Age 53, graduate of HEC. I began in the investment world by chance as a broker’s analyst. At that time, research was practically non-existent in Paris and I soon realised that I was going to have far more fun inventing an exciting job. I worked for Cheuvreux and then UBS for 13 years, where I managed research on the European retailing sector and research on France. As the years went by, I did less research. Knowing what Carrefour will look like in five years' time is no longer of great interest to anyone, but on the other hand you can spend time punting on the next quarterly sales figure or, better still, fret with a designer of "sophisticated" derivative products who prays that the Carrefour share price will be between €32 and €33 twelve months later (unfortunately I had lost my pendulum). In short, all this was more like looking into a crystal ball than investment, and the subprime crisis proved the point clearly! I had had an opportunity to work with François Badelon at the start of my career and we shared a number of principles, notably that it is better to buy a €100 share with a €50 bank note rather than move in line with the analysts' consensus. It was clear, I had to join Amiral Gestion, and I did so in 2010.
Age 53, graduate of HEC. I began in the investment world by chance as a broker’s analyst. At that time, research was practically non-existent in Paris and I soon realised that I was going to have far more fun inventing an exciting job. I worked for Cheuvreux and then UBS for 13 years, where I managed research on the European retailing sector and research on France. As the years went by, I did less research. Knowing what Carrefour will look like in five years' time is no longer of great interest to anyone, but on the other hand you can spend time punting on the next quarterly sales figure or, better still, fret with a designer of "sophisticated" derivative products who prays that the Carrefour share price will be between €32 and €33 twelve months later (unfortunately I had lost my pendulum). In short, all this was more like looking into a crystal ball than investment, and the subprime crisis proved the point clearly! I had had an opportunity to work with François Badelon at the start of my career and we shared a number of principles, notably that it is better to buy a €100 share with a €50 bank note rather than move in line with the analysts' consensus. It was clear, I had to join Amiral Gestion, and I did so in 2010.
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