Fund profile

More information is available from the manager’s website www.montanaro.co.uk

MTE aims to achieve capital growth by investing principally in smaller quoted, Continental European companies (those within the European Union, Norway, and Switzerland), but is not restricted from investing in smaller companies quoted on other European stock exchanges. The benchmark index is the MSCI Europe ex UK Small Cap Index (in sterling terms).

The original company dates back to 1981, but Montanaro Asset Management Limited (MAML) took on the management of the trust in September 2006 and the European small-cap investment approach dates from then.

The manager

MAML was established in 1991 and has an AUM of around £2.5bn. Charles Montanaro and his family together own 65% of the business. Furthermore, the CEO, Cédric Durant des Aulnois, owns 5%, with the remaining 30% being owned by Montanaro’s staff through an employee benefit trust established in 2025.

Lead manager of MTE is George Cooke, supported by Stefan Fischerfeier.

Chief investment officer and lead fund manager of MTE is George Cooke, with Stefan Fischerfeier acting as George’s back-up. Charles and George are members of the investment committee, which also includes Alex Magni, Adam Montanaro and Guido Dacie-Lombardo. MAML also owns around 10.8% of the outstanding shares of MTE (excluding treasury shares), having increased its holding in April 2025.

MAML has a specialist team in the UK dedicated to quoted smaller companies. The team is multi-lingual and multi-national. All but three of the fund managers also have research responsibilities.

Montanaro’s managers say that they believe the business is best served by operating with no more than around 40 staff, as this helps it preserve the characteristics associated with being a boutique investment firm. With £2.5bn of assets under management as at 31 December 2025 and an established range of UK, European and global equity strategies, Montanaro says that it has reached a scale at which it intends to focus its resources on supporting and developing its existing offering rather than pursuing expansion.

In addition to MTE, Montanaro manages a range of UK and European equity funds, the Montanaro Better World Fund – an open-ended fund investing in small- and mid-cap companies that support the UN Sustainable Development Goals – and two global equity funds.

Board update

Gordon Neilly became chairman of MTE on 1 January 2026, succeeding Richard Curling. Neilly, who had already served on the board for more than five years, has experience of the investment management sector, having previously been chief of staff at Standard Life Aberdeen, global head of strategy at Aberdeen Standard Investments and joint chief executive of Cantor Fitzgerald. He is also a non-executive director of Personal Assets Trust.

The change appears to represent continuity rather than a shift in the trust’s strategic direction, given that Neilly was already on the board when the current buyback and tender-offer policies were developed (see below).

The board comprises three independent non-executive directors: Gordon Neilly as chair, Caroline Roxburgh as senior independent director and chair of the audit committee, and Hillary Williams as chair of the remuneration committee.

Tender offer

Tender offers are one of the measures taken by the board aimed at enhancing shareholder returns.

In March 2025 MTE’s board announced a series of initiatives intended to enhance shareholder value and improve the trust’s appeal to shareholders. These included a more active share buyback policy, a reduction in management fees and the introduction of twice-yearly tender offers, which were intended to improve liquidity.

The first tender offer, completed in November 2025, saw 29,792,053 shares validly tendered, representing 20.5% of the issued share capital (excluding shares held in treasury). As this was above the 5% maximum available under the tender, shareholders who tendered up to their basic entitlement had their shares purchased in full, while those who tendered more than this were scaled back.

Six-monthly 5% tender offers at a 5% discount to NAV.

The second tender offer under the new facility has recently closed. It again allowed eligible shareholders to tender up to 5% of their holding, with the tender price set at a 5% discount to the prevailing NAV per share on the calculation date. The board says this discount reflects the wider spreads associated with smaller companies and the costs of carrying out the exercise. It also means that shareholders who wish to realise part of their holding can do so at a price near NAV, while continuing shareholders may benefit from a modest uplift to NAV per share.

The offer closed on 9 July, with the results announced on 13 July. Applications for a total of 17,966,998 shares were validly tendered, representing 14.6% of the total share capital (excluding treasury shares). As with the first tender, those shareholders who tendered more than the 5% basic entitlement have been scaled back. Purchases under the offer are expected to take place on 28 July.

