诺玛德投资合伙公司——中期信函(截至2012年6月30日)

2012 · 书信 · 原文约 3296 词
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查卡里亚睡眠有限公司(Sleep, Zakaria and Company, Ltd.)

Sleep, Zakaria and Company, Ltd.

1a, Burnsall Street London England SW3 3SR 电话:+44 (0) 20 7101 1960 传真:+44 (0) 20 7101 1965 Nomad Investment Partnership 中期信函 截至 2012 年 6 月 30 日止期间。

1a, Burnsall Street London England SW3 3SR T: +44 (0) 20 7101 1960 F: +44 (0) 20 7101 1965 Nomad Investment Partnership Interim Letter For the period ended June 30th, 2012.

截至 2012 年 6 月 30 日的累计业绩。Nomad 投资合伙基金 MSCI 世界指数(净值) 美元

追溯期间: Nomad 投资合伙基金 MSCI 世界指数

一年 -5.4% -5.0%

两年 64.2 24.0

三年 126.8 36.6

四年 89.5 -3.7

五年 55.0 -13.9

六年 100.7 6.8

七年 121.1 24.4

八年 179.2 36.9

九年 293.7 69.8

十年 384.2 65.6

自成立日(2001 年 9 月 10 日)起 455.2 56.5

自成立日起年化收益率:

扣除业绩报酬前 17.2% 4.2%

扣除业绩报酬后 15.1%

初始投资 1 美元的价值(扣除业绩报酬前) $5.55 $1.56

上述数据未经审计,按百分比累计收益列示,且一如既往均为扣除业绩报酬前的数据。我们之所以这样列示,是因为 Nomand 的可退还业绩报酬和基于时间的业绩报酬门槛意味着,扣除所有费用后的结果会因申购日期不同而不同,也会因投资者不同而不同。因此,每位合伙人投资 Nomad 所获得的扣除所有费用后的体验都是独一无二的。作为参考,我们也列出了自成立日那一时点起扣除所有费用后的业绩。表格中使用了指数,以便将我们的业绩置于全球大量股票价格的背景下进行对照。Nomad 之所以是 Nomad,其中一个原因就是扎克和我几乎从不花时间思考股票市场指数。我们对这个特定指数的优劣没有强烈感受,如果合伙人们觉得其他指数更合适,我们鼓励他们采用其他指数。无论使用何种衡量标准,我们只要求 Nomad 的业绩需在超长期的时间跨度内进行比较。下面,将同一组业绩报酬前的结果按单个年度增量列示。我们认为,在评估长期投资业绩时,上表可能最为有用。

Cumulative results to June 30th, 2012. Nomad Investment MSCI World Partnership Index (net) US$ Trailing: One year -5.4% -5.0% Two years 64.2 24.0 Three years 126.8 36.6 Four years 89.5 -3.7 Five years 55.0 -13.9 Six years 100.7 6.8 Seven years 121.1 24.4 Eight years 179.2 36.9 Nine years 293.7 69.8 Ten years 384.2 65.6 Since inception (Sept 10th 2001) 455.2 56.5 Annualized since inception: Before performance fees 17.2% 4.2% After performance fees 15.1 Value of a dollar invested at inception (pre-fees) $5.55 $1.56 The figures above are unaudited, presented on a cumulative, percentage gain basis and, as ever, are before fees. We present results in this way as Nomad’s refundable performance fee and time dependent performance fee hurdle mean that the net-of-all- fees results will vary with subscription date, and from investor to investor. Partners will, therefore, each have their own, unique, net-of-all fees experience of investing in Nomad. As a guide, we have also detailed the net-of-all-fees results from one point in time, in this case since inception. An index is used in the table to place our results in context with a broad swathe of share prices from around the world. One of the reasons that Nomad is Nomad is that Zak and I spend almost no time thinking about stock market indices. We do not feel strongly about the merits, or otherwise, of this particular index and we would encourage partners to employ another if they feel it is more appropriate. Whatever the yardstick, we ask only that Nomad be compared over the very long-term. Below, the same pre-fee results are presented in discrete annual increments. In our opinion, it is probably the upper table that is most useful in assessing long-term investment performance.

