Ambit Coffee Can
Ambit PMS | Equity | | PMSIME's View on Ambit Coffee Can
Strategy
Strategy focused on High Quality Franchises
Investment Fund
Would recommend that investors seeking to invest in this strategy invest instead with the strategy's original team who now runs a similar strategy at Marcellus (which carries lower churn risk and a team that prudently follows the philosophy).
Fund's Strategy View
Ambit's Coffee Can Portfolio follows its philosophy of only investing in the highest quality business franchises (often disregarding valuations). It focuses on high-quality franchises that can sustain their competitive advantages over long periods of time, regardless of the disruptions that they may face. This strategy has also demonstrated the ability to deliver sustained out-performance.
Fund Performance
The fund has underperformed peers in the last 5yr trailing returns. In terms of longer-term annual performance, performance consistency has been mixed, with the fund having outperformed & underperformed the bechmark roughly in half the years.
IME's View on Ambit PMS
View on AMC
Ambit PMS is in a sustained phase of evolving its core investment team, following the departure of key members to establish Marcellus in 2018. While Ambit's founding leadership remains stable, significant additions and changes within the investment management functions, particularly at the portfolio manager level, have occurred primarily since 2020-2021. For instance, the Head of PMS & Portfolio Manager joined in around 2021, and the fund manager for their flagship Coffee Can Portfolio was appointed as recently as late 2023. This indicates that a substantial part of the current core investment team is relatively new in their specific roles at Ambit post-2020. The risk of further talent migration remains a key concern, potentially impacting strategy consistency and long-term performance stability during this rebuilding phase.
AMC's Pedigree
Ambit PMS, part of the Ambit Group known for its strengths in investment banking and equity research, focuses on investing in high-quality businesses with strong accounting and corporate governance standards.
AMC Team
Ambit PMS rebuilt its core investment team after the 2018 Marcellus exodus; this largely non-founding team has consolidated primarily since 2020. Consequently, Ambit's pre-2018 track record is not applicable to the current team, and the relative newness of this core unit implies that churn risk remains a key concern for investors.
Investment Philosophy
Ambit's investment philosophy focuses on acquiring high-quality businesses with strong management and clean accounting, which is consistently applied across all strategies.
Ambit Investment Advisors Coffee Can-Investment Strategy
Focus on high quality business that can sustain over long period regardless of disruption they face
While most companies are exposed to disruptions, there are a handful of Indian companies in India that have the capability of delivering consistent 15%+ earnings growth, regardless of the disruptions that they face. Ambit’s Coffee Can Strategy focuses on such high-quality franchises that can sustain their competitive advantages over long periods of time, regardless of the disruptions that they may face.While most companies are exposed to disruptions, there are a handful of Indian companies in India that have the capability of delivering consistent 15%+ earnings growth, regardless of the disruptions that they face. Ambit’s Coffee Can Strategy focuses on such high-quality franchises that can sustain their competitive advantages over long periods of time, regardless of the disruptions that they may face. Search for these high-quality franchises are driven by:- Seeking for companies having unique DNA: Focused on core business, IT as a backbone, Independent board, Professional management, Evolving competitive advantage
- Consistent returns with minimal risk
- Investing in companies that have consistent earnings rather than volatile earnings
- Holding it forever (as long as its competitive strengths sustain) rather than just timing it well.
Coffee Can Success Pillars driven by:
- Lower drawdowns during downturns
- low churn
- Timing is futile
KEY TENETS
- Consistent track record: Excellent financial track record of revenue and earning growth for over 10-20 years.
- Long-term wealth creation: Intends to provide 20-25% earnings CAGR over the long term with a volatility of portfolio similar to govt bonds-holding period>3 years.
- Low churn: Highly concentrated portfolio with 10-15 stocks and intended churn of less than 1 stock per year.
- Timing market: Avoid attempting to time markets.
- Market leaders: Select companies which are leaders in B2C sectors and those that dominate their market and possess an impenetrable competitive advantage.
Trailing Performance
| 1yr | 3yr | 5yr | Since Inception | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ambit Coffee Can | -0.4 | 11.6 | 15.3 | 14.6 |
| S&P BSE 500 | -6.6 | 14.7 | 19.2 | 13.3 |
| Alpha over Broad Mkt BM | 6.2 | -3.1 | -3.9 | 1.3 |
Performance as of: 30-Sep-25 | Inception Date: 20-Jun-17 | Performance are post-fees, pre-taxes. Global funds denominated in USD or fund currency.
Investment team
Siddharth Bothra | 3-star rated FM
FM | 21 yrs Experience | 2 yrs at current firm
Past Experience: Motilal Oswal MF (FM), Aclehmy (Analyst)
Siddharth has more than two decades of experience in equities and asset management. His expertise spans large-cap, midcap, flexicap and hybrid funds. Prior to Ambit, He was in Motilal Oswal for 18 years and was the FM for their Focused 25 and Hybrid Fund.
Trilok Agarwal | 2-star rated FM
FM | 18 yrs Experience | 3 yrs at current firm
Past Experience: Birla Life Insurance (FM), Dymon Asia Consultant (Investment Consultent)
Trilok has over 16 years of experience in Investment Management. Prior to Ambit, he as a key Investment member at Aditya Birla Sun Life managing funds over 500mn$, He was also associated with Dymon Asia Capital briefly.
Bhargav Buddhadev | 3-star rated FM
FM | 19 yrs Experience | 2 yrs at current firm
Past Experience: Kotak MF (FM)
Bhargav has over 18 years of experience in equity research. Prior to joining Ambit, he worked with Kotak Mutual Fund and also worked with Ambit Institutional Equities.
