Readers know that I am a very slow investor, nevertheless some noteworthy news from the porfolio for Q3 in no particular order;
EVS Broadcast
Just a few days ago, EVS held their investor day, the presentation can be found here. Business performance has been very good, they predict now that they will reach the upper end of the revised target. They also announced a (small) share buy back program. ZThe investor presentation contains a lot of interesting information, especially about the competitive landscape and how they want to gain market share. Overall I think they are executing extremely well and management eem to have a clear gorwth path ahead of them. As this is a European small cap, the stock of course did exactly nothing. According to TIKR analysts expect 3,03 EUR EPS for 2024 but only 2,56 for 2025. Yes, 2025 is not an event year but I think that analysts might be too negative. I have been buying and it is now very close to a full position.
Eurokai
Some weeks ago, Eurokai released a surprisingly positive Q3 trading update (German language). Container Volume is up 10% YTD and profits should increase (much) more than that due to high margin storage fees. If nothing really bad happens, 2025 should be even better, as then the new Alliance between Maersk and Hapag will shift significant volumes to Eurokai’s terminals. The only small negative is that the new Egyptian terminal will get online a little bit later than initially planned. Again, the stock didn’t react to this news. I added slightly to the position.
Amadeus Fire
Amadeus Fire had already lowered the guidance for 2024 in October as the expected recovery in the German economy didn’t materialize. Just a few weeks later, German activist investor Active Ownership Capital disclosed a stake which has now reached ~11,8%. As some of my readers lnow, I am invested in the fund and despite a not so great performance for the last months, I still think that the inveolvment of AOC is very positive. As with many other German Small- and midacpas, the share price of Amadeus Fire continued to declined. I added a little bit to the position recently as I think that the company has performed quite well despite the massive headwinds.
DCC
DCC surprised me (and everyone else it seems) with a strategy update. They want to focus on energy and exit the two other segments Healthcare and Technology. Looking at the 6M numbers, it is also clear that the two other sectors were underperforming:
Overall this was clearly a positive development and surprisingly in this case, the market rewarded the shareholders with a decent increase in the share price.
Alimentation Couche-Tard
ATD released Q2 FY 2024/2025 earnings just a few days ago and numbers were not so great, EPS down -15% vs the previous year. But as this is not a European stock, the stock price went up. Maybe also because they finally gave up on buying the Japanese owner of 7-Eleven. I am currently still holding, but looking how cheap European stocks are in comparison, I am tempted to swith into more European trash.
ABO Energy
Not totaly surprising, ABO Energy adjsuted their 2024 guidance downwards some days ago. On the positive side, they announced a comprehensive portoflio review during investor meetings:
On the negative side, that might be a little bit too late after they did the exact opposite in the past months. Personally, I think they are vulnerable in the current uncertain environment for Renewable Energy. therefore I sold my position at prices of around 38 EUR per share.