历年业绩:Nomad 投资合伙基金 vs MSCI 世界指数(净收益,美元)

年份Nomad 投资合伙基金MSCI 世界指数
2012 年(年初至今)23.3%5.9%
2011 年-9.9%-5.5%
2010 年43.9%11.8%
2009 年71.5%30.0%
2008 年-45.3%-40.7%
2007 年21.2%9.0%
2006 年13.6%20.1%
2005 年9.2%9.5%
2004 年22.1%14.7%
2003 年79.6%33.1%
2002 年1.3%-19.9%
2001 年(2001 年 9 月 10 日成立)10.1%3.6%

2001 年 9 月 10 日,当 Zak 和我开始管理合伙基金时,投入 Nomad 的 1 美元,到 2012 年 6 月 30 日已增值为 5.55 美元(未扣除费用);而同期投入上述指数所反映的普通股中的 1 美元,则仅值约 1.56 美元。换一种说法,净资产价值(即扣除费用后)的年复合增长率为 15.1%,而指数的年复合增长率仅为 4.2%。

Calendar Year Results: Nomad Investment MSCI World Partnership Index (net) US$ 2012 year to date 23.3% 5.9% 2011 -9.9 -5.5 2010 43.9 11.8 2009 71.5 30.0 2008 -45.3 -40.7 2007 21.2 9.0 2006 13.6 20.1 2005 9.2 9.5 2004 22.1 14.7 2003 79.6 33.1 2002 1.3 -19.9 2001 (inception Sept 10th 2001) 10.1 3.6 A US dollar invested in Nomad on September 10th 2001, when Zak and I began managing the Partnership, has grown to be worth $5.55 before fees, as of June 30th, whilst a dollar invested over the same period in the average share, as reflected in the index above, would be worth around $1.56. Put a slightly different way, net asset value (i.e. after fees) has compounded at 15.1% per annum, whilst the index has managed 4.2%.

信息即食粮

BBC 广播 4 台《荒岛唱片》七十周年纪念版的嘉宾是博物学家大卫·爱登堡。主持人姬丝蒂·扬这样介绍他:

姬丝蒂·扬:“他看过的世界比任何在世的人都多。他知识的深度和热忱的广度,对我们如何看待这颗星球产生了根本性的影响。从与卢旺达的山地大猩猩挤在一起,到描述不会飞的鸮鹦鹉的脆弱——自然界的奇观就是他的看家本领。这份热情可以一直追溯到少年时代,他骑着自行车穿行在莱斯特郡的乡间,搜寻化石。他说,自己深知没有什么比沉思自然世界更深的快乐了。大卫·爱登堡,你去过南极和北极,你见证了其间所有生命——从热带雨林的树冠到澳大利亚的巨型蚯蚓——这一定是事实,不是吗?而且想到你比任何在世的人都看过更多世界,这真是一个令人震惊的念头。”

Information as Food The castaway for the seventieth anniversary edition of BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs was the naturalist, David Attenborough. Kirsty Young, the host, introduced David Attenborough as follows: Kirsty Young: “He has seen more of the world than any person who has ever lived. The depth of his knowledge and breadth of his enthusiasm have had a fundamental effect on how we view our planet. From sitting hugger-mugger with the mountain gorillas of Rwanda, to describing the fragilities of the flightless Kakapo: the wonders of the natural world are his stock-in-trade. His passion can be traced right back to the days as a lad when he cycled his bike through the Leicestershire countryside trawling for fossils. He says he knows of no deeper pleasure than the contemplation of the natural world. David Attenborough, you visited the North and South Poles, you witnessed all of life in-between from the canopies of the tropical rainforest to giant earthworms in Australia, it must be true, must it not, and it is a quite staggering thought, that you have seen more of the world than anybody else who has ever lived?”

大卫·爱登堡:“嗯……我想是的……但另一方面,记住这一点也很有益:有史以来最伟大的博物学家、对我们的思想影响超过任何人的查尔斯·达尔文,只花了四年时间旅行,其余时间都在思考。”

David Attenborough: “Well…I suppose so…but then on the other hand it is fairly salutary to remember that perhaps the greatest naturalist that ever lived and had more effect on our thinking than anybody, Charles Darwin, only spent four years travelling and the rest of the time thinking.”

