Wassenaar – January 18, 2018 – The Juno Selection Fund ended the fourth quarter of 2017 with a -4.0% return. For the full year, the fund return was +6.4%. As of December 31, 2017, the net asset value per participation of the Juno Selection Fund stood at €325.97.

As was the case in 2016, our portfolio companies again achieved a healthy earnings growth this year. Lennart Smits, director and co-founder of Juno: “Even when not all annual results have been reported, we can calculate that 2017 profits will have probably increased by about 12% for the fund’s portfolio holdings on an aggregated basis. This makes 2017 the 11th year in succession where our companies report higher annual results”. On average, our portfolio companies’ earnings rose by 14.2% per annum over that period. This earnings growth does not translate linearly into higher share prices each year. Frans Jurgens, director and co-founder of Juno: “In 2017, share prices lagged our companies’ earnings growth. As earnings growth is the predominant driver of higher share prices, your portfolio has in effect become cheaper over the past year and therefore continues to offer very good return prospects for patient long-term investors”.
 
The Juno Selection Fund’s assets under management further increased in the past year to over € 227 million. This led to our decision to close the fund to new participants as of June 1st, 2017. Juno’s employees and their direct family members now represent 9% of the fund’s assets. 

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.