Fund of the week: Focus on European growth companies
Investing in Europe is no picnic. But the manager of this European growth fund has shown an impressive ability to beat his peers over the past five years, with a 9% return compared to the sector average of 2.7%.
Investing in Europe is no picnic right now, acknowledges Chris Rice in Investment Week. But if anyone can pull it off, the manager of the £837m Cazenove European Fund should be able to. His past experience managing money in Japan more than ten years ago has equipped Rice with the skills he needs to pick stocks in a debt-ridden environment, and he has shown an impressive ability to beat his peers over the past five years, with a 9% return compared to the sector average of 2.7%.
The euro is only "sustainable with proper fiscal and monetary union", he tells Investment Week. Will that happen? He thinks that next year the European Central Bank may agree to support bond markets, in exchange for labour market and public sector reforms in Italy and Spain. But in the end, "even that will not be enough ... in the next cycle Europe will either take a big leap forward or break up". So why buy now? It's "a value call". If you have a "long time horizon" you can find "companies on low valuations and there are some pockets of real cheapness now".
Start your trial of MoneyWeek today
Get unparalleled financial insight, analysis and expert opinion you can profit from.
Sign up for MoneyWeek’s free twice-daily newsletter.
Join more than 165,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with latest financial news, insights and expert analysis to help you understand what really matters when it comes to your finances.
Join more than 165,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with latest financial news, insights and expert analysis to help you understand what really matters when it comes to your finances.
Cazenove European Fund top ten holdings
