Report June 2019

During the month of June, Inversion Columbus rose +2.95% compared to +4.28%, +2.16% and +4.08% for the STOXX 600, IBEX 35 and MSCI Mid Cap indices, respectively.

Since the beginning of the year, profitability is 13.52%. Over a three and seven year period, performance is 20.19% and 87.59%, respectively, and since the beginning of Columbus, in July 2008, it is 99.33%, far surpassing the profitability of the aforementioned European equity indices. The volatility of the portfolio remains at 11.7%, much lower than the average of recent years and similar to the volatility of STOXX 600.

During June, the world stock exchanges partially reversed the strong declines of the previous month. The fear of the trade war’s consequences has given way to investors focussing on the measures that central banks will adopt. Futures are currently pricing in the fact that the Federal Reserve will lower rates up to 3 times in the next months with the first drop due next September. The ECB has also announced measures to support the banking sector. We continue to believe that although there is an economic slowdown, we do not expect a recession.

We continue to be positioned sectorially in consumer and service companies and with reduced positions in the banking, automotive, retail, natural resource and oil sectors that have greater exposure to the economic cycle and that have therefore been the most affected by the decreases of the last month.

The portfolio currently has very attractive average valuations, with PERs and EV / Ebitdas of one digit that nevertheless have double-digit sales growth and Ebitdas forecasts for the coming years. We continue to have confidence in our portfolio, which is diversified into companies with high returns on capital and cash generation as well as strong sales and EBITDA forecasts for the next few years at discount prices.

 

Country Distribution

With regards to the portfolio, Anima’s performance (+21%) has stood out. Last month, we already pointed out that we consider the valuation of the Italian asset manager to be very attractive given the decreases of previous months and because we expect corporate movements in the sector. AKKA technologies’ performance (+15.4% for the month, 48% for the year) is also worth highlighting. The French engineering firm announced strong revenue growth of 26%, propelled by AKKA North America’s revenue growth of 34%. We have taken advantage of these increases to reduce our position in Bodycote and sell our positions in Forfarmers, K + S and FLSmitdth.