Experts in European equities
Several of Danske Invest's European equity funds deliver strong results.
One of the funds with strong results is Danske Invest Europe Focus, which was one of the very best performing funds among 1,500 European funds in its category with a return of more than 29%, well above the benchmark return of just over 17%. The fund invests in around 30 large European companies and is managed by chief portfolio manager Henrik Husted Knudsen.
Well beyond Europe’s borders
Together with his team, Henrik analyses companies thoroughly before including them in the portfolio. Dutch brewer Heineken became part of Danske Invest Europe Focus about four years ago. The stock gained about 40% in 2012, making a major contribution to the return on the fund, and Henrik anticipates further, albeit probably somewhat less rapid, improvements:
»During its time in the portfolio, Heineken has gone from being a company with a primarily European focus to being more of a global player with a local focus.«
This has been achieved by acquiring local brewers such as Femsa in Mexico and Asia Pacific Breweries. This business model has created a very strong market position for Heineken in South America and several countries in Africa and Asia.
»In Nigeria, for example, Heineken has around 60% of the market through the local brand Star. Beer consumption in Nigeria is still relatively low, but is expected to rise as purchasing power increases, so I believe this to be a market with real potential.«
Deepwater drilling equipment
Norwegian company Aker Solutions also boosted the fund’s return in 2012, its share price almost doubling over the course of the year. The oil service company has a strong market position in drilling and production equipment for deepwater fields, which currently account for just 5-6% of global oil production, but Henrik expects this figure to rise given that many of the oilfields discovered in the past decade have been in deep water – which spells good growth opportunities for Aker Solutions.
When assessing the company’s potential, he is also impressed by the way the company has managed to improve its processes to the extent that it can now produce significantly more at its existing production facilities. This was confirmed when Henrik and the rest of the team visited the company’s facilities in Aberdeen and Kristiansand in 2012.
»We last visited Aker Solutions in Kristiansand in August 2012, where the company presented plans to double its sales over the next five years while also increasing its earnings.«