The tender offers are structured to avoid forcing too much realisation at any one time.

The level of demand for both tenders suggests that there may have been a pool of shareholders seeking liquidity close to NAV. However, the facility is structured to try and avoid requiring excessive realisation from the underlying portfolio at any one time, which can be an issue for a smaller companies strategy, where liquidity can be lower.

In combination with the trust’s buyback programme and lower management fee, the tender facility forms part of the board’s wider attempt to address the discount while preserving the long-term investment proposition.

Market update

Figure 1: Performance of various indices, 12 months to 30 June 2026

The 12 months to the end of June were generally positive for equity markets. As shown in Figure 1, European equities were participants in this global rally, albeit they lagged somewhat behind the MSCI All Countries World index. This gap appears to be due to their lower exposure to AI and mega-cap technology names that powered the US market higher. In turn, smaller European companies lagged their larger counterparts, although they had kept pace until the beginning of June.

Looking longer-term, the period following the GFC up to late 2021 was a largely uninterrupted period of strong relative performance for growth investing. This was seemingly the case globally, including for European small-cap investors. Figure 2 provides an illustration, including a particularly pronounced period during the Covid pandemic.

However, the market turned in August 2021, at a time when fears about rising inflation and interest rates began to set in, and since then there has been underperformance from growth sectors and holdings, of 48% to the end of the first quarter of this year.

Figure 2: MSCI Europe ex-UK small-cap growth vs value index since 2021

This has been a more challenging environment for MTE, as an unapologetically growth-biased small-cap investor. However, there appear to be signs that the backdrop is becoming less difficult for MTE’s investment style, even if it may be too early to call a decisive rotation back into growth. European markets seem to have been led in recent years by value-oriented areas such as banks, energy and other rate-sensitive cyclicals. However, as the pressure from rising rates has eased, valuations in small- and mid-caps appear more attractive, and a number of structural growth themes seem to be gaining greater investor attention. Two of these, AI infrastructure and defence, are explored below. These are areas where MTE’s manager believes Europe has a meaningful opportunity set and where MTE has exposure.

Similarly, following four straight years of small-cap underperformance in Europe (as measured by the performance of the MSCI Europe ex-UK small cap versus large cap index), 2025 saw a small 1% outperformance from smaller companies. This was followed by a further 2% outperformance in the first quarter of this year. MTE has itself seen an improvement in performance in recent months (see page 12).

Companies exposed to AI bottlenecks have seemingly been pushed up sharply.

Artificial intelligence

The European smaller companies sector has not been immune to the impact of the ongoing artificial intelligence (AI) revolution. George notes that investors appear to have been quick to look for perceived bottlenecks in the AI data centre supply chain, which may have contributed to sharp share price increases for some European companies seemingly exposed to this theme.

George says that, in many cases, this has included businesses that do not fit MTE’s usual quality criteria, including loss-making companies or businesses where he does not see the same durable barriers to entry, compounding potential or strength of business model that he looks for in portfolio holdings. George feels this has been challenging, as a number of MTE’s own companies have continued to perform well fundamentally, but have not always been rewarded by the market.

MTE’s exposure to AI is through business the manager regards as attractive in their own right.

However, George says that this does not mean that MTE has no exposure to the AI theme. He cites Technoprobe (see page 13) as an example, which has been a recent contributor to performance. George adds that this is a profitable, high-quality business that he already regarded as attractive in its own right, rather than a speculative AI trade. He also says that he remains focused on whether underlying companies have the quality, profitability and barriers to entry needed to compound over the long term.

He adds that the same disciplined approach appears is applied to software. The so-called “SaaSpocalypse” has put pressure on a number of software names, as investors question whether AI could erode the competitive advantages of companies whose products are built around narrow workflows or functionality that agents may increasingly be able to replicate. This was particularly the case earlier in the year, when the release of a new Claude security tool in February was followed by a sell-off in software names.

George acknowledges that this is an issue, but argues that it should not lead investors to treat all software companies in the same way. He says MTE’s exposure is concentrated in businesses where the barrier to entry is not simply the code, but factors such as embedded workflows, specialist functionality or ownership of hard-to-replicate assets. George believes that the selloff has gone too far and believes there is no need to sell all software exposure.