Oh!

Oh!

大卫·爱登堡的谦逊令人愉悦,不过也请您留意,他在查尔斯·达尔文身上观察到的那种行为模式:深入学习,退后静思,认真推敲。他认为,恰恰是达尔文做出的贡献更大。换句话说,爱登堡是在说,人的头脑胜过无休止的数据收集。我们可以说得更具体些:大脑的前额皮层负责理性思考和信息处理,只要给它足够的时间深思熟虑,它比感官本身更能理解这个世界。

David Attenborough’s modesty is delightful but notice also, if you will, the model of behaviour he observed in Charles Darwin: study intensely, go away, and really think. It is Darwin, he argues, who has contributed more. In other words, Attenborough is saying that the human mind trumps endless data collection. We could be more specific: the frontal cortex of the brain, which is charged with rational thought and information processing, can make more sense of the world, given enough time to think it through, than the senses themselves can make sense of the world.

在如今这个信息泛滥的世界里,可能有些股市专业人士会争辩说,持续收集数据就是他们的工作。确实,你很容易得出这样的结论:今天需要收集的数据太多,需要观察的变化太多,以至于我们几乎没时间思考了。有些市场从业者甚至会赞同市场研究公司 Brainjuicer 的首席执行官约翰·基伦(John Kearon)提出的严肃观点:“我们的思考远没有我们以为的那么多”——所以别自欺欺人!

In today’s information-soaked world there may be stock market professionals who would argue that constant data collection is the job. Indeed, it could be tempting to conclude that today there is so much data to collect and so much change to observe that we hardly have time to think at all. Some market practitioners may even concur with John Kearon, CEO of Brainjuicer (a market research firm), who makes the serious point, “we think far less than we think we think” - so don’t fool yourself!

尽管扎克和我对约翰·基尔南表示赞赏,但我们更倾向于采用查尔斯·达尔文的方法:淡化数据收集,重在思考。在研究那些真正卓越的企业时,我们发现,它们的成功往往源于一些简单的人类特性:你喝可口可乐时的感受,与喝无名品牌可乐时的感受截然不同;或者,你对一家持续以低价打击竞争对手的企业,与一家快递服务——它真的不辞辛劳多跑一公里上门取件——的感受也可能不同。这些感受的成因,以及激发这些感受的刺激因素,几千年来几乎没有改变。在我们看来,试图理解究竟是什么因素造就了伟大企业时,我们有充足的时间去思考。

Whilst Zak and I applaud John Kearnon, we try to take Charles Darwin’s approach: deemphasise the data collection and think. When we study truly great businesses, we find that very often it has been simple human attributes that have led to their success: you feel differently drinking a Coke than a no brand cola or, you may feel differently towards a business that consistently undercuts the competition in price or, a delivery service that literally goes the extra mile and picks up returned items – and the reason you have these feelings, and the stimuli that produce them, have hardly changed in millennia. When we try to understand the factors that made great businesses great, in our opinion, there is lots of time to think.

比如,一个有趣的观察是:一百年前福特汽车帝国的商业模式(见下图,1927 年绘制),与 1970 年代山姆·沃尔顿(沃尔玛)、1990 年代赫布·凯莱赫(西南航空)以及今天杰夫·贝佐斯(亚马逊)所采用的模式如出一辙。而且,这套模式在未来还会继续造就新的帝国。它之所以经久不衰,道理并不难理解——正如杰夫·贝佐斯指出的:“我无法想象,十年后会有顾客说:‘我真的很爱亚马逊,但我希望他们的价格能再高一点。’”或者抱怨亚马逊不够便利、商品选择太少。

For example, it is interesting to note that the business model that built the Ford empire a hundred years ago and is illustrated in the chart below (dated 1927), is the same that built Sam Walton’s (Wal-Mart) in the 1970s, Herb Kelleher’s (Southwest Airlines) in the 1990s or Jeff Bezos’s (Amazon.com) today. And it will build empires in the future too. The longevity of the model is not difficult to understand as Jeff Bezos pointed out “I can’t imagine that in ten years from now customers are going to say: I really love Amazon, but I wish their prices were a little higher” or Amazon was less convenient, or they had less selection.

