December 2024: A positive end to the year
December is a month with very little corporate news and then the direction of markets is often determined by macroeconomic news. The two interest rate cuts by European and US central banks are certainly positive, but were not sufficiently surprising to give European stock markets a big boost in the last month of the year. Nevertheless, sentiment around some of our small caps was indeed positive, leading us to a modest return of +1.1%. On average, European equities in the MSCI Europe index achieved a -0.5% return. At 7-8 times the expected cash flow, the current valuation of the shares in our fund is very low. We see a lot of room for a positive share price development when attention increases again for low-rated shares of dividend-paying companies with strong balance sheets. Throughout 2024, investors in the Sustainable Dividends Value Fund achieved a return of 5.4% and over 65% since its launch in 2016.
Newsletter
The fund
Sustainable Dividends offers an investment fund that invests in a well-diversified portfolio of European companies at the forefront of the sustainability transition. Our focus is on a disciplined investment process, while applying both qualitative and quantitative financial criteria.