Success and More Interesting Stuff

Stockbroking is a dangerous game. Investors depend on your advice, but the smallest slip-up can see the relationship turn nasty. As a result, most brokers tend to be as conservative as possible; not Hugh Robertson.  Robertson a 40-year veteran of the stockbroking scene in Melbourne, thrives at the risk end of the curve, specialising in micro and small cap stocks. He works like a gold prospector ou...

Richard White always wanted to be a rockstar. He was still young when it dawned upon him that it might be more profitable and realistic to become a tech titan instead.  Sounds simple enough, but the journey has taken many twists and turns. Over 40 odd years, White thought life was perfect, hanging out in a rock band and rubbing shoulders with the likes of ACDC and The Angels. Unfortunately, he was...

A revolution has taken place in share investing since the turn of the century. American firms have led the charge with the likes of Vanguard and Blackrock taking passive investing around the globe.  Disenchantment with active fund managers has seen funds flow into the passive sector, accelerated by the emergence of exchange traded funds, or simply ETF’s. In Australia, the revolution arrived late....

Affordable housing seems to be an elusive goal in Australia. However, Lifestyle Communities ( ASX: LIC ), which is celebrating its 21st birthday in 2024, might have just cracked the code.    The company’s land rent model is spreading across Victoria at an ever-increasing rate. To date, more than 30 villages within driving distance of Melbourne have been built or are in the planning stage. In total...

Over the last four years, Success and More Interesting Stuff has been privileged to host some of the legends of the Australian equity market. Arguably though no one has had more of an impact on the industry than  Kerr Neilson.   Originally from South Africa, Neilson landed on Australian shores in 1983 where he joined the ranks of Bankers Trust. BT was on the rise and Neilson stood out among the pa...

In 1987, Olev Rahn was pounding the streets of New York's financial district, meeting with Wall Street's best strategists. Rahn, who was running BT Financial's institutional business Pendal, felt distinctly uneasy about the exuberance gripping financial markets. It felt like a giant bubble, and the deeper he dug, the more convinced he became that a reckoning was just around the corner. Rahn's inst...

Every year,  fund manager Eley Griffiths invites stockbrokers from across the country to a lavish dinner. In the cutthroat world of the share market, stockbrokers rarely get treated by their clients. Eley Griffiths, the $1.2 billion small company manager known affectionately as EGG, is a rare breed. The fact that EGG is currently celebrating its 20th year is a testament to the value that everyone...

Graham "Skroo" Turner grew up in splendid isolation. His family owned an orchard in Southeast Queensland, and he rode a pushbike to school, which was so small it only required one teacher. Even when he went to university, he avoided humans and decided to study vet science. Skroo, now seventy-four years old, still sits atop of Flight Centre (ASX:FLT), Australia's largest travel agency, which operat...

It's been just over a decade since Andrew Alcock took a risk on a small up-and-coming investment platform. The gamble has certainly paid off. Since joining the firm in July 2013, HUB24's ( ASX: HUB ) share price has skyrocketed around 4200% - turning an ASX-listed microcap into a market-leading 30-bagger.  In the early months of 2013, HUB24 was on its knees. The company experienced a boardroom bat...

Anton Tagliaferro grew up in Malta, playing football and studying with the dream of someday becoming a doctor. This was pushed aside, however, when political unrest in his native country led him to leave for London, where he ended up studying accounting.    Soon after graduating, Anton discovered the world of funds management and was hooked on the idea immediately. Through taking advantage of chan...

Nick Scali is a furniture powerhouse. Since listing in May 2004, the store count has grown from 10 to 107 without having to tap shareholders for additional capital. Who knew Australians had such an insatiable appetite for leather lounges?  Equally as impressive as store growth are the financial returns investors have enjoyed. Since listing, sales have increased by 1,068%, net profit has increased...

By the time most people reach their mid-forties, they are thinking about an exit strategy for their working life. That was not the case for Robert Kelly AM, who, in 1975, after a series of harrowing business experiences, was dusting himself off and preparing to start all over again. Kelly is the Founder, Managing Director and CEO of Steadfast ( ASX: SDF ), the ASX-listed insurance broking firm wit...

