Baillie Gifford European Growth (ticker: BGEU) was launched in 1972 as F&C Eurotrust. It was run by Foreign & Colonial up until early 2010, before Edinburgh Partners was appointed in its place, and the company became known as The European Investment Trust. It outperformed in the first part of the 2010s but then underperformed in the second half, leading to the appointment of Baillie Gifford in November 2019, with a further name change to Baillie Gifford European Growth. Stephen Paice has managed BGEU since late 2019, with Chris Davies appointed as his deputy in 2021. BGEU aims to hold ...
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European Opportunities (ticker: EOT) was launched in 2000 and has been managed since then by Alex Darwall, who favours a concentrated portfolio of quality/growth companies. The trust was part of the Jupiter stable until 2019, building up a phenomenal performance record with an NAV return of nearly 13% a year from its IPO to May 2019, versus 5% a year for European markets. Darwall left Jupiter in 2019 to set up his own firm called Devon Equity Management, and the trust moved its mandate over to follow him. EOT's returns since then have been less impressive and well below its benchmark, thanks t...
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Henderson European Trust (HET) was launched in 1947 and up until earlier this month was known as Henderson European Focus. HET has just been combined with Henderson EuroTrust, with which it had a significant portfolio overlap and similar recent performance, creating a larger vehicle with net assets of around £700m. The two managers are Tom O'Hara and Jamie Ross and it will hold around 40 of Europe's global champions, defined as "large, established and well-managed businesses operating internationally but based in Europe." A conditional tender offer of up to 25% of the trust's shares will be ma...
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BlackRock Greater Europe (ticker: BRGE) was launched in 2004 to hold a concentrated growth-focused European portfolio along with limited exposure to developing European markets. The main method of discount control has historically been semi-annual tender offers of up to 20% of the trust's shares at a 2% discount to NAV although these are at the board's discretion and none have been held since late 2018. Stefan Gries has managed the portfolio since 2017 and Alexandra Dangoor joined him as co-manager very recently in September 2023. Despite a poor year in 2022, when exposure to Russia and growth...
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Fidelity European Trust (ticker: FEV) was launched in 1991 and was managed by Anthony Bolton for its first decade. It's been a consistently good performer over the long term -- since its IPO to the end of February 2023, its annualised share price return was 13.4% versus 9.0% for its benchmark. Sam Morse has been the lead manager since 2011 and FEV is comfortably ahead of its benchmark and most of its sector rivals since his appointment. The trust dropped "Values" from its name in late 2020 as its approach these days is more measured, seeking attractively valued companies with strong balance sh...
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After a long period of outstanding returns, Alexander Darwall's European Opportunities Trust has struggled for the last eighteen months. The demise of Wirecard, once its largest holding, did a lot of damage both financially and reputationally, but the returns from the rest of its portfolio have lagged as well. The trust is trading at a double-digit discount, a level not seen since the Greek financial crisis threatened to spill over into the rest of Europe. The question is whether Darwall has lost his touch or whether his style of investment is just temporarily out of favour.
When Alexander D...
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