The weather isn’t always perfect. The sun does not shine every day, sometimes it’s raining, at other times there is just too much wind, and sometimes the sun even shines too much. All of these different circumstances are opinions of someone towards the weather. And just like on the financial markets, every condition can be great for anyone. It just depends on how prepared you were for each one.
Although it was not a quarter most people in the financial world had expected, it sure did wake everyone up. With a good ending for 2017, the market started with an interesting first quarter containing a sell-off in both February and March. At the end of the first quarter the S&P 500 fell with 1.60%, the Eurostoxx 600 was down 4.70% and the MSCI World dropped with 1.80%. And even though these are not the best performances the market has seen in a while, A&F Investments can still say that it is on the right track.
“The extra insights gained during better times have prepared us to cope better with the market when less fortunate times came around.”
Interesting times call for interesting decisions. We started off this last quarter with acquiring a stake in Philips NV. The clear path that this company is willing to take after restructuring itself is seen as an interesting feature in this company, who next to creating value for individuals also seeks to create value for the company itself. After this decision, we dived more into the aerospace industry. Shortly after taking profit from Aercap Holdings we decided to still keep some exposure in this industry. Forecasting that the demand for traveling by aircraft will keep increasing every year, we have spotted a good opportunity to buy some shares in The Boeing Company. This company proved to be the most interesting one in the duopoly with Airbus SE, and next to producing airplanes it also operates in other segments that keep it diversified.
Moreover, the wave of mergers and acquisitions also caught up with us. After having Gener8 Maritime for quite some time in our portfolio, this company has been acquired by a competitor at the start of the quarter. As a result of this acquisition, we benefited from a good premium on top of the share prices. Besides regular meetings, every quarter we have a strategy meeting. During this meeting, our Risk Team presented some interesting topics ranging from bonds to commodities that they have analyzed thoroughly. Their analyses fit perfectly with our strategy to keep focusing on the sustainable growth of our portfolio. Due to this, we have taken a position in ETFS All Commodities. Next to diversifying our portfolio, investing in commodities is also a lot different than investing in equities and it definitely fits the purpose for us to learn as much as possible from managing our portfolio.
The best investment decision that we have made this last year was investing in knowledge. The extra insights gained during better times have prepared us to cope better with the market when less fortunate times came around. With the tremendous growth in our members’ capabilities, we have no doubt that we will keep combating future market shocks. With these roots fully embedded in our foundation, we aim to be prepared for any circumstances that may arise in the future. And once our preferred circumstance comes around, the returns of A&F Investments will flourish like never before.
