Our guest on the show this week was Sean O’Connor, the CEO of StoneX, a $1.2 billion dollar market cap financial services company that generated over $50 billion in revenue in fiscal year 2020. Sean became the CEO of International Assets Holding Company in 2002 and was a key architect of the 2009 transformational merger with FCStone that serves as the foundation of what StoneX is today. During his tenure, the company has been quite acquisitive and has added several new product lines and geographies. Currently, StoneX is involved in a number of businesses, including:
- Risk management and hedging services
- Commodities trading
- Equity securities trading
- International payments; and
- Foreign exchange services
Sean has been a steward of a stock that is now 3.5 times higher than it was when the FCStone merger closed, a period of time in which book value per share is up over 4 times. In this wide-ranging discussion, we covered:
- Sean’s philosophy on M&A and on integrating companies
- How StoneX approaches risk management and what the company has learned from prior mistakes
- The process of incubating and funding an international payments business
- How financial services companies can distinguish themselves from competitors; and
- What it takes to compound shareholders’ wealth at ~30% over 18 years
For anyone who enjoys conversations about capital allocation and how to build a culture within a company where people are the main assets, we think this was an enlightening interview.
Please enjoy the conversation at the following sites:
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/creating-a-100-bagger-with-sean-oconnor-ceo-of/id1579124518?i=1000532946871
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFUm-FWlKsY
Podbean: https://compounders.podbean.com/e/creating-a-100-bagger-with-sean-o-connor-ceo-of-stonex-group-inc-nasdaq-snex/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5FcDkVsx1scxJQuq3Ee5nX
You can watch the podcast below.
If you missed the last podcast with Tom Gayner, co-CEO of Markel Corporation, you can access it here.
As always, if you have any comments, feedback, or guest recommendations, please contact us at podcast@covestreetcapital.com. You can also follow the podcast on Twitter @ https://twitter.com/CompoundersPod.
