Persberichten

• ESG: after gaining additional top grades in 2019, Comgest figures among the most highly rated fund managers by UN PRI for its ESG integration
• Strong overall performance despite buoyant markets, typically a tough backdrop for Comgest
• Continued investment in skillset with growth in the investment team to 49 members
• Diversification of fund inflows means six Comgest strategies now exceed EUR 1bn AuM
• Net inflows for the group amount to EUR 1bn and AuM total EUR 33bn at the end of 2019

ESG HIGHLIGHTS OF THE YEAR

For the first time, Comgest was assigned an A+ (top-grade) rating  by the UN PRI on all criteria: “Strategy & Governance”,“Listed Equity – Incorporation” and “Listed Equity – Active Ownership”. Comgest now figures among those fund managers who have received the most comprehensive and prestigious awards from the UN PRI. Engagement highlights of the year included EssilorLuxottica where Comgest filed two shareholder resolutions to help the company solve its deep governance crisis.

PERFORMANCE BASED ON EARNINGS GROWTH

Equity markets were buoyant in 2019 and rose 29%  over the year despite stagnant earnings. A market rebound is typically not the best backdrop for Comgest’s quality growth style to outperform the market. The pro-cyclical rotation that began in September 2019 also proved challenging. Despite this, the overall performance of Comgest funds in 2019 was solid across the board based on the earnings growth compounding of our quality growth stocks. 
In 2019, performance highlights came from our European equities team. Flagship fund Comgest Growth Europe closed the year up 33.9% marking the best calendar year performance since inception almost two decades ago. The same held true for the Comgest Growth Europe Smaller Companies fund, which performed 38.3% over the year.      

CONTINUED INVESTMENT IN SKILLSET - GROWTH IN THE FUND MANAGEMENT TEAM

To maintain the excellence of our products and research, we continued to invest in broadening the skillset of our fund management team which grew to reach 49 members at the end of 2019. We welcomed Anne-Laure Giraud to the GEM team, William Bohn to the European team, Rémi Adam and Louis-André Citroën to the US team, Rick Mercado to the Global team, Leo Lenel to the Flex team, Swati Madhabushi to the Indian team and Jimmy Yang to the China team.

SECOND SUCCESSIVE YEAR OF STRONG FUND INFLOW DIVERSIFICATION

2019 was the second consecutive year of strong diversification of fund flows. 2019 confirmed the ascendency of our Japan and Europe Opportunities strategies. Comgest now boasts a range of six strategies around the globe which all have in excess of EUR 1bn AuM. Europe Opportunities is now firmly established as the 3rd pillar of our European strategy range with EUR 1.4bn AuM and Japan represents 7% of group AuM at the end of the year. Together with the strong inflows of our Europe Large Cap, Europe Smaller Companies and Global strategies, they more than offset the outflows seen in our Emerging Markets strategy. Net inflows for the group amount to more than EUR 1bn and assets under management total EUR 33bn at the end of the year. 

We are proud of our differentiated and very active product range, our performance track record and the trust bestowed upon us by our clients. We aim to consistently generate sound long-term performance and to grow our assets prudently as we maintain adequate capacity across our various strategies.

READ THE PRESS RELEASE

^FOOTNOTES:
1Please refer to the full Assessment report and the PRI Assessment methodology for additional information about how these scores are calculated
²Past performance is no guarantee of future results.
³MSCI AC World price performance in CY2019 in Euro. Source: MSCI