Fidelity Germany A-Acc-EUR

Analyst Report
Morningstar's Take
|10/07/2024

by Natalia Wolfstetter
Effective 30 Sept 2023, the portfolio managers of Fidelity Germany will switch roles, with the current comanager Tom Ackermans stepping up as lead portfolio manager, while Christian von Engelbrechten, who has been serving as the lead manager of the strategy since 2011, will take over the role as comanager. At the same time, he will start managing Pan-European equity portfolios. This includes the appointment as nondiscretionary advisor on Fidelity Europe, a role similar to a co-portfolio manager. It means von Engelbrechten will spend less time on the German equity strategy, and after a 12-month transition period, he is expected to no longer be involved in the day-to-day management of the strategy.

During his 15-year investment career, Ackermans has covered various sectors, including US payments, financial technology and exchanges, European banks, and integrated oil and oil services. From February 2019 to February 2021, he was involved in running Fidelity Euro Blue Chip. Aside from that, his portfolio management experience is limited to his comanager role at Fidelity Germany, which he assumed in August 2021.

We are placing the strategy under review as we assess the impact of these significant changes. The strategy previously carried a Morningstar Medalist Rating of Gold for cheaper share classes, while pricier retail share classes were rated Bronze.

 
Recent changes in the management setup lead to some uncertainty, which is reflected in a People Pillar rating of Average, but the well-defined and proven approach continues to merit an Above Average Process rating.

On Sept. 30, 2023, the portfolio managers of Fidelity Germany switched roles, with the current comanager Tom Ackermans stepping up as lead portfolio manager, while Christian von Engelbrechten, who had been serving as the lead manager of the strategy since 2011, was appointed comanager for a 12-month transition period, which will end in September 2024. Von Engelbrechten now focuses on Pan-European equity portfolios and will no longer be formally involved in the day-to-day running of the strategy. The firm is not going to appoint a new comanager, hence direct support for the strategy will be reduced. That said, Fidelity's research firepower provides some comfort, as the manager relies extensively on Fidelity's Europe-equity analysts, who provide in-depth coverage of the fund's investment universe (the HDAX Index).

The strategy is based on a well-designed and proven process. Ackermans has retained its core principles while paying even more attention to downside risk. Fundamental company research is at the heart of the approach. The manager seeks quality firms with healthy balance sheets and clear competitive advantages that can deliver strong structural growth, as reflected in an above-average return on invested capital and profit growth. Yet the approach is not applied dogmatically. While the quality-growth bias is clearly reflected in the portfolio through above-average growth, quality, and valuation metrics, it has been reined in since the fund suffered severe underperformance in the value-oriented market of 2016. We believe this makes sense within the limited investment universe of a German equity fund.

The strategy has a very solid long-term record, and thanks to its quality bias, it has often been more resilient than peers in challenging conditions, including the 2022 downturn. Ackermans is a seasoned analyst, but his portfolio management experience is limited. While his involvement with the fund since 2021 is reassuring, we have yet to gain confidence in him as a lead portfolio manager.
 
Morningstar Medalist Rating™After taking over in October 2023, the manager needs to prove himself.
To find out how Morningstar rates a fund click here.
Morningstar Pillars
PeopleAverage
ParentAbove Average
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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