It’s been tough times recently for managers of small cap equities in Europe. In fact, as at the end of October no less than 80% of small cap managers have underperformed the MSCI Europe Small Cap index year-to-date. French and German managers have been particularly hard hit given their propensity to overweight their home markets, which have been amongst the worst performers (the CAC Small CS90 Index is down 10.7% and the Deutsche Börse SDAX Price Index -7.4% at the time of writing).
Painfully – and with an active share ratio of 98% – we are right in the middle of the 80% that have underperformed, and we have been looking at the data behind the movements to shed some light on why so many managers have been suffering.Read more
Two years ago, Philip Best and Marc Saint John Webb illustrated their investment approach to minority investing by reference to the theme of how ‘constructive engagement’ with smaller listed companies could accelerate returns and reduce risk. This approach to investing in ‘small caps’ was compared to Private Equity minority investing in ‘midmarket’ companies.
The year 2023 saw significant stock market gains worldwide, but for anyone investing in European Small/Micro-cap, an invitation to the party was notably absent. Why bother trying to identify winners from thousands of small-cap stocks when you can simply invest in a few of the largest, best-known companies globally and achieve better returns?
Over the 20-year history of the Quaero Capital Funds (Lux) – Argonaut fund (the Fund), we have adhered to our investment philosophy and fundamentals/value approach of investing in good companies at great prices. Our investment process is based on primary research, which is necessary for investment in smaller companies that communicate less and have limited coverage by brokers. Over the years, we develop an intimate knowledge of the companies we invest in.
We have been informed of the fraudulent use of the identity of Quaero Capital and of its employees in order to offer investment services and financial products at high returns and in an extremely aggressive manner. The fraudsters may have e-mail addresses or domains that use the Quaero Capital name but in fact have no connection with Quaero Capital and are not authorised to act on our behalf. It should be noted that Quaero Capital never conducts banking and will not solicit investment business from the public, nor will we ever ask members of the public to open an account with us or transfer money to us.
If you receive a communication as referred to above, we recommend that you exercise extreme caution, and would encourage you to check carefully the contact details of the people offering these services. In case of unusual contacts or inappropriate requests, please contact us at the following email address info@quaerocapital.com.
