The Hague – January 22, 2020 – The Juno Selection Fund ended 2019 with a strong performance. With a +33.8% performance, the return was the second highest in the fund’s twelve-year history. Once again the Selection Fund managed to leave European indices behind: the EMIX Smaller European Companies Index (net) rose by +28.6% during the year. The Dutch AEX index (dividends reinvested) also had a lower return (+ 27.9%).
 
After 2018 ended with a negative performance, 2019 was once again a very good year for the markets. Frans Jurgens, director and co-founder of Juno: “Despite the strong stock markets suggesting otherwise, the underlying profit growth of European companies is still at a very low level. It is clear that investors are not entering the market because of the strong earnings growth of European companies, but that they wanted to take advantage of the correction of the last months of 2018 to put their poorly-yielding savings to work in equities”.

Juno’s investment style focuses on the long term. This “buy and hold” strategy with a low turnover, is also reflected in the names in the portfolio. Lennart Smits, director and co-founder of Juno: “Juno’s strong preference is for ‘compounders’, companies that grow their earnings in a predictable manner, year after year. It is encouraging that we have had several companies in our portfolio for more than 10 years. Over that period, we have seen their profits increase by an average of 15% per year. That implies that their results doubled every five years during that time-frame.” Over the past 10 years, Juno has also seen this healthy earnings development translate in the share price appreciation of its investments and, therefore, in the increase in value of participations in the Selection Fund: a compound annual growth rate of +13.7% per year has been achieved over this past decade.
 
Juno remains optimistic about the opportunities that the market offers. We continue to find attractive (family-owned) companies that, with very strong business models and excellent management teams, are able to grow much faster than the average earnings growth that we see across the European continent. We are convinced that this earnings growth will continue to translate into higher share prices for those portfolio companies.

The quarterly report can be found here and the most recent factsheet here.

About Juno Investment Partners

Since 2007, Juno Investment Partners has been investing in a highly concentrated portfolio of European listed companies with predictable and stable earnings growth, often family-owned businesses.

We focus on companies with a high return on invested capital, strong margins, and highly predictable (free) cash flows. These are typically companies with a strong competitive position and clear added value for their clients, enabling them to continue creating value over the long term.

Based on these characteristics, we select a limited number of companies that we want to understand thoroughly. The portfolio consists of approximately fifteen companies. These are analyzed intensively, visited regularly, and monitored over several years. The investment horizon is long, typically well over five years. Our analysts and portfolio managers also invest in the funds themselves.

Juno offers three products. The Juno Selection Fund focuses on small and medium-sized companies. The Juno Continuation Fund focuses on medium-sized companies. In addition, Juno offers individual asset management via managed accounts, using the same investment approach. The Juno Selection Fund was launched in 2008 and invests in European companies with an initial market capitalization between €250 million and €4 billion. The fund was closed to new investments for a long time and has been accessible to existing participants again since April 2023.

The Juno Continuation Fund was launched on February 1, 2020, and invests in medium-sized companies with a market capitalization between €4 and €20 billion. Here, too, the emphasis is on companies that often have family or management as co-shareholders.

Juno holds an AIFM license from the AFM.