European defence

European defence has been much in focus.

Strong performance from defence companies has been one of the major themes in European equities in the past year, which appears to have been supported by higher government spending and a broader reassessment of Europe’s security needs, in light of a potentially less-supportive American administration. NATO allies have agreed to invest 5% of GDP annually in defence and related security spending by 2035, including at least 3.5% of GDP on core defence requirements, while the European Commission’s Readiness 2030 plan is designed to mobilise more than €800bn of defence-related investment.

Germany’s spending commitment appears to be significant. Berlin has moved to loosen its strict fiscal rules and is planning a major increase in defence expenditure, with spending expected to rise towards the NATO 3.5% core defence target well ahead of the 2035 deadline. As Europe’s largest economy, any sustained shift in Germany’s defence budget could provide a source of long-term demand.

MTE does not have large direct exposure to the defence sector. This seemingly partly reflects Montanaro’s quality-growth process, but also certain ethical restrictions around weapons and munitions. Where MTE does have exposure, it appears to be through specialist suppliers whose products sit around the defence ecosystem rather than through prime contractors or weapons manufacturers.

Invisio (invisio.com) is one such example. The Swedish company develops communications and hearing-protection systems for defence and public-safety customers. Kitron (kitron.com – see page 13) is another; the company provides electronics manufacturing services and may have benefitted from demand in defence and aerospace. In the first quarter of 2026, defence & aerospace accounted for 59% of Kitron’s order backlog, compared with 45% a year earlier. George says the strength of this demand has been notable because the defence side of the business had previously been regarded as relatively steady rather than the main growth engine. George says that this has changed significantly and may be indicative of the sector.

Asset allocation

Figure 3:Sector allocation as at 31 May 2026

Figure 4:Country allocation as at 31 May 2026

Figure 3 shows that sector allocation has remained relatively steady since our last note, which used data as at 30 April 2025. Industrials and information technology remain the largest sectors, and both have increased their relative weighting. These are followed by healthcare and consumer discretionary, which have held steady at 15% and 8%, respectively.

In terms of geographic allocation, per Figure 4, Sweden remains MTE’s largest weighting at 28% of the total. Italy and Germany have switched places in second and third, respectively, with Italy’s share rising from 14% to 19%. Switzerland is the only other country with a double-digit percentage allocation.

These changes in sector and country allocation appear to be in line with George’s stated preference for taking a long-term view, holding companies through periods of market cyclicality and rarely selling positions due to shifts in market sentiment. Similarly, the country allocation is a result of George’s stock selection.

Overall, there were 47 holdings in the portfolio at the end of May 2026, one down on the figure at the time of our previous note.

Top 10 holdings

Figure 5: MTE’s 10 largest holdings as at 31 May 2026

There has been changes to MTE’s top 10 holdings since our last note, with six new names: Technoprobe, NCAB, Carel Industries, Brembo, Melexis and Merlin Properties. George confirms that none of these are new names in the portfolio, and instead their elevation has been largely due to market movements. He states that he believes in “letting the winners win”, rather than necessarily selling once a holding starts to perform well.

Technoprobe

Figure 6: Technoprobe (EUR)

Technoprobe (technoprobe.com) is an Italian semiconductor equipment company specialising in probe cards, which are used to test chips during the manufacturing process. Its products are used for complex semiconductors in high-performance computing, artificial intelligence, consumer electronics, automotive and industrial applications.

MTE’s manager comments that the company has benefitted from the investment cycle in advanced semiconductors, with demand linked to AI and data centre applications contributing to an improvement in trading and a rally in the share price. Technoprobe reported first-quarter 2026 revenues of €187m, up 19% year-on-year, and raised its full-year guidance. Management said that capacity availability had become a critical factor in meeting demand during the current semiconductor expansion cycle.

NCAB

Figure 7: NCAB (SEK)

NCAB (ncabgroup.com) is a Swedish printed circuit board specialist, supplying PCBs to customers across sectors including industrials, automotive, medical technology, telecoms and aerospace. The company operates as an asset-light supplier, working with a network of factories rather than owning large-scale manufacturing capacity itself. Relatively small-scale buyers may use NCAB rather than going direct, as NCAB appears to have aggregate buying power that its customers may not have individually.