The latest episode of Success and More Interesting Stuff introduces one of the most enterprising and successful people on the corporate landscape. Robert Kelly had a chequered career in the 1970s and 80s that included a failed business, driving taxis and dealing with some of Sydney’s more colourful identities. In 1996, aged 48 and running his own insurance broking firm, Kelly decided it was time t...

We have a treat for you today. Historically the show has focused on outstanding investors and leading executives. Today, we are delving into the other cog of the share market machine - the fourth estate, or as most of us know it, the media.  Tony Boyd has been a finance journalist for more than 40 years. The latest 13, he's been writing the preeminent finance column in Australia, Chanticleer. Affe...

It's been 25 years since the first days of Ausbil Investment Management, and Executive Chairman, CIO and Head of Equities Paul Xiradis  is still one of the first to arrive at the office.  The self-confessed "market animal" lives and breathes investing. But few know the making of X, as he is now universally known.  The eldest son of Greek immigrants, Xiradis always knew the value of entrepreneurial...

For 25 years, Paul Xiradis has been the CIO and Head of Equities at one of Bridge Street’s most famous money managers - Ausbil Investment Management. Xiradis is the last link to the original foundation group of Ausbil. And as executive chairman, he’ll continue to have plenty on his plate from a leadership perspective when CEO Ross Youngman retires later next year. But Xiradis’ story is far more th...

Dawn Kanelleas  has always been academically competitive. The daughter of socially progressive Greek immigrants, she knew, even from a young age, that she was destined to break the social norms of the time.  And so, she decided academics would be a suitable path, donning a laboratory coat for a degree in the male-dominated world of science and later a research position at Oxford University. Luckil...

If I asked you to describe the background of a professional investor, I’m willing to bet you would not have picked someone who has a PhD in chemistry. But that’s exactly who Dawn Kanelleas is.  After running through the full gamut of the University of Sydney’s prestigious science program, she pivoted to a career in finance. But it wasn’t smooth or consistent sailing - and one look at her LinkedIn...

The Australian commercial property sector was in a mess in the mid-1990s. The industry was stuck in illiquid structures and investors were unable to withdraw their money.  Then, budding investment banker Andrew Pridham entered the picture. He believed listing property assets was the best way out of the disaster. It worked. At just 28 years old, he was a managing director and head of global propert...

Not many investment bankers can claim to have a Wikipedia profile, but Andrew Pridham can. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Pridham has covered everything from M&A at J.P. Morgan to real estate investing at UBS. Since 2009, he’s run his own shop in conjunction with US-based Moelis & Company and since 2013, he has served as chairman of the Sydney Swans. Now, Pridham sits down with me on the...

How’s this for an honours list? Winner of the Gourmet Traveller Restaurant of the Year Senior Australian of the Year Honorary Doctorate from the University of South Australia Author of 11 books Star of multiple cooking shows Order of Australia (AM) Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) Public company name with multiple products to her credit Maggie Beer is an icon of the Australian food industry....

Cooking from the heart is the humble and simple philosophy of one of Australia’s most well-known personalities. In a career spanning four decades - and in spite of zero formal training - Maggie Beer has become a beloved figure on our screens and gained a presence in many an Australian kitchen or bookshelf.  Even I was surprised to learn this first lady of Australian food’s career did not begin unt...

Leo Barry was everywhere during AFL Grand Final week this year. With a Sydney Swans scarf draped around his neck, you could be mistaken for thinking he is employed full time in the club’s marketing department. In truth, Barry always has a lot on his plate. From the moment he was drafted by the Swans, he has been on the run. The Swans relocated him to Sydney, placing him in boarding school out of t...

The full episode comes out on Wednesday 28th December.

Even after 55 years as a stockbroker, Brent Potts is still going strong. Every day, Potts arrives at his desk to talk to the smartest investors around. He never misses lunch with clients or colleagues. So much so that even in spite of the Coronavirus, he organised for a local Japanese restaurant to deliver food to his workplace (and for that matter, all his colleagues) at Blue Ocean Equities. Over...