The companies controlling their own destiny, on sale at unusually attractive prices

Please note, this interview was recorded Thursday, 21 May, 2026

If you could buy a dollar of value for much less than a dollar, would you?

If you consider yourself a serious investor, the answer is 'every day and twice on Sundays'.

Well, that's what Aoris Chief Investment Officer Stephen Arnold believes is on offer at the moment for investors who are patient and disciplined.

Indeed, Arnold's own patience and discipline are being tested in the current market environment, where his conviction-driven strategy focused on quality compounders has endured a period of relative underperformance.

He has seen this movie before, however, and the process – and long-term performance – have stood up. He has no reason to believe they will not again.

The reason is simple. While parts of the market have been captivated by banks, insurers and artificial intelligence beneficiaries, many of Aoris' portfolio companies have continued to grow earnings, expand margins and increase their intrinsic value. Yet in several cases, share prices have failed to reflect that progress.

For Arnold, that disconnect has created an unusually attractive opportunity. 

As he puts it, investors can currently access "businesses that we expect to continue to grow in intrinsic value at a very healthy rate, on sale today at unusually attractive prices."

In the interview above, Arnold explains what defines an 'Aoris quality' business, why companies that control their own destiny remain central to the firm's philosophy, how he is assessing AI-related risks across the portfolio, and why the current portfolio holdings continue to strengthen his conviction despite recent market scepticism.

INTERVIEW SUMMARY

Quality means controlling your own destiny

For Aoris, quality investing extends well beyond strong balance sheets or consistent earnings growth.

Arnold says the firm looks for businesses with leadership positions in growing markets, durable competitive advantages, long operating histories and multiple avenues for future growth. Most importantly, however, they want businesses that can largely determine their own outcomes.

"We much prefer businesses in control of their own destiny", says Arnold. 

That means businesses whose success is not heavily dependent on interest rates, commodity prices, economic cycles or government intervention. Instead, Aoris seeks companies that can continue creating value regardless of the broader macro backdrop.

The attraction is simple. If a business can consistently become more valuable over time, investors can have far greater confidence about what its future looks like three, five and ten years from now.

Reporting season strengthened conviction

While some market participants remain concerned about the impact of artificial intelligence on parts of the portfolio, Arnold believes recent earnings results have largely reinforced the investment case.

"There is no business in the portfolio where the results have come in below our expectations."

Across the portfolio, Aoris saw good revenue growth, expanding margins and continued profitability.

Among the standouts were enterprise software leaders Microsoft (NYSE: MSFT) and SAP (NYSE: SAP), which continue to grow despite concerns that AI could disrupt their businesses. Arnold also highlighted strong performance from data and analytics businesses Experian (LON: EXPN) and RELX (NYSE: RELX), arguing that proprietary datasets become even more valuable as AI adoption increases.

Elsewhere, industrial distributor Grainger (NYSE: GWW) delivered strong double-digit growth and margin expansion, while contract catering giant Compass Group (LON: CPG) continued to win new business while improving profitability.

Why Visa impressed most

If Arnold had to nominate one result that stood above the rest, it was Visa (NYSE: V).

The payments giant delivered underlying growth of around 17%, significantly ahead of broader economic growth rates.

According to Arnold, investors continue to underestimate the runway remaining in the global shift from cash and cheques to digital payments.

"It's quite early in Europe. There are domestic payment networks that are losing share to Visa and also MasterCard."

Beyond transaction growth, Visa continues to expand its value proposition through fraud prevention, identity verification and security services. Arnold argues that those capabilities become increasingly important as AI-driven fraud becomes more sophisticated.

Cintas shows what self-determination looks like

Arnold points to Cintas (NASDAQ: CTAS) as a textbook example of a company controlling its own destiny.

The company is America's leading uniform rental and facility services provider, but its opportunity extends well beyond uniforms.

"There are millions of Americans who wear uniforms every day. A small portion of them are Cintas customers, and around that, there are many, many services Cintas provides that allow them to be more relevant to more customers."

The result is a business that continues to deepen customer relationships, expand services and generate growth independent of broader economic conditions.

"Cintas keeps its customers on average for more than 25 years and wins a lot more of them every year."

For Aoris, that combination of customer loyalty, recurring demand and multiple growth levers creates exactly the type of resilience they seek.

AI remains a question worth asking

Arnold acknowledges that AI remains one of the most significant areas of investor debate, particularly for software businesses.

Rather than dismissing those concerns, Aoris has spent considerable time stress-testing its assumptions and examining whether new AI-enabled competitors are genuinely threatening incumbents.

Using SAP as an example, Arnold argues that replacing mission-critical enterprise software remains an extraordinarily high hurdle.

"It's like the brains and the heart of the world's 10,000 largest organisations and that's a very, very high bar for a new piece of software."

After months of analysis, the firm believes the evidence remains supportive.

"We think the evidence is pretty supportive that those businesses do indeed continue to stay relevant while there's a lot of AI noise going around the edges." 

Managed Fund

Aoris International Fund B

Global Shares

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