图表 1:福特汽车产量与(消费者)成本(1908 年至 1924 年)

Chart 1: Production Volumes and Cost (to the consumer) of Ford Cars 1908 to 1924.

来源:1927 年宾夕法尼亚州富兰克林机械促进会原始报告,推荐“密歇根州底特律的亨利·福特先生”获得该学会的埃利奥特·克雷森奖章。图 A 展示了汽车产量的变化,从零到每年刚过 200 万辆。图 B 描述了福特 T 型车成本(很可能对消费者而言)从 950 美元下降到约 300 美元的走势。X 轴对应的是 1908 年至 1924 年的日历年份。

Source: The original 1927 report of the Franklin Institute of the State of Pennsylvania for the Promotion of the Mechanical Arts, recommending “Mr. Henry Ford, of Detroit, Michigan” for the Institute’s Elliott Cresson Medal. Line A illustrates the volumes of cars produced, in this case from zero to just over two million per annum. Line B describes the decline in cost (probably to the consumer) of the Model T Ford from U$950 to around U$300. The x-axis refers to the calendar years 1908 to 1924.

虽然通往成功的基本商业模式变化不大,而且数量也不多,但仍有大量数据需要处理。那么,我们该如何看待信息呢?

Whilst the basic business models that lead to success don’t change that much and there aren’t that many of them, there is still all that data to deal with. So, how should we think about information?

记者兼科技专家 JP Rangaswami 认为,思考信息最有益的方式,就是像思考食物一样。他的类比甚至可能有一些科学依据。在“昂贵组织假说”中,人类学家莱斯利·爱罗和彼得·惠勒指出,对于一定体型的生物,灵长类的代谢率相对恒定;不同灵长类之间的差异在于组织的平衡,尤其是那些运行成本高的组织——主要是神经系统(包括大脑)和消化系统。在人类身上,我们拥有小胃和大脑;在猪身上,情况正好相反。如果你想要更大的大脑,就必须忍受更小的肠道;当然,更大的大脑提供了思考能力,让你能够组织世界,从而不必持续地觅食。

The journalist and technologist, JP Rangaswami, argues that the most helpful way to think about information is the same way we think about food. His analogy may even have some scientific grounding. In the “Expensive Tissue Hypothesis” anthropologists Leslie Aiello and Peter Wheeler state that for a given body size a primate’s metabolic rate is relatively static, what differs from primate to primate is the balance of tissues, most notably the tissues that are expensive to operate, principally the nervous system (including the brain) and the digestive system. In man we have small stomachs and large brains, in pigs the opposite is true. If you want a larger brain you have to live with a smaller gut, and of course the large brain provides the thinking power to organise the world in such a way that one is not required to constantly graze.

抛开科学不谈,兰加斯瓦米的比喻发人深省:在食物培育上,既有可以自由游走的狩猎采集者,也有通过筑起栅栏来界定所有权的农夫——这在信息领域同样如此,专利法和版权法的本质不正是这样吗?在食物的制作上,我们可以选择精炼的营养(比如一块牛排),也可以选择能混合各种原始营养的自助餐——当我们只得到一个结论,还是要求获得底层数据时,情况也完全一样。

Leaving the science aside, Rangaswami’s analogy is wonderfully provocative: in the cultivation of food there are hunter gatherers who are free to roam, or farmers who put up fences to define ownership; the same is true in information, is this not what patent and copyright law is all about? In the preparation of food we can either choose distilled nutrition (a beef steak, for example) or a smorgasbord that allows for the mixing of raw nutrients; the same is true when we are served with a conclusion or instead ask for the underlying data.

再来看不同之处,例如信息并不总是像食物那样有质量标准。电视上呈现的信息几乎没有标签标注,因此事实与虚构可以被刻意混合,催生了"纪实剧"和"伪纪录片"。文学领域也存在同样的现象,并在丹·布朗《达·芬奇密码》等书籍成功之后流行开来。为避免混淆,一个解决办法也许是为信息标注事实含量,就像我们为食物标注脂肪含量一样。

And then there are the differences, for instance information does not always have food-like quality standards. There is little-to-no labelling of information presented on television, so fact and fiction can be deliberately fused and have given rise to “docudramas” and “mocumentaries”. In literature the same phenomenon exits and has been popularised following the success of books such as Dan Brown’s “The Da Vinci Code”. To avoid confusion, one solution may be to label information for its fact content, in the same way we label food for its fat content.

