The best performing sectors in the FTSE World Europe ex UK Index were Consumer Goods, Health Care and Telecommunications. The worst performing industries were Basic Materials, Technology and Industrials.
We are arguably coming to the end of a 14-year cycle of positive year-on-year growth, a time in which the market has not always differentiated on quality. We now see this changing. We believe that companies generating high and sustainable financial productivity that are trading at value will outperform the market.More specifically, our current strategy is to focus on firms with strong cash flow, barriers to entry, asset quality, strategic positioning, sustainability of returns and strong company management. We continue to find interesting investment opportunities, particularly in the form of large cap companies.