Mayar COVID-19 Update
9th March 2020
I am writing to you today to update you on the action Mayar is taking in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.
As always, we have two priorities; the welfare of the team at Mayar and our role as stewards of your capital.
Preparedness
At Mayar, we have long had policies and procedures that are designed to allow the team to perform their roles in the event of being unable to work onsite at Mayar’s office. This enables each member of team to take appropriate action when disruption occurs. Typically, this is in response to relatively minor incidents effecting public transport and other one-off cases, with the same principles applying to more serious on-going events, such as the COVID-19 outbreak.
The result is that we have developed, tried and tested policies and procedures relating to our Business Continuity plan.
Mayar Team Welfare & Continuation of Operations
As at the time of writing, the UK Government does not advise against normal travel and business activities. However, Mayar has given employees the option of working from home if they would be more comfortable doing so and do not have a reason to physically be somewhere (e.g. for a meeting). As mentioned above, Mayar employees have had the ability to work remotely for some time and our communications systems reflect this.
In addition, we update Mayar staff with the latest recommendations from government authorities and the World Health Organisation.
Due to the steps implemented as above, we have ensured that our team can remain dedicated to the smooth stewardship of your capital, regardless of location.
Your Investment
We continue to monitor the potential economic and market impact of the further spread of the virus. We have completed an analysis of Fund’s holdings and believe that, at least for now, there has been no impact on our estimates of their intrinsic value. As a result, we have decided not to take any action. We have also refreshed our watch lists and updated our valuation models and are prepared to take advantage of attractive buying opportunities if they become available. We continue to monitor developments closely and are prepared to act if appropriate.
More broadly, as long-term investors, we accept that from time to time, events such as the spread of COVID-19, will materialise. Will believe that our job is not to forecast these events but instead to construct a diversified portfolio that is best able to withstand shocks and deliver returns over much longer time horizons than the 24-hour news cycle.
We will contact you if there are any changes to the above. Otherwise, we will send factsheets and quarterly updates as part of our standard communication cycle.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact either me, or Marc, who can be reached on marc.cox@mayarcapital.com or +44 203 735 5072.