那么过度消费的影响又是什么呢?作家兼互联网顾问克莱·舍基声称“根本不存在信息过载这回事,只有过滤失败”。用兰加斯瓦米的比喻来说,这意味我们需要考虑数据节食和信息锻炼,防止毒素积累和疾病滋生。“当我看到(摩根·斯普尔洛克的纪录片)《超码的我》时,”兰加斯瓦米在最近一次演讲中开玩笑说,“我开始想,如果一个人连续三十一天不停看福克斯新闻,会发生什么事呢?”确实会怎样呢?

And what of the implications of over-consuming? Clay Shirky, the writer and internet consultant, claimed that “there is no such animal as information overload, only filter failure” which, using Rangaswami’s analogy, implies we need to think about data diets and information exercise to prevent the buildup of toxins and disease. “When I saw [Morgan Spurlock’s documentary film] ‘Super-Size Me’” joked Rangaswami in a recent speech “I started thinking, now what would happen if an individual had thirty- one days nonstop Fox News?” What, indeed?

信息就像食物一样,有保质期——毕竟,下个季度的盈利,到了下个季度就一文不值了。正因如此,扎克和我在评估一家公司时,最看重的信息是那些保质期最长的,权重最高的则是近乎公理的信息:在我们看来,这是最有价值的信息。毫无疑问,查尔斯·达尔文也会同意这一点。

Information, like food, has a sell by date, after all, next quarter’s earnings are worthless after next quarter. And it is for this reason that the information that Zak and I weigh most heavily in thinking about a firm is that which has the longest shelf life, with the highest weighting going to information that is almost axiomatic: it is, in our opinion, the most valuable information. No doubt Charles Darwin would agree.

我们的管理费用 Nomad 的成本补偿式管理费(Zak 和我每月承担运营开支,次月初报销),在不久的将来年化费率将控制在 10 个基点以内。今年也许还达不到,但我们正朝这个方向走。设置管理费对我们来说是一个理念上的决定。我们觉得,管理合伙企业的过程中,我们本身并没有创造价值增量,因此管理费应当覆盖合伙企业的成本,而不应成为利润来源。由此产生的一个副产品是:随着合伙企业规模扩大,管理费占资产的百分比会下降,这样一来,新增的每一美元都能为整体带来一些好处。过去六年里,管理费从大约 50 个基点降到了接近 10 个基点,而且成本方面几乎没有缩减:Zak 和我的薪水在经历了几年家庭自掏腰包的初创模式后已经恢复正常化,我们需要的出行全都照常,我们购买自己看重的研究资源,房租也刚涨过。这对我们的合伙人——主要是慈善机构和慈善基金会——来说,节省的金额并不小:与行业标准 1% 的管理费相比,每年大约节省 1500 万美元,与对冲基金的标准相比则超过 3000 万美元。我们提这一点是为了戳破那个幻觉——投资管理是一种吉芬商品(一种违背常理、需求随价格上涨而上升的商品)。实际上,Zak 和我会更进一步说:激励机制(以及规则)可能会败坏行为,而行业最需要的,或许是一种对错感。当大量金钱四处流动时,对错很难分清。这是一个有争议的想法,但如果能在我们的同行群体中降低管理费,说不定最终会改善整个行业的行为!

