Wassenaar – April 2019 – The Juno Selection Fund, specialised in investments in European small and medium-sized (family-owned) companies, ended the first quarter of 2019 with an excellent result, achieving a return of 22.0% over the first three months of the year. The EMIX Smaller Europe Index and the Dutch AEX index also rose, but clearly less strongly, by 12.5% and 13.0% respectively.

Since its inception in January 2008, the Juno Selection Fund has achieved an average annual net return of 12.5%. This is more than double the EMIX Smaller Europe Index’s performance measured over the same time frame (5.6%).

Juno’s focus on strongly managed, family-owned companies has resulted in a portfolio composed of companies that are able to grow their earnings year after year in a reasonably predictable fashion. It is Juno’s goal for this group of companies to achieve an aggregated annual net earnings growth of 10-15% per annum. Only when this growth continues regardless of the prevailing economic situation, does it become clear how great an accomplishment this is. Frans Jurgens, director and co-founder of Juno: “A slowdown in the growth of the overall economy is not necessarily bad news for Juno’s companies. It makes their strong performance stand out more, which in most cases brings about higher price-earnings ratios.”

Lennart Smits, director and co-founder of Juno: “We expect the growth of the European economy to remain at a low level in 2019. As a result, the 10-15% earnings growth of our companies will stand out more and the valuations will further increase. We remain positive for 2019 and certainly for the years thereafter.”

The five largest holdings in the Juno Selection Fund are the following companies: SimCorp, Grenke, Technogym, Brembo, and CTS Eventim.

About Juno Investment Partners

Juno Investment Partners was established in 2007 as a fully independent fund manager and has an AIFM license (as referred to in Section 2:65 of the Wft), issued by the Dutch regulator AFM. Juno specializes in the selection of exceptional listed (family owned) companies in Europe. Companies that are able to achieve predictable and stable earnings growth year after year are considered for investment. The selection process focuses on the return on invested capital, a low debt ratio and free cash flows of a highly predictable nature. The analysts/portfolio managers compile a highly concentrated portfolio of approximately fifteen companies that they identify, analyze and visit regularly. Selected companies remain in the portfolio for a longer time period (usually more than five years). All analysts/portfolio managers have themselves invested in the Juno funds.

Juno offers three products: The Juno Selection Fund, which focuses on the selection of smaller and medium-sized listed companies, the Juno Continuation Fund for medium-sized companies and individual asset management using the same investment style, for larger clients through managed segregated accounts.

– The Juno Selection Fund was launched in 2008. This mutual fund invests in distinctive European small and medium-sized companies with an initial market capitalization of €250 million to €4 billion. In recent years, this investment style has resulted in above average investment returns for participants in the Juno Selection Fund. This fund has been hard closed for further (follow on) subscriptions since 2018.

– The same investment strategy is applied in the Juno Continuation Fund, which was launched on February 1, 2020. This fund focuses on unique, medium-sized European companies with a market value between €4 billion and €20 billion at the time of initial purchase. As is the case with the Selection Fund, the Continuation Fund also has a strong preference for investments in businesses that are family owned, or companies in which a family or management itself is also a shareholder.