George states that NCAB provides the portfolio with exposure to a broader set of structural growth themes, rather than being a pure AI-related holding. The shares appear to have been supported by improving demand and a recovery in order intake. In the first quarter of 2026, NCAB reported net sales of SEK 1,074m, up 12%, while order intake rose 27%. The company said that demand was helped by large project orders, price increases and stronger activity in industrial markets, while its supply-chain model helped it manage a more turbulent environment.

Carel Industries

Figure 8: Carel Industries (EUR)

Carel Industries (carel.com) is an Italian company that designs and manufactures control systems, sensors and software for heating, ventilation, refrigeration and other energy-efficient applications. Its products are used across commercial refrigeration, building management and industrial cooling.

Most broadly, Carel’s appeal appears to lie in its exposure to energy efficiency and more sophisticated cooling systems. George says that there have also been specific openings in relation to data centres, given their need for advanced cooling technology. Demand may also have been helped by structural growth in areas such as refrigeration and lower-energy building systems, where regulation and customer behaviour both appear to be pushing towards more efficient solutions. This gives the company a combination of industrial technology exposure and sustainability-linked growth, with recent performance suggesting that these end-markets remain supportive.

Brembo

Figure 9: Brembo (EUR)

Brembo (brembogroup.com) is an Italian manufacturer of braking systems for cars, motorcycles and commercial vehicles, with a position in premium, high-performance and motorsport applications.

MTE’s manager says that Brembo has built a brand and technology position in a specialised area of the car supply chain, where performance, safety and reliability are important. Its Sensify intelligent braking system suggests that the company is perhaps seeking to move beyond traditional components and into more software-led systems. While the near-term backdrop for autos appears to remain mixed, Brembo’s margins and premium positioning could help it remain more resilient than some suppliers.

Melexis

Figure 10: Melexis (EUR)

Melexis (melexis.com) is a Belgian semiconductor company focused on mixed-signal chips, sensors and driver integrated circuits, with a relatively strong position in automotive applications. Its products are used in areas including electrification, safety, thermal management, lighting and position sensing.

The company appears to have been affected by a softer period for automotive semiconductors, as customers worked through inventories and vehicle production growth moderated. However, the longer-term outlook may be supported by rising semiconductor content per car, particularly as vehicles are tending to become more electrified, automated and digitally controlled. Melexis therefore provides MTE with exposure to automotive technology without relying solely on vehicle volumes. The shares had struggled until recently, but have rebounded since the end of March.

Merlin Properties

Figure 11: Merlin Properties (EUR)

Merlin Properties (merlinproperties.com) is a Spanish listed real estate company with a portfolio spanning offices, logistics, shopping centres and data centres. Its assets are mainly in Spain and Portugal.

MTE’s manager says that, at a time when many listed property companies are being judged mainly on interest rates, valuations and office demand, Merlin is differentiating itself through the increasing importance of its data centre platform. The company is using land it already controls in markets across the “Iberian Digital Diagonal”, where it believes power availability, renewable energy, fibre connections and lower development costs provide it with an advantage over more constrained European hubs such as Frankfurt, London and Paris.

For MTE’s manager, the holding adds exposure to digital infrastructure through a property company with an established Iberian asset base.

Performance

Figure 12: MTE NAV total return performance relative to the MSCI Europe ex UK Small Cap Index, over the five years to 30 June 2026

As is illustrated in Figure 12, over the past five years, MTE’s NAV return has underperformed its benchmark, the MSCI Europe ex UK Small Cap Index. During 2020 and 2021, the fund delivered outperformance – the tail end of which can be seen in Figure 12 – as low interest rates and the pandemic-driven acceleration of structural trends appeared to provide support for growth stocks globally. However, much of this outperformance then unwound during 2022, at a time when rising inflation and expectations of higher interest rates appear to have prompted a sell-off in growth stocks and value-style investing appeared to see a relative resurgence.

