M&G (Lux) Eurp Strat Val A EUR Acc

Analyst Report
Morningstar's Take
|16/02/2024

by Francesco Paganelli
M&G (Lux) European Strategic Value rests on solid foundations with a skilled fund manager at its helm and a process that offers reliable exposure to value. Key-person risk is particularly high here and somewhat tempers our conviction, but the manager has built an impressive track record thanks to a disciplined and risk-conscious stock-selection approach.

The fund has benefited from stable leadership. Richard Halle has been the lead manager since the inception of the strategy in 2008 and is the main architect of the investment process. He joined M&G in 1999 as an analyst and has built strong portfolio management skills and an unwavering dedication to value investing over his career. He has relinquished his people management responsibilities in 2021 and is now entirely focused on portfolio management. A less positive development in 2022 was the internal transfer of Sylvia Baxter to the firm’s central research team, as her growing presence alleviated key-person risk. Baxter had worked closely with Halle over the years and became deputy manager here in 2020. A less experienced analyst replaced her. Halle is the sole decision-maker, and the fund’s future success heavily hinges on his continued good execution. Still, that doesn’t mean Halle is by himself—he can exchange ideas with other portfolio managers at M&G and remains supported by a dedicated analyst and the firm’s global sector analyst team of nine.

To prioritize research, Halle adopts a relatively simple initial screen targeting stocks with low price/book ratios within their sector. This provides a more manageable list of potential candidates, on which he conducts an in-depth fundamental analysis aimed at filtering out companies that are cheap for good reasons. Financial strength, durability of business model, and management behavior are key drivers of stock selection. This focus on quality and downside risks ultimately helps the manager avoid value traps and translates into a more resilient performance path than its benchmark and peers.

The final portfolio contains 60-100 stocks, with individual position sizes restricted to a 3% maximum overweighting compared with the MSCI Europe Index. Other than that, the approach is largely benchmark-unaware, and the portfolio can show relatively meaningful sector deviations from the index, at times. This approach has been executed with consistency and good risk awareness, including in small and mid-caps, which can take a large share of the portfolio (around one third of assets at the end of December 2023). From inception and over the trailing three-, five-, and 10-year periods through the end of January 2024 the fund’s C share class has generated significant alpha against the MSCI Europe Value Index through stock selection across a range of sectors. All in all, the manager’s long experience in the market, contrarian yet disciplined stock selection approach, and repeatable investment process targeting cheap but durable businesses should continue to bode well for future results.
 
Morningstar Medalist Rating™A sound and well-established value.
To find out how Morningstar rates a fund click here.
Morningstar Pillars
PeopleAbove Average
ParentAverage
ProcessAbove Average
 
Morningstar Medalist RatingMorningstar assigns the Medalist Rating to funds that are qualitatively and quantitatively assessed through manager research and algorithmic processes. The assessment turns on three key “pillars” – People, Process, and Parent – that yield an estimate of how well a fund will perform before fees but after adjusting for risk.
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