horn, Material Culture and the Making of America Helpful Show Links Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page Join the Ben Franklin's World Community Sign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App *Books purchased through this link will help support the production of Ben Franklin's World.
Here's How ::: Ireland's Political, Social and Current Affairs Podcast
Ken Foxe is a lecturer in DIT and a freelance journalist. On June 27 last, the Irish-American academic and blogger Catherine Kelly was leaving Ireland through Dublin airport when she was detained by two plain clothes gardaí, and questioned about online reporting that she had done on the finances of Fine Gael minister for Social […]
Here's How ::: Ireland's Political, Social and Current Affairs Podcast
Ken Foxe is a lecturer in DIT and a freelance journalist. On June 27 last, the Irish-American academic and blogger Catherine Kelly was leaving Ireland through Dublin airport when she was detained by two plain clothes gardaí, and questioned about online reporting that she had done on the finances of Fine Gael minister for Social […] The post Here's How 67 - Mysterious Case of the Disappearing Videos appeared first on Here's How.
SRHE (Society for Research into Higher Education) Conference And Network Podcasts
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Aaron and Catherine discuss being a freelance musician, creating work and opportunities for yourself, and keep up with artistic projects.
Tonight Shaun and Nathan go deep into the morgue to see what’s on the Slab. The GhostMan & Demon Hunter talk to model & actress Ms. Olwen Catherine Kelly of Autopsy of Jane Doe only on your Shadow Nation! -Download Here-
Tonight Shaun and Nathan go deep into the morgue to see what’s on the Slab. The GhostMan & Demon Hunter talk to model & actress Ms. Olwen Catherine Kelly of Autopsy of Jane Doe only on your Shadow Nation! -Download Here-
Tonight Go on the Slab in the Morgue w/GhostMan&Demon Hunter on The Shadow Nation w/Model&Actress Ms. Olwen Catherine Kelly of Autopsy of Jane Doe.