May 2024
Hopes for lower interest rates and fears of a return of inflation are still major drivers of European stock markets. Recent macroeconomic figures show that inflation in Europe is reasonably under control for now. This means that the likelihood of an ECB rate cut in June is high. The wage growth of many European consumers this year is much higher than inflation, giving them more to spend. Many companies supplying consumers will be able to benefit from this this year. In the stock market, we saw this increasing optimism reflected, and this led to European equity markets rising by an average of 3.3%. Good results from several companies in our fund, together with increasing interest in small and mid-caps, led the Sustainable Dividends Value Fund to rise 5.1%. We see that some companies have since revised upwards their initially cautious expectations for 2024. We expect that the growing optimism among the management of these companies, will lead to an improvement in corporate results during the year. Since launching in 2016, we have now achieved over 70% returns.
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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.