Our Management Fee Nomad’s cost-reimbursement management fee (Zak and I meet the costs of running the operation each month and are reimbursed at the beginning of the following month) will have an annual run rate of fewer than ten basis points in the near future. We may not quite get there this year, but we are going in that direction. Our management fee was a philosophical decision for us. We thought that in managing the Partnership we had not added value per se, and so the management fee should meet the Partnership’s costs, but not be a source of profit. A by-product of this is that as the Partnership grows in size the management fee declines as a percentage of assets, and so the incremental dollar brings something to the party, as it were. In the last six years the management fee has fallen from circa fifty basis points to close to ten, and with little scrimping of costs: Zak’s and my salaries have normalised after several years of being in family-holdback-start-up mode, we travel all we need, we purchase the research resources we value, and the rent has just gone up. The saving to our partners, who are mainly charities and endowments for charitable causes, is not trivial: approximately U$15m per annum compared to the industry standard one percent management fee, or over U$30m per annum compared to the hedge fund standard. We mention this to pop the illusion that investment management is a Giffen good (one where, paradoxically, demand rises with price). Indeed, Zak and I would take it a step further and say that incentives (and rules) can de- moralise behaviour, and what the industry needs more than anything, perhaps, is a sense of right and wrong. It can be hard to separate right from wrong when there is so much money sloshing around. It is a contentious thought but, if one could lower management fees across our peer group, one may end up improving aggregate industry behaviour in the process!

行政事务 今年 3 月,我们向美国证券交易委员会注册为豁免报告顾问(Exempt Reporting Advisor)。同样在今年早些时候,自 Nomad 成立以来一直担任独立董事的马丁·伯恩(Martin Byrne)宣布半退休,因此辞去了董事职务。马丁的公司曾是合伙企业的注册办公室所在地,现在也搬了(新地址:1st floor, Landmark Square, 64 Earth Close, P.O. Box 715, KY1-1107, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands)。这些年来,马丁一直是我们出色的顾问,他知道我们祝他一切顺利。接替他的是拉尔夫·伍德福德(Ralph Woodford),一位英籍开曼人,曾任爱丁堡基金管理公司的基金经理和 Coutts 银行的私人银行家。当然,他也知道我们欢迎他。

Housekeeping In March this year we registered as an Exempt Reporting Advisor with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Also earlier in the year Martin Byrne, who has been an independent director of Nomad since its formation, announced his semi-retirement and so resigned as a director. As Martin’s firm housed the Partnership’s registered office that has also moved (to: 1st floor, Landmark Square, 64 Earth Close, P.O. Box 715, KY1-1107, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands). Martin has been excellent council over the years, and he knows we wish him well. His replacement is Ralph Woodford, a British Caymanian, former fund manager with Edinburgh Fund Managers and a private banker for Coutts. And of course, he knows we welcome him too.

最后,感谢你们的耐心和持续认购所隐含的信任。我们上一次写信宣布 Nomad 重新开放是在 2008 年 10 月,那时正处于股市周期的谷底,除少数几个勇敢的订阅者之外,真是静得能听到针掉在地上的声音!我们决定在新年重新开放时,心里就记着那次经历,但这次需求之大,以至于两周内我们就不得不再次关闭——真是天壤之别!Zak 和我不喜欢开放状态,我们乐于保持隐士般的状态,专心做自己的事,完成工作。Nomad 的规模也到了这样的地步:如果成长过大,可能会为未来埋下隐患。我们觉得尚未驶入那片水域,但仍然时刻留意暗礁。

Lastly, thank you for your patience and the trust implied in continued subscriptions. The last time we wrote to you announcing Nomad’s reopening was in October 2008, in the pit of the stock market cycle and, with the exception of a few hardy types who subscribed, you could have heard a pin drop! We had that experience in mind when we decided to reopen in the New Year, but this time demand was such that within two weeks we had to close again – quite a contrast! Zak and I do not like being open, and we are happy with our hermit-like state, minding our own business and getting the job done. Nomad is also of such a size that we may risk storing up problems for the future should we grow too large. We do not think we are navigating those waters yet but we keep an eye out for rocks, nonetheless.

一如既往,感谢你们的温和态度。此致,敬礼 尼古拉斯·斯利普 我们的脚注 据说,印度某地火车站有一个售票亭,窗口上方挂着一块牌子,写着:“此处无欺诈”。我们写这些警示语,也是出于同样的精神。免责声明归结为一句话——如果你选择相信这些内容,那你就得自担风险。哎呀!我们也很难逃脱这个结论,除了对错误、遗漏免责并不提供任何保证之外,做其他任何事情都没什么意义——请务必核实我们说的每一句话,当我们出错时告诉我们,并原谅我们的错误。我们向你保证这一点:我们是人,我们会犯错,但我们的错误是诚实的。虽然我们无意误导,但我们也无法保证这些信函中的信息,也无法保证我们的一些想法不会被曲解。作为投资者,我们尽最大努力做好工作,我们本着善意写下这些信函,向合伙人通报和解释我们在合伙企业背景下的行动和思考。我们希望这些信函能被以同样的精神来阅读。

