TheFoundationsof
Wealth

ASML holds one of the most extraordinary competitive positions in global industry: it is the only company that makes extreme ultraviolet lithography machines, which are required to manufacture chips at the most advanced process nodes (sub-7nm). TSMC, Samsung, Intel, and SK Hynix all depend entirely on ASML for their advanced fabs. No other supplier — Nikon or Canon included — makes production-ready EUV tools. This monopoly was built over more than 20 years and €10 billion+ in R&D investment, with 16,000+ active patents protecting core optics, lasers, and software. Full-year 2025 net sales were €32.7 billion (+15.6% YoY), with a 52.8% gross margin and net income of €9.6 billion. ASML's 2030 revenue opportunity is estimated at €44–60 billion. The next frontier is High-NA EUV, which enables even smaller chip features — and for which ASML is again the only supplier.

Constellation Software is the archetype of the vertical market software serial acquirer. Since 1995, it has acquired hundreds of niche software businesses serving local governments, utilities, healthcare systems, and specialist industries — software so deeply embedded in customer operations that switching is effectively impossible. Revenue in 2024 was $10 billion USD, and the company employs 64,000 people across 40+ countries. The model is simple and enduring: acquire sticky niche software at disciplined multiples, retain management, improve operations, reinvest cash flow, repeat. The key development in 2025: founder Mark Leonard resigned as President for health reasons. Mark Miller, who has worked with Constellation for 30 years and co-founded Trapeze Group (Constellation's first acquisition in 1995), has been appointed President. Leonard remains on the Board as an adviser and has announced he will not stand for re-election, stepping back fully in May 2026. The institutional knowledge, methodology, and culture are deeply embedded — this is not a one-man business. But the transition does warrant monitoring.

Berkshire Hathaway is a diversified conglomerate built over six decades by Warren Buffett into one of the most valuable companies on earth, with $371 billion in 2025 revenue and a $1.1 trillion market capitalisation. Its core strength is the insurance float: GEICO, General Re, and other insurance subsidiaries collect premiums upfront and pay claims later, providing Berkshire with a structural pool of investable capital at effectively zero or negative cost. This float funds equity investments (Apple, American Express, Bank of America, Coca-Cola) and wholly owned operating businesses (BNSF Railway, Berkshire Hathaway Energy, See's Candies, Pilot Travel Centers). At year-end 2025, Berkshire held a record ~$380 billion in cash — reflecting Buffett's view that valuations are stretched. Greg Abel became CEO on January 1, 2026. Buffett remains Chairman. Abel has pledged to maintain the fortress balance sheet and long-term capital allocation culture. Full-year 2025 operating earnings were $44.5 billion, slightly below 2024's $47.4 billion due to weaker insurance underwriting.

Kinsale Capital focuses exclusively on the Excess and Surplus (E&S) lines market — insurance for businesses that are too unusual, complex, or risky for standard carriers to underwrite. Think specialty liability for cannabis companies, unusual construction risks, or exotic marine vessels. By focusing on this hard-to-place niche, Kinsale avoids the commoditised competition of standard insurance and can charge higher premiums for its expertise. The business model is exceptional: in Q4 2025, Kinsale reported a combined ratio of 71.7% — meaning it paid out only 71.7 cents for every dollar of premium collected, with the rest being underwriting profit before even counting investment income. This is extraordinary in insurance. The edge comes from proprietary technology: Kinsale built its own underwriting and claims software in-house, giving it an expense ratio approximately 8 percentage points lower than competitors. Full-year 2025 net income was $503.6 million, with EPS of $21.65. Book value per share grew 32.9% year-on-year to $84.66.

Adyen provides end-to-end payment processing infrastructure for global enterprises — a single platform handling card acquiring, point-of-sale, online payments, and embedded financial products across 200+ countries. Customers include Netflix, Spotify, McDonald's, eBay, and Microsoft. The single-platform architecture is the core differentiator: unlike legacy processors that use disconnected systems, Adyen processes every transaction type through one unified stack — giving merchants a complete view of payments data across channels and geographies. This creates deep switching costs as customers integrate Adyen into their entire commerce infrastructure. Full-year 2025 net revenue was €2.36 billion (+21% at constant currency), with EBITDA margins of 53% — among the best in European technology. Adyen guides for 20–22% revenue growth in 2026 and EBITDA margins exceeding 55% by 2028. Shares fell 15% on the 2025 results due to slightly below-expectation transaction volumes, creating the entry opportunity at which the position was initiated.

Games Workshop designs, manufactures, and sells Warhammer miniature wargames from its Nottingham headquarters and 570 global stores. The business model is one of the most elegant in consumer products: it controls the entire value chain from IP creation to plastic miniature production to retail — capturing every margin layer. The Warhammer 40,000 and Age of Sigmar universes are among the richest, deepest fictional settings in popular culture, with 40+ years of accumulated lore. The moat is cultural: it takes decades to build a fan community of this depth and commitment. FY2025 (year to June 2025) revenue was £617.5 million with pre-tax profit of £262.8 million — a 29.5% increase. Licensing revenue hit a record £52.5 million, driven by the Space Marine 2 video game (7 million copies sold) and the Amazon MGM Studios deal for Warhammer 40,000 TV series and films, in development with Henry Cavill. FY2026 (year to June 2026) core revenue is tracking to £625m+, though licensing revenue is expected lower as FY2025 had unusually strong game releases.

