Ron Brierley Quotes

105 Ron Brierley Quotes

1 2 3



[In 2003 on having bought 51 percent of Tyndall Australia through GPG.] If we just closed the doors - which would be a rather negative approach - we would actually get back more than we have invested [and returning the capital]. So we never really felt at risk.
Ron Brierley

[In 2003.] You have to make some bad investments on the way - not making bad investments suggests that you’re not making any investments. So if you can have half a dozen bad ones, the odds are that you’ve made twenty or thirty good ones.
Ron Brierley

[In 2003.] We’re here for today, not for some distant undefined future time. We take the profit, close the file and move onto the next one.
Ron Brierley

[In 2003.] Gary [Weiss] reads our trust deeds in the bath.
Ron Brierley

[In 2003.] It’s like the golfer Gary Player said, ‘The more I practice, the luckier I get’. It’s the same in the sharemarket - the sounder and more logical the work you do, and the extent of it, it won’t always pay off but overall it has to eventually. So the sounder the advice, the less exciting and the less romantic it is.
Ron Brierley

[In 2003.] Never, never, never wear grey shoes.
Ron Brierley

[In March 2004.] It's always just a matter of judgment and weighing up the odds, and trying to make them work in your favour. You won't always win, but overall you should be a winner.
Ron Brierley

[In March 2004.] Corporate governance - it's a fancy term, but the principles of corporate governance have always been there, and it's a very basic and natural discipline, it's not something that requires manuals and lots of rule books. I think the emphasis on so-called corporate governance is so far over the top it's doing a disservice to shareholders, rather than assisting them. It's tending to turn companies from entrepreneurial entities into bureaucratic entities.
Ron Brierley

[In March 2004.] The companies that talk loudest about corporate governance and fill up their annual reports with the most number of pages are those that are most likely to be cheating their shareholders behind the scenes.
Ron Brierley

[In May 2006.] Steady growth in value - that is the real performance criteria for GPG. Over 15 years there is no room for any excuses.
Ron Brierley



[In May 2006 at almost 69 years of age.] Does the mind ever retire? Retire is a relative term…
Ron Brierley

[In May 2006.] It is harder to find good value, I reckon, at the present time. You can find more speculative value from someone around the corner - but some assets are fetching fancy prices. Sooner or later there has to be a correction to the euphoric climate. It doesn't mean there will be a crash overnight, but I think we are nearer to the top of the cycle than the bottom. But then a year ago you could have said the same thing.
Ron Brierley

[In 2008 on sending his investing newsletter for six months to every listed New Zealand company and many other major companies and then sending all the companies a bill for six months’ subscription.] Quite a few paid up. Quite a few sent angry letters and quite a few did the obvious, smart thing and totally ignored it.
Ron Brierley

[In 2008.] Without being immodest, I developed a knowledge of company law and accounting, which is probably far superior to some who sat there and passed the theoretical subjects.
Ron Brierley

[In 2008.] I had one good idea… it was a good idea 50 years ago and it’s still a good idea today. That was that some companies were worth more dead than alive. That sounds a bit stark, but that’s the basic principle.
Ron Brierley

[In 2008.] If you make ten calls, nine will be a dead loss - but the 10th will pay off.
Ron Brierley

[In 2008 on him going back to the first annual report and reading them in chronological order if he is interested in the company.] Following the chronology, for many people, would seem a complete waste of time. But nevertheless, I still do it. By the time you reach the current period, this approach often means you know more about the company than many of those people currently involved in it.
Ron Brierley

[In 2008.] Retirement? What does that mean? There’s only the one true retirement – that’s when they carry you out. You definitely have to remain intellectually active and I think I have some responsibility [to do that] in terms of my corporate background and experience. But also I quite enjoy being active - and personally, I think that someone who switches off intellectually, they’re on the way out.
Ron Brierley

[In 2008.] The weak team always gets the worst deal.
Ron Brierley

[In November 2011 at the age of 74.] I've got a sort of philosophy there's only one way you really retire. It's fairly permanent.
Ron Brierley



[In November 2011.] I'm looking to continue to be active. GPG had a great run for 20 years… So nothing too big, nothing too ambitious, but certainly, I'm looking to continue to have an involvement in the corporate world and be positive and hopefully do something for other investors as well.
Ron Brierley

[In November 2011.] I've never seen myself retiring.
Ron Brierley

[In November 2011.] If the results are there then the investors will be there.
Ron Brierley

[In May 2012 at the age of almost 75.] I may be slowing up but I'm not fading out.
Ron Brierley

[In November 1987.] I’ve always believed that if the deal is sound, the money is there.
Ron Brierley


Bonus

Developing a mystique was a stated element of your modus operandi. He never fully explained anything to anyone. He believed this draws people to you, people with ideas and money, and in a takeover it affects people by putting them on guard.
Murray Williams

Ron has only ever been interested in one thing really and that’s money. If he had a shilling it was a prisoner straight away.
May Brierley (Ron Brierley’s mother)

BIL’s not the same without Sir Ron.
Loyal follower

If you gave Ron, Bruce [Hancox], Rodney [Price] or Paul [Collins] all a sum of money and told them to do what they wanted with it, Ron would have more than them at the end of five years, that’s for sure. Ron is a hoarder and does things his own way. You’ve got a basic difference. He’s a brilliant analyst but he’s more than that. Whatever you say about Ron, he created BIL, IEL and IEP. You can’t take that away from him.
Bill Loewenthal

If there’s a way, Brierley will find it.
Ken Douglas

What shareholder ever gave money to BIL because of Paul Collins or Bruce Hancox?
Peter Pedley

[On Ron Brierley.] Although he appears to be a good gambler, he never really gambles. His thorough preparation is the key to his superb evaluation of financial risk.
Selwyn Cushing

Ron and Gary Weiss don't often come second when they fight, and when they do, they usually walk away with a lot of money.
One investment banker

[On Ron Brierley.] Ron, in my mind, is the best bush lawyer I've ever come across, with one of the finest grasps of legal principles.
Gary Weiss

I say to Ron sometimes when we've struck gold - it's not bad for two little boys from Wellington.
Gary Weiss



1 2 3


Return from Ron Brierley Quotes to Quoteswise.com