As always, we thank you for your gentle approach, Yours sincerely Nicholas Sleep Our Footnotes There is, we are told, a ticket kiosk at a railway station somewhere in India with a sign above the window that reads, “No Bamboozlement Here”. It is in the same spirit that we attempt these cautionary words. Disclaimers boil down to the following statement – if you choose to believe any of this, then you are on your own. Yikes! It will be hard for us to escape this conclusion too, and it makes little sense for us to do anything but disclaim liability for errors, omissions and offer no warranties – please, check everything we say, let us know when we are wrong and forgive our errors. We do promise you this: we are human, we make mistakes, but our mistakes are honest ones. Although we do not intend to mislead, we also cannot guarantee the information in these letters, or that some of our ideas may be interpreted in ways we do not intend. As investors we are trying to do as good a job as we can and we write these letters in good faith to inform and educate partners on our actions and thinking in the context of the Partnership. We hope that they will be read in the same spirit in which they are written.

常识告诉你,股票的价格和价值可能相差很大,虽然我们不希望出现这种情况,但我们也意识到,资本永久性损失是可能的。我们的合伙企业投资集中在相对较少的几个项目上,可能比许多其他基金更为集中,因此我们的业绩会比许多同行波动更大。Nomad 也是一家非常长期的合伙企业。我们认为它不适合投资期限短于五年的投资者。我们也认为它不适合深陷委托代理问题冲突的投资者。如果你有任何不安,那么我们猜测,Nomad 不适合你。

Common sense tells you that the price and value of shares can vary greatly, and whilst we do not aim for this, we also recognize that permanent impairment of capital is possible. Our Partnership is concentrated in relatively few investments, perhaps more concentrated than many others, and as such our results will be more volatile than many of our peers. Nomad is also a very long-term Partnership. We do not think it is suitable for invest ors with time frames less than five years. We also do not think Nomad is suitable for investors overly conflicted with principal-agent issues. If you are at all uncomfortable then, we suspect, Nomad is not for you.

Nomad 投资合伙企业的历史上,有过两位普通合伙人:从 2001 年成立至 2006 年 9 月期间的马拉松资产管理公司,以及从 2006 年 9 月至今的 Sleep, Zakaria and Company。Zak 和我自成立以来一直负责合伙企业的投资决策,最初作为马拉松的员工,之后在我们自己的公司(为管理 Nomad 而设立)工作。冒险之旅仍在继续……一些行政事务说明(后排的别打瞌睡!)

The Nomad Investment Partnership has had two General Partners, Marathon Asset Management for the period from inception in 2001 to September 2006, and Sleep, Zakaria and Company from September 2006 until the present day. Zak and I have been responsible for the investment decisi ons of the Partnership since inception, formerly as employees of Marathon and then at our own firm, which was set up for the purpose of managing Nomad. The adventure continues… Some Notes on Housekeeping (stay awake at the back!)

这封是中期信函,与每年 1 月发给投资者的年度信函一起,构成了我们与合伙人沟通的主要形式。在这些信函中,我们努力诚实、详尽地提供所有信息——如果角色互换,我们是其他基金的投资者,我们也会希望得到这些信息。我们持有股票的时间非常长,并且意识到,更频繁或更详细的报告可能不必要,甚至适得其反。我们的巨著——信函全集,可向 Galactic 总部的 Amanda([email protected])索取。需要大量咖啡。Nomad 的合伙人每六个月还会通过单独邮寄收到一份完整的投资明细表,详细列出我们所有的投资。此外,春季你会收到由 Grant Thornton 审计的 Nomad 年度账目。每月,Nomad 的管理人(不是我们!)——爱尔兰都柏林的 Phoenix Financial Services——会向你发送账户报表。如有报表问题,请致电 Gavin Gray 及其团队(+353 18 450 8161)。美国应税投资者也应如此,因为 Gavin 及其团队也负责准备他们的税务证明(1099 表)。