LVMH is the architect of the modern luxury industry. Its portfolio of 75+ maisons — Louis Vuitton, Dior, Moët & Chandon, Hennessy, Tiffany, Bulgari, Sephora — spans the full spectrum of luxury from entry-level aspiration to ultra-high-net-worth indulgence. The group is structurally advantaged: its brands carry centuries of heritage that cannot be replicated, its distribution is highly selective, and luxury goods have demonstrated a long-run ability to raise prices faster than inflation without losing demand. FY2025 was a difficult year: revenue declined 5% to €80.8 billion (1% organic decline) and profit from recurring operations fell 9% to €17.8 billion, reflecting slower Chinese consumer demand, currency headwinds, and normalisation post the post-COVID luxury boom. The second half showed 1% organic growth — a stabilisation signal. LVMH remains the benchmark quality compounder for the luxury sector, with free cash flow from operations of €11.3 billion in 2025 (up 8%).

MercadoLibre operates the largest e-commerce and fintech ecosystem in Latin America. Mercado Libre (the marketplace) dominates online retail across Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, and Chile. Mercado Pago (the fintech) has grown into a full digital bank — credit cards, consumer lending, merchant acquiring, and a digital wallet used by 78 million monthly active fintech users. The two businesses are deeply intertwined: Mercado Pago's credit capabilities allow buyers to finance purchases on Mercado Libre, driving GMV growth; Mercado Libre's transaction data informs Mercado Pago's credit decisions, improving underwriting. Full-year 2025 revenue grew 39% to approximately $28 billion, with Q4 2025 revenue up 45% to $8.8 billion. GMV crossed $65 billion for the year. Total Payment Volume reached $277 billion — 41% growth. Latin America has 650+ million people, rapidly expanding smartphone penetration, and some of the largest informal economies in the world shifting to digital commerce.

Medpace manages Phase I–IV clinical trials for biotech, pharmaceutical, and medical device companies — the testing required to gain regulatory approval before a drug can come to market. CROs are the contract manufacturers of the clinical trial industry: they provide the scientific expertise, regulatory knowledge, investigator networks, and operational infrastructure that allows drug developers to run trials without building their own capabilities. Medpace is differentiated by its scientific rigour and therapeutic depth — it focuses on complex, specialty areas (oncology, cardiology, metabolic disease, endocrinology) where the science is hard and generic CROs struggle. The company is founder-controlled, with CEO August Troendle owning a substantial stake and maintaining an owner-operator culture that prizes long-term quality over short-term growth. Q4 2025 revenue grew 32% to $708.5 million; full-year 2025 was approximately $2.5 billion. Backlog reached $3.03 billion at year-end, with net new business awards of $736.6 million in Q4 — a 39% increase suggesting strong pipeline momentum.

Novo Nordisk invented the modern GLP-1 drug class with Ozempic and Wegovy — drugs that have transformed treatment of diabetes and obesity and generated billions in annual revenue. However, 2025 and 2026 have brought compounding headwinds. Sales in 2025 grew just 10% (well below prior years), with guidance cuts throughout the year citing slower US market expansion, competition, and compounded GLP-1 drugs reducing branded uptake. For 2026, Novo guides for adjusted sales decline of 5–13% due to the "Most Favoured Nations" pricing agreement with US Medicare, semaglutide patent expiry in select international markets, and continued competitive pressure from Eli Lilly's tirzepatide. The critical clinical blow: CagriSema (the next-generation GLP-1 that was expected to re-establish superiority over tirzepatide) failed to demonstrate non-inferiority on weight loss vs tirzepatide in a head-to-head trial in February 2026 — sending shares down 16% in a single session. A new CEO (Maziar Doustdar) took over in August 2025 amid the turmoil.

Evolution provides the live dealer infrastructure for the online gambling industry — the studios, cameras, dealers, and technology that power live blackjack, roulette, baccarat, and game show products on virtually every major gambling platform globally. It is the B2B supplier: casinos (William Hill, DraftKings, BetMGM, Unibet) license Evolution's content and technology rather than building their own. Evolution's 60%+ EBITDA margins reflect the extraordinary economics of a business that invested billions building studio infrastructure and then licenses it to hundreds of customers with minimal marginal cost per additional licensee. The position in live casino is near-monopoly: Evolution has a scale advantage in studios (Malta, Latvia, Georgia, Philippines, Canada), regulatory approval advantage across dozens of jurisdictions, and a product portfolio (Lightning Roulette, Crazy Time) that has become industry-standard entertainment. Revenue growth has slowed from its hyper-growth phase, reflecting market maturation in established geographies, but the US market remains an underpenetrated long-term opportunity as more states legalise online gambling.

Dino Polska operates a network of small-format discount supermarkets across Poland, deliberately targeting towns and villages with populations of 2,000–20,000 that larger chains (Biedronka, Lidl) have historically under-served. The format is distinctive: smaller footprint than a conventional supermarket, a fresh meat counter (unusual for the discount segment), and proximity to residential areas that reduces travel time for daily shopping. The company has opened hundreds of new stores annually since listing in 2017, growing from around 500 to over 2,700 stores by 2025. Poland is a structurally attractive grocery market — a large population, growing disposable incomes, and significant ongoing shift from traditional local shops to modern grocery formats. However, growth has decelerated materially from the exceptional rates of the 2020–2023 period. Same-store sales growth has slowed, margin pressure has increased from wage inflation and energy costs, and competition from Biedronka (Jeronimo Martins) and Lidl has intensified. Revenue in 2025 was approximately PLN 26 billion, though profit growth has been more subdued.