Carmignac Portfolio Grande Europe: Letter from the Fund Manager - Q2 2025
![[Management Team] [Author] Denham Mark](https://carmignac.imgix.net/uploads/NextImage/0001/18/%5BManagement-Team%5D-Denham-Mark.png?auto=format%2Ccompress&fit=fill&w=3840)
During the second quarter of 2025, Carmignac Portfolio Grande Europe (F share class) posted a positive return of +2.60%, providing a return above its reference indicator which rose +2.49%.
Market environment
The second quarter of 2025 was marked by heightened volatility, underpinned by persistent geopolitical tensions and shifting monetary policy dynamics. Amid this turbulence, monetary policy acted as a stabilizing force. The European Central Bank cut interest rates twice—each by 25 basis points—bringing the key policy rate to 2.25%, its lowest level since 2022. These moves were broadly supportive of risk assets, particularly in the context of softening inflationary pressures and a more accommodative policy stance globally.
Investor sentiment, however, remained highly sensitive. The renewed threat of U.S. tariffs on European imports—proposed by President Trump at rates as high as 50%—was a significant source of market stress. While the initial announcement triggered a sharp risk-off move, the subsequent delay of the tariff implementation to July 9 provided a temporary reprieve. This window of relief catalysed a strong rally in European equities, buoyed by improving consumer sentiment and a resurgence in risk appetite. Nonetheless, this momentum proved fragile. As the tariff deadline approached and uncertainty resurfaced, markets retraced gains, ending the quarter on a more cautious note.
Performance review & positioning
After a difficult first quarter, the fund participated in the somewhat surprising rally post the initial sell-off post tariff announcements. The rebound was also led by an eclectic collection of sectors with Telecoms, Financials, Industrials, Real estate and Technology all relatively strong. These are sectors which would not normally be supportive for the fund; however, stock selection was positive enough to offset any headwinds.
In Q2, healthcare continued to be one of the weaker areas of the market and is a large exposure in the fund. Ongoing concerns over attempts by the US administration to cut healthcare costs have hung heavy over the pharmaceutical stocks, including attempts to instigate a “most favoured nation” pricing deflator. In practice we do not see this having a significant impact on most companies. We are also waiting to see what tariff level will be applied to the sector by the US, which has been unhelpful. These concerns plus weak prescription growth continued to hinder Novo Nordisk, which fell 7% in the period. On a positive note, the banning of cheap counterfeit versions of their weight loss drug should allow prescriptions to revert to a growth trajectory in the second half this year. Consequently, we retain conviction in the name.
Overall, our stock selection in Healthcare was strong enough to allow the sector to contribute positively to fund performance, primarily through strong performance of Galderma which rose +25% as market expectations rose for its portfolio of dermatological products, especially the recently launched eczema drug Nemluvio. Hearing aid manufacturer Demant was another bright spot, rising 12%, anticipating better growth in 2H sales after a subdued first quarter.
We have reduced some of our exposures in the sector in recent weeks, including Zealand Pharma, where we expect a more competitive environment for their yet to be launched obesity portfolio. We also cut back biotech name Argenx, where after a stellar performance in 2024 rising 80%, we expect a quieter year this year and few research & development catalysts to spur upside.
In Europe we had confirmation that the German government is to pursue large scale spending on defence and infrastructure in the coming years through establishing and implementing a 500bn€ fund. We expect this to have meaningful beneficial impact on the German economy and on several companies who we expect to have exposure to this spending. Some of our pre-existing names such as Siemens and Schneider are set to benefit, but we have also pro-actively added several new names with more targeted exposure including warehouse equipment company Kion, whose stock was a large contributor for us in Q2 rising 36%, as well as IT service company Bechtle and engineering services company SPIE. All these names should benefit from the plan, while also being stocks that conform to our stringent financial and sustainability criteria.
