The Cliens Sverige Fokus fund fell 3.1 percent in October, which was better than the fund's benchmark index, which fell 4.0 percent. Since the beginning of the year, the fund has returned 11.3 percent, outperforming the index, which has increased 10.5 percent. This is shown in a monthly report from the manager Thomas Brodin.

Initially, the manager notes that the main economic indicators showed mixed development during the month, with the purchasing managers' index in Sweden for the manufacturing industry recovering after a slump in the third quarter.

Meanwhile, the US ISM index fell from 47.2 to 46.5, indicating that activity in the US manufacturing sector is contracting.

Furthermore, the manager highlights that the ECB decided to cut the key interest rate by 25 basis points to 3.25%, which was in line with expectations. Bond yields generally rose during the month, with the Swedish ten-year government bond rising by 16 basis points to 2.11%.

During the month, many companies published their reports for the third quarter. The manager believes that the holdings generally delivered stronger quarterly reports than the market in general. Ericsson, Electrolux Professional, Volvo and Sweco's reports in particular stood out in a positive sense.

The manager believes that there were more adjustments in the portfolio than normal during the month.

"At the beginning of the month, the fund took home nice profits with the divestments of the housing company JM and the real estate company Castellum. Both were acquired when the stock market was really worried about a coming real estate crisis - which then did not come," writes the manager.

The freed-up capital was then used to invest in the new holding Skanska and to increase the holding in Balder. The fund also invested in Dynavox, which the manager describes as a world leader in the market for communication aids.

"The company's business is scalable with leverage in the operating margin with a financial target of an average annual sales growth of 20 percent. Growth is mainly driven organically, but is supplemented by smaller acquisitions. Return on equity exceeds a high 40 percent and we expect the somewhat high valuation multiples to fall relatively quickly in the coming years."

The largest holdings at the end of the month were Volvo, Investor and SEB, with portfolio weights of 9.1%, 8.2% and 6.6% respectively.

At the sector level, industrial goods accounted for the largest share of holdings, followed by financials and information technology.
Cliens Sweden Focus, %October, 2024
Fund MM, % change-3,1
Index MM, change in percent-4,0
Fund this year, percentage change 11,3
Index this year, percentage change 10,5