Relative performance since has generally appeared steadier, although the fund saw a further reversal at the end of 2025, as European markets experienced an unusually severe rotation away from growth and quality towards value, cyclicals and macro-sensitive areas. George describes this as particularly frustrating, with many of the companies in the portfolio performing well operationally, but seeing their share prices fall. In part this appears to have been caused by concerns over valuations of growth stocks, as the market’s focus shifted from the initial hype around AI to demanding proof of actual profits. However, rising trade tensions and shifting monetary policies may also have contributed to investors favouring more stable, cash-generating companies. Early in 2026, performance was held back by the software selloff triggered by concerns about the possible negative impact of agentic AI.

Recent performance appears to have been positive – Figure 13 shows a marked outperformance of the benchmark in both NAV and share price terms in the past months. George says that there has been no clear reason for this turnaround, although MTE appears to have been on the right side of positive momentum in some stocks.

Figure 13: Cumulative total returns for periods ending 30 June 2026

Figure 13 also shows much longer-term performance, which remains comparatively strong. MTE’s total NAV return has been more than 100% ahead of the benchmark over 10 years, and also ahead of the larger-cap index over the same period.

Top contributors and detractors

Figure 14 shows the top contributors and detractors to MTE’s returns for the 12 months to 31 March 2026.

Figure 14: MTE top contributors and detractors

Technoprobe and NCAB were covered in some detail above (see page 9-10). We cover Kitron here, as well as the three biggest detractors.

Kitron (kitron.com) is a Scandinavian electronics manufacturing services provider, producing complex electronic assemblies for customers in sectors including defence, industrials, electrification, connectivity and medical devices. The shares contributed as investors appeared to respond to accelerating demand across the business, particularly in defence and aerospace. This seems to reflect increased European defence spending and the need to expand manufacturing capacity in sensitive electronic systems. However, growth was not limited to this area, with Kitron also reporting progress across its other end-markets.

ChemoMetec (chemometec.com) fell after a period of weaker momentum and uncertainty around its earnings outlook. Although the company later upgraded its 2025/26 guidance, this followed an earlier reduction in expectations and was helped partly by an accounting adjustment that had a positive one-off effect on sales and EBITDA. The shares appeared to be held back by concerns around the pace of underlying growth, particularly after a strong earlier period for the life sciences tools business.

ATOSS Software (atoss.com) weakened while continuing to report growth in its workforce management software business. The shares appeared to be affected by a broader derating of highly valued European software and quality growth companies. A planned leadership transition, with founder and chief executive Andreas Obereder set to move to the supervisory board, may have added to near-term uncertainty, although management maintained the company’s previously announced 2026 growth trajectory.

CTS Eventim (eventim.de) detracted after investors appeared to react negatively to a weaker-than-expected second quarter in 2025. The ticketing and live entertainment group reported lower profit, with earnings affected by weaker revenue from its own events and the cost of integrating acquisitions. Subsequent trading seemed to show signs of recovery, including a stronger first quarter in 2026.

The company has also faced scrutiny over some of its consumer practices. In February 2025, a German court ruled that the way Eventim repeatedly promoted ticket insurance during the online checkout process breached the EU Digital Services Act, although the judgment was not final and Eventim appealed. Separately, in January 2026, it reached an out-of-court settlement with a German consumer organisation over fees retained from refunds for pandemic-era cancellations. More than 5,000 registered claimants were offered €20 vouchers, although the settlement did not establish a general right to the repayment of fees.

Peer group

MTE is one of three funds in the AIC’s European Smaller Companies sector.

MTE is a member of the AIC’s European Smaller Companies sector, which includes two other funds: JPMorgan European Discovery Trust and The European Smaller Companies Trust. The peer group has reduced in number since the last note, following the merger of The European Assets Trust into The European Smaller Companies Trust in October 2025.

Per Figure 15, MTE’s short-term performance places it at the head of its peer group over three months, although its performance at the beginning of the year puts it at the bottom over six months.

Similarly, MTE has underperformed the peer group median over the last three and five years. The fund performed strongly when growth stocks were favoured during 2020 and 2021, but much of the subsequent relative weakness occurred in the first half of 2022. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the resulting surge in fuel and commodity prices saw an increase in inflationary pressures and expectations for higher interest rates, creating a more difficult backdrop for growth companies. Although this period has now dropped out of the three-year figures, it remains fully reflected in the five-year numbers.