This is the interim letter and, combined with the annual letter sent to investors in January, is the main format we use to communicate to our partners. In these letters we have tried to honestly and thoroughly provide all the information we would seek if the tables were turned and we were investors in someone else’s fund. We own shares for very long periods and we are conscious that more frequent or detailed reporting may be unnecessary and even counterproductive. A copy of our magnum opus, the full Collection of Letters, is avail able upon request from Amanda at Galactic HQ ([email protected]). Lots of coffee required. Partners in Nomad will also receive a full copy of our Schedule of Investments by separate post, every six months, which lists all of our investments in detail. In addition, in the Spring you will receive Nomad’s annual accounts, audited by Grant Thornton. Each month statements of account are sent to you by Nomad’s administrator (not us!), Phoenix Financial Services in Dublin, Ireland. Please call Gavin Gray and his team (+353 18 450 8161) with your statement queries. As should taxable US investors as Gavin and his team prepare their tax certificates (1099s) as well.

合伙人应当随时认为 Zak 和我都能通过电话联系到,我们那(有点破旧的)前门也向访客敞开。我们欢迎你们的到来,但如果我们没什么新东西可说,也请不要太失望:我们希望这些内容已经写在信函中了。

Partners should always consider Zak and me to be available at the end of the phone and our (s omewhat shabby) front door open to visitors. And whilst we welcome your company, please don’t be too disappointed if we don’t have much that is new to say: we hope it is in the letters already.

法律脚注 业绩数据由 Nomad 的管理人 Phoenix Fund Services 提供,并由 Grant Thornton 在其年度审计中审计,该审计在我们信函发布后进行。

Legal Footnotes Performance numbers are produced by Phoenix Fund Services, Nomad’s administrator, and are audited by Grant Thornton in their annual audit, which follows publication of our letters.

在我们的信函中,我们将合伙企业的有限合伙人和 Nomad 投资公司(母基金)的普通股股东都称为“合伙人”。我们这样做是为了传达我们寻求的一种关系:投资者是在共同经历和命运中的合伙人,他们也有所贡献。我们并不意味着在母基金的股东与 Nomad 或 Sleep, Zakaria and Company, Ltd. 之间存在严格法律意义上的合伙企业关系。

In our letters we refer to both limited partners in the Partnership, and common shareholders in the Nomad Investment Company (feeder fund) as “Partners”. We do this to convey a relationship we seek in which our investors are partners in a shared experience and destiny, in which they too have something to contribute. We do not mean to suggest that there is a pa rtnership, in the strict, legal, sense of the word, between the shareholders in the feeder fund and Nomad, or Sleep, Zakaria and Company, Ltd.

本文件由 Sleep, Zakaria and Company, Ltd. 发布,该公司由金融服务管理局(FSA)授权并监管(编号:451772)。本文件仅发送给有兴趣接收的人士,不得转发。本通讯仅面向并仅针对:(a)英国境外的人士;(b)《2000 年金融服务与市场法(金融促销)令 2005》(“该法令”)第 19(5) 条定义的投资专业人士;或(c)该法令第 49(2) (a) 和 (d) 条所述的高净值公司、非法人协会、合伙企业和高价值信托的受托人,以及该法令第 49(1) 条范围内的其他可以合法接收通讯的人士。

This document is issued by Sleep, Zakaria and Company, Ltd., which is authorized and regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) (No. 451772). This document is only sent to people who have an interest in receiving it and is not for onward distribut ion. This communication is being made only to and is directed only at: (a) persons outside the United Kingdom; ( b) investment professionals, as defined in Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005 (t he "Order"); or (c) high net worth companies, unincorporated associations and partnerships and trustees of high value trusts as described in Article 49(2) (a) and (d) of the Order, and other persons to whom it may otherwise lawfully be communicated, fal ling within Article 49(1) of the Order.

Nomad 投资合伙企业并非《2000 年金融服务与市场法》(“FSMA”)下的认可计划。鉴于 Nomad 投资者基础的性质,向 FSA 和金融服务补偿计划追索的权利可能不适用。

The Nomad Investment Partnership is not a recognized scheme under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (“FSMA”). Given the nature of Nomad’s investor base, recourse to the FSA and the Financial Services Compensation Scheme may