Comgest Group recorded its best year in terms of diversification of fund flows in 2018, with the firm’s Japan strategy boasting assets of more than EUR1.3 billion – an increase of over EUR500 million since the end of 2017.
In addition, Comgest’s Europe Opportunities strategy now sits at more than EUR800 million – reinforcing it as the “third pillar” of Comgest’s European product range.
Overall, net inflows for the Group amounted to more than EUR800 million in 2018, with a total of EUR25.7bn assets under management as of end December 2018.
Despite being one of the most challenging and volatile years for equity managers in a decade, Comgest’s US, Europe, Japan and Global strategies all outperformed their comparative indices by around 7 per cent-10 per cent in 2018. Amid the year’s instability, the Comgest Growth Global Flex fund proved valuable in limiting drawdowns, delivering Comgest’s best relative performance (+12.5 per cent), while the Comgest Growth America fund delivered the best absolute performance of the range (+6.6 per cent).
Despite the challenges posed by the emerging markets (EM) environment, Comgest is confident that the risk-reward for quality growth stocks in EM remains attractive, with lower valuations and stable earnings growth power. The current period marks only the second time since 1995 where quality stocks have underperformed in a declining market.
Arnaud Cosserat, CEO of Comgest, says: “Our long-term investment strategy, which is based on our conviction of selecting high-quality stocks, has enabled us to weather the choppy and volatile market conditions last year and we have continued to benefit from our hard work and in-depth insight. In particular, it was great to see a number of our strategies, such as the Comgest Growth Japan and Comgest Growth Europe Opportunities funds, attract significant investment in 2018, testament to the performance of the funds and the knowledge and expertise of our teams. With 2019 now underway, we believe that our strategies continue to offer compelling growth opportunities for investors this year, especially in markets such as Japan, Asia ex-Japan, Global and Europe ex-UK.”
Comgest continued to broaden the skill set of its fund management team, which comprised 45 members at the end of 2018. Additions to the team include: in Paris, James Hanford and Pierre Maindron to the European and Emerging Markets teams, respectively; while in Tokyo, Junzaburo Hyuga joined the Japanese team.
