Investment trust insider on Jupiter European Opportunities
James Carthew: why I’m taking profits in Europe’s star trust
Whenever I sit down to look at the European trusts, I find it way too easy to get bogged down in the macro story. There are plenty of reasons to worry about Europe – Brexit, Italy, Greece, the resurgent far right in Germany and Sweden – take your pick. However, if I look at my best performing investments over the past year, top of the list is Jupiter European Opportunities (JEO).
JEO is the great success story in Jupiter’s investment trust stable. Since it launched in November 2000, JEO has multiplied investors’ money more than eight times, while an investment in a European tracker fund matching its benchmark index wouldn’t even have doubled your initial stake (amply illustrating the benefits of active investment).
This impressive track record has attracted new investors but maybe in more modest numbers than it deserves; over the past year it has issued £8.5 million of new shares. However, the combination of asset growth and share issuance briefly pushed its market capitalisation through the £1 billion mark at the end of August.
JEO’s success comes not from second-guessing regional politics and the machinations of the European Central Bank but from stock picking. Therefore, all credit for its success must go to… read more here