June 2023
Sometimes you have a month in which just too many individual stocks in our concentrated portfolio have to give way at the same time. June 2023 was such a month. There is a clear cause for some shares. For example, DSM and Stora Enso unexpectedly announced a reorganization, in which, as usual, the short term costs outweigh the long term benefits. In addition, there are companies – mostly small caps or less well-known companies – that come under pressure in troubled times due to interest rate hikes and recession fears, without there being a clearly demonstrable reason. Examples in our portfolio are SMS and Airtel Africa. All in all, this resulted in a price drop of the fund by 2.3%, while markets on average rose (MSCI Europe Index +2.4%, the Mid Cap Index +0.9% and the Small Cap Europe Index +0.8%). Is there any positive news to report? Certainly! For example, the new financial targets of the Danish company Ørsted were well received by the market and the share price rose by 6%. Bloomsbury, the British publisher and data supplier for schools and universities, was also rewarded (also +6%) for good results in the recently closed financial year.
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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.