Over 10 years, MTE’s performance appears more competitive, with its NAV total return ahead of the peer group median. This longer period includes the strong post-COVID rally in growth stocks, when low interest rates and abundant liquidity appeared to provide a supportive backdrop for the types of smaller companies held by the fund. Whilst subsequent weakness appears to have weighed on the five-year figures, the 10-year numbers perhaps provide a fuller picture of MTE’s longer-term record across different market conditions.

Figure 15: Listed European smaller companies peer group NAV total return performance over periods ending 30 June 2026

Figure 16 shows fund statistics for MTE’s peer group. Following the aforementioned merger, MTE is the smallest trust in the sector. However, its assets appear to be of a sufficient size that this may not be a significant impediment to demand for its shares.

MTE has the lowest yield of its peers, which may reflect its greater exposure to high-growth companies, which typically pay lower dividends.

MTE’s discount remains the narrowest in its peer group, although it also sits close to the peer group average, with the range being narrow. MTE’s ongoing charges ratio is higher than its two peers, which appears to reflect its smaller size. However, the historic cost in Figure 16 does not yet reflect the full benefit of the management fee reduction that took effect from 1 April 2025, which may move the trust closer to the peer-group median over time.

Figure 16: Listed European smaller companies peer group stats, as at 25 June 2026

Dividend

MTE is managed with capital growth as its primary objective. Any revenue income generated is therefore a consequence of the manager’s stock selection process, rather than an explicit target, meaning that the level of income can vary considerably over time. However, given the trust’s focus on companies the manager describes as high-quality, many of which are cash-generative and dividend-paying, MTE is able to pay a yield, which currently stands at 0.74%.

Figure 17: MTE dividend history, accounting years ended 31 March

For the 2025 year, MTE made a third interim dividend of 0.05p in addition to the usual initial two payments. For ease of reference, this has been included within the final dividend in Figure 17. The company has not provided a specific explanation for the additional payment. However, it appears to reflect a small subsequent adjustment to the distribution for the year ended 31 March 2025.

A second interim dividend of 1.2p has been announced and will be paid on 28 August 2026. In addition, to meet the minimum distribution requirements and to reflect the recent reduction in the number of shares in issue, a special dividend of 0.35p will also be paid on the same date, bringing the total dividends for the year to 1.9p per share.

Figure 17 shows that the dividend was covered by revenue in recent years. MTE also has a revenue reserve, which increased to £5.8m at 31 March 2026. This is equivalent to approximately 4.8p per share, or more than three times the total dividend of 1.31p per share paid in respect of the year. This could be used to provide the board with a cushion to maintain the dividend should earnings come under pressure.

Premium/(discount)

Over the 12 months to the end of June 2026, MTE’s shares traded within a range of a 7.3% to an 8.7% discount, at an average discount of 8.1%. As of 22 July 2026, the shares were trading at a discount of 7.9%.

MTE’s discount widened during 2022, at a time when rising inflation and interest-rate expectations seemingly reduced investors’ appetite for growth companies. It subsequently reached over 15% in late 2023, before narrowing from the end of 2024 as the outlook for inflation and interest rates appeared to become less difficult and the board adopted a more active approach to discount control.

Specifically, in March 2025 the board introduced a policy aimed at maintaining a single-digit discount in normal market conditions, supported by regular market buybacks and twice-yearly tender offers (see page 4). The board says that the policy appears to be working. Since early 2025, MTE’s discount has generally remained in the high single digits, compared with the much wider levels seen during 2022 to 2024.

The board has also continued to use market buybacks between the tender offers. A further 12.51m shares were repurchased between completion of the first tender and the second tender circular, equivalent to around 9% of the shares remaining immediately after the first tender.

Figure 18: MTE discount over five years ending 30 June 2026

Previous notes

Readers interested in further information about MTE may wish to read our other notes. Click the links in the table or visit the QuotedData website.

Figure 19: QuotedData’s other notes on MTE

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