The Financial sector continues to perform well in Europe, rising more than 5% in the period. Since the aftermath of the banking crisis of 2008, the banking sector has been repairing itself through cost cutting, some mergers & acquisitions and better capital allocation. It has also had the tailwind of rising interest rates boosting income in recent years.
Most balance sheet financials still do not meet our criteria, however after recent changes some now do, including UBS which is proceeding well with integrating Credit Suisse and given that the Swiss government has made clear future capital requirements, investors can now focus on the jewel in their crown – their Wealth management business which is significantly undervalued relative to global peers. This is a name we have added to the fund. In addition, we have reinforced our conviction in direct to consumer platforms Fineco and Nordnet as we expect that distribution channels to continue gaining market share in Europe.
Outlook
We retain our exclusive focus on companies demonstrating consistently high profitability and reinvestment, and the best sustainability standards, as we believe these names will deliver the highest and most consistent long term profit growth. The good news is that the recent pullback in such companies offers the long-term investor an opportunity to add to holdings, which we have been doing.
1From 01/01/2025 the Benchmark was changed to MSCI Europe (Net Return, EUR), historical data will be chain linked with STOXX Europe 600 (Net Return, EUR).
Carmignac Portfolio Grande Europe
Carmignac Portfolio Grande Europe F EUR Acc
- Periodo minimo di investimento consigliato
- 5 anni
- Livello di rischio*
- 4/7
- Classificazione SFDR**
- Articolo 9
*Scala di Rischio del KID (documento contenente le informazioni chiave). Il rischio 1 non significa che l'investimento sia privo di rischio. Questo indicatore può evolvere nel tempo. **Regolamento SFDR (Regolamento relativo all’informativa sulla sostenibilità nel settore dei servizi finanziari) 2019/2088. La classificazione SFDR dei Fondi può evolvere nel tempo.
Principali rischi del Fondo
Costi
- Costi di ingresso
- Non addebitiamo una commissione di ingresso.
- Costi di uscita
- Non addebitiamo una commissione di uscita per questo prodotto.
- Commissioni di gestione e altri costi amministrativi o di esercizio
- 1.17% del valore dell'investimento all'anno. Si tratta di una stima basata sui costi effettivi dell'ultimo anno.
- Commissioni di performance
- 20.00% quando la classe di azioni supera l'Indicatore di riferimento durante il periodo di performance. Sarà pagabile anche nel caso in cui la classe di azioni abbia sovraperformato l'indice di riferimento ma abbia avuto una performance negativa. La sottoperformance viene recuperata per 5 anni. L'importo effettivo varierà a seconda del rendimento del tuo investimento. La stima dei costi aggregati di cui sopra include la media degli ultimi 5 anni o dalla creazione del prodotto se inferiore a 5 anni.
- Costi di transazione
- 0.58% del valore dell'investimento all'anno. Si tratta di una stima dei costi sostenuti per l'acquisto e la vendita degli investimenti sottostanti per il prodotto. L'importo effettivo varierà a seconda dell'importo che viene acquistato e venduto.
Performance
| Carmignac Portfolio Grande Europe | −1.7 | +12.0 | +15.5 | −20.6 | +22.5 | +14.4 | +35.5 | −9.6 | +11.0 | +5.1 |
| Indice di riferimento | +8.5 | +8.8 | +15.8 | −10.6 | +24.9 | −2.0 | +26.8 | −10.8 | +10.6 | +1.7 |
| Carmignac Portfolio Grande Europe | +10.1% | +7.3% | +6.2% |
| Indice di riferimento | +12.8% | +11.2% | +6.3% |
Fonte: Carmignac al 30 giu 2025.
Le performance passate non sono un'indicazione delle performance future. Le performance sono calcolate al netto delle spese (escluse eventuali commissioni di ingresso applicate dal distributore). L'investimento nel Fondo potrebbe comportare un rischio di perdita di capitale.
Il rendimento può aumentare o diminuire a causa delle fluttuazioni valutarie, per le azioni non coperte da copertura valutaria.
Indice di riferimento: MSCI Europe NR index