Henderson European Focus Trust plc: Half-Year Results 2023

Portfolio Manager, Tom O’Hara discusses the half-year results for Henderson European Focus Trust, including the key drivers of performance, areas where he is finding opportunities, energy market dynamics, and his outlook for European equities.

Tom O’Hara

Portfolio Manager

John Bennett

Director of European Equities | Portfolio Manager

19 May 2023
8 minute watch

Key takeaways:

The Company’s NAV total return rose by 22.8%, outperforming its benchmark (FTSE World Europe ex UK Index) by 1.1% and AIC European sector peers by 0.5%. The share price saw a great rise of 28.3%, this was largely due to the narrowing of the discount over the period.
Our semiconductor holdings (BE Semiconductor, ASM International, STMicroelectronics), Holcim and Kion contributed positively to performance. However, key detractors included Dutch insurer ASR Nederland, UPM-Kymmene and oil holdings (Shell and BP).
Asset-light’ was a posterchild of the last decade, courtesy of monetary abundance, non-existent inflation, and a still largely unipolar world order. ‘Asset-heavy’ will have renewed significance in the next. In this realm, we believe Europe has winners.

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