Die globalen Aktienmärkte starteten schwach ins neue Jahr, da sich die Sorgen um die Ausbreitung des Coronavirus sowie die Spannungen zwischen den USA und dem Iran negativ auswirkten. Trotzdem gelang es dem Fonds mit seinem Fokus auf die Sektoren Wasserversorgung und Müllentsorgung, ein positives Ergebnis von +0,7 Prozent auf USD-Basis im Januar zu erzielen und die Benchmark zu übertreffen. Bertrand Lecourt, FondsManager des Fidelity Sustainable Water & Waste Fund A Acc EUR (WKN A2N7YS, ISIN LU1892829828), gibt in seinem Marktbericht Einblicke in Performance und Portfoliostruktur des auf Firmen aus der Wasser- und Abfallwirtschaft spezialisierten Nachhaltigkeitsproduktes. In seinen Managersichten erhalten SJB Investoren die neuesten Informationen über den in der FondsStrategie SJB Nachhaltig enthaltenen Fidelity-Aktienfonds.
Market Environment
Global equities started the new year on a weak note. US stocks succumbed to novel coronavirus jitters after recovering from tensions with Iran, after the two countries limited their military dispute. The market reaction to relatively positive economic releases was muted. The signing of the US-China trade deal, president Donald Trump’s impeachment hearings and the US Federal Reserve’s (Fed) unchanged monetary policy stance went largely unnoticed as the developments were already priced in. The European market’s confidence was knocked by renewed concerns over trade tensions between the US and the European Union (EU). The US president reiterated his threat to impose retaliatory tariffs on European car exports if the EU imposes a new digital services tax on US technology companies. Though UK formally exited the EU at end of the month, uncertainty over their future trade relationship weighed on market sentiment. The Japanese market also weakened after four consecutive months of gains. The US dollar slid against the Japanese yen (particularly in the latter half of the month), which also weighed on stock prices. Elsewhere, emerging market equities fell, led by a correction in Chinese markets, and underperformed their developed market counterparts. At a sector level, energy and materials stocks bore the brunt of the risk-off sentiment, while defensive utilities were favoured by investors.
Fund Performance
The fund recorded positive returns and outperformed the index in January. In an increasingly risk-off environment, our overweight stance in the water utilities and multi-utilities sub-sectors contributed to overall performance, while the lack of exposure to banks and oil, gas & consumable fuels companies also supported relative returns. At a stock level, American Water Works was the leading contributor, supported by its positive earnings outlook. The company is the best-in-class water utility, while its scale and reputation provide real barrier to entry for potential competitors, and the company still has a long runway of growth. Veolia Environnement, which operates utility and public transportation businesses, was another notable contributor during the month. Veolia has seen solid trends across divisions in recent quarters with waste volumes in particular holding up well. Meanwhile, the position in water utility group Essential Utilities (earlier knows as Aqua America) rose after gaining final approval of its $4.3 billion acquisition of Pittsburgh-area gas company Peoples, which enables it to expand its business to a new market, while adopting the new name. The allocation to Waste Management also rose, supported by its positive earnings outlook on the back of improved pricing power. On the downside, some of our Chinese holdings fell owing to concerns over the coronavirus outbreak. The key detractors included commercial services & supplies group China Everbright International and water utility company Beijing Enterprises Water. South Korean household vacuum cleaners company Woongjin Coway was another notable detractor as the dampened investor sentiment negatively impacted consumer stocks.
Fund Positioning
The fund employs a distinctive, replicable bottom-up investment process, focusing on quality and growth, with an overarching emphasis on sustainable investments. This is a thematic ESG fund that seeks to deliver long-term capital growth over the market cycle by investing globally in companies that are involved in the water and waste management sectors. The fund has the ability to invest across the water and waste value chains, including in companies that are developing new technologies to meet the ever-growing demand for such products and services. The manager believes that water and waste management related investments are driven by long-term mega trends and should potentially generate strong long-term investment returns. He aims to achieve this by adopting a long-term view of company fundamentals using substantial internal and external resources to analyse the profit drivers of each company by region, division and product. The strategy has a supportive environment that is backed by a global mega-trend. Population growth, environmental constraints, supportive regulation, urbanisation rate and global wealth creation are all working conjunctively in its favour.
