Structural growth will deliver returns in challenging European markets

Identifying structural growth drivers and investing in market leading companies that can take advantage of these will be key to delivering returns from European equities as the global economic slowdown becomes entrenched, according to Cédric de Fonclare, Manager of the Jupiter European Special Situations Fund.

"European markets have reached an inflection point and we should expect to see further polarisation in terms of the quality of corporate earnings. This came through in first quarter company results and is likely to become even more pronounced as second quarter numbers begin to filter through over the summer period." comments Cédric.

Cédric, who took over the management of the £372m Jupiter European Special Situations Fund on 15th July 2005, has delivered top decile performance to investors, returning 37.5% over this time period compared with 23.3% for the IMA Europe Excluding UK sector average and 29.88% for the FTSE Europe Ex UK Index, the Fund's benchmark. These returns were achieved through a variety of extreme market conditions.

Cédric explains; "2006 saw the continuation of the strong rally in European equities and the portfolio performed well through successful stockpicking. 2007 was a transitional year and we took this opportunity to reposition the portfolio by disciplined profit taking, largely in the mid cap space. This money was recycled into companies which demonstrated certain characteristics that made us comfortable they would weather the storm of the economic downturn we were facing. These characteristics are above average growth, low volatility of returns and a strong balance sheet." At stock level the overall performance of the Fund over the three years has been broadly based, generated by companies in diversified industries, where there are clear structural growth drivers. For example;

Syngenta, an agrichemicals producer which stands to benefit from global food scarcity and the growth in world population.
Fortum, a utilities provider with pricing power which Cédric believes will benefit from increased energy demands and rising prices.
Alstom, an engineering company in the portfolio, is well positioned to benefit from increased environmental legislation.
Fresenius Medical Care, a global health care company which is exposed to the structural growth of an aging population

Cédric comments; "Market sentiment continues to be very negative which suggests low equity exposure relative to cash in the short term. In our view, share prices have already discounted some of the poor economic and corporate news currently emerging. Therefore we are alert to opportunities which current market weakness might provide while remaining selective.

"We believe that 2008 will prove to be a stockpicker's year. Our focus will be on those companies with winning business models, which are well capitalised and have the opportunity to outgrow their market by investing contra-cyclically either organically or by acquisition. These companies should be able to emerge from the current downturn in a stronger position than they were in originally."