Category Archives: Performance Review

Performance review Q3 2025 – Comment “Keep waiting for that European Economic rebound”

In the first 9 months of 2025, the Value & Opportunity portfolio gained  +6,6% (including dividends, no taxes) against a gain of +16,7% for the Benchmark (Eurostoxx50 (25%), EuroStoxx small 200 (25%), DAX (30%), MDAX (20%), all TR indices).

Links to previous Performance reviews can be found on the Performance Page of the blog.

Performance review:

After two relatively good monhts in June and July, August and Septmeber once again were underperforming months and I am now 100% sure that this will be the third underperforming year in a row.

Again, some stocks did really badly (Fuchs, STEF, AOC Fund) whereas the winners were not winning enough to match benchmark performance.

As mentioned before, the good thing is that I don’t have to care about unhappy external investors and/or paying subscribers. As I have indicated in the last review, I have been adjusting my approach and improving my investment “infrastructure” but it would be foolish to expect a short term rebound in relative performance in the current market environment. For next year, I am currently considerung to switch to 6M Performance reporting.

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Performance review Q2 2025 – Comment: “Just keep going or reflect & adapt ?”

In the first 6 months of 2025, the Value & Opportunity portfolio gained  +5,8% (including dividends, no taxes) against a gain of +15,6% for the Benchmark (Eurostoxx50 (25%), EuroStoxx small 200 (25%), DAX (30%), MDAX (20%), all TR indices).

Links to previous Performance reviews can be found on the Performance Page of the blog.

Performance review:

As mentioned in Q1, in relative terms 2025 turned out to be a tough year. Despite my traditional overweight in European stocks, I didn’t have enough exposure to performing sectors (Financials, Defense) but instead too much exposure to weak sectors like Oil/Energy related (ATD, DCC), Alcohol (TFF) or construction (Thermador, Samse etc.). I also had no expsoure to takeovers or buy outs.

The only positive news is that June was a relatively good month, in relative terms the best month since December 2023 and the first few days in July looked quite good as well.

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Performance review Q1 2025 – Comment: “Negotiation tactics & Achilles Heel”

In the first 3 months of 2025, the Value & Opportunity portfolio gained  +0,9% (including dividends, no taxes) against a gain of +7,2% for the Benchmark (Eurostoxx50 (25%), EuroStoxx small 200 (25%), DAX (30%), MDAX (20%), all TR indices).

Links to previous Performance reviews can be found on the Performance Page of the blog.

Performance review:

After 2023 and 2024, 2025 once again looks like a year where it will be hard to compete with my benchmark. This is how the individual parts of the benchmark performed in Q1:

Eurostoxx 50: +7,6%
DAX: +11,2%
Eurostoxx small: +3,1%
MDAX: +7,1%

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Performance review 2024 – Comment “Extrapolate the past at your own peril”

2024 overview
There is no way around it: 2024 was a in absolute terms AND relative terms really bad. The Value & Opportunity portfolio lost -2,5 % (including dividends, no taxes, AOC fund as of 30.09.2023) against +4,9% for the Benchmark (Eurostoxx50 (25%), Eurostoxx small 200 (25%), DAX (30%), MDAX (20%), all performance indices including Dividends). Links to previous Performance reviews can be found on the Performance Page of the blog.

Some other funds that I follow have performed as follows in 2024:

Partners Fund TGV:  4,8%
Profitlich/Schmidlin: +9,0%

Over the 14 years from 12/31/2010 to 12/31/2024, the portfolio gained +387% against +168% for the Benchmark (before taxes). In CAGR numbers this translates into 12% p.a. for the portfolio vs. 7,3% p.a. for the Benchmark.  

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Performance review 9M 2024 – Comment: “How to train patience during periods of underperformance”

In the first 9 months of 2024, the Value & Opportunity portfolio lost -0,4% (including dividends, no taxes) against a gain of +6,8% for the Benchmark (Eurostoxx50 (25%), EuroStoxx small 200 (25%), DAX (30%), MDAX (20%), all TR indices).

Links to previous Performance reviews can be found on the Performance Page of the blog. Some other funds that I follow have performed as follows in the first 9M 2024 (values taken from public websites, no guarantees for correctness):

Partners Fund TGV: +7,5%
Profitlich/Schmidlin: +9,6%
Squad European Convictions: 6,8%
Frankfurter Aktienfonds für Stiftungen: 1,8%
Squad Aguja Special Situation: +10,8%

Paladin One: -1,5%
Gehlen & Bräutigam: +5,4%

Performance review:

Some Performance reviews are more fun to write, some less so. This one is clearly in the second category, as was last quarter.

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Performance review 2023

2023 overview
2023 was a in absolute terms quite good, in relative terms however below benchmark. The Value & Opportunity portfolio gained  14,3 % (including dividends, no taxes, AOC fund as of 30.09.2023) against +16,2% for the Benchmark (Eurostoxx50 (25%), Eurostoxx small 200 (25%), DAX (30%), MDAX (20%), all performance indices including Dividends). Links to previous Performance reviews can be found on the Performance Page of the blog.

Some other funds that I follow have performed as follows in 2023:

Partners Fund TGV: 19,6%
Profitlich/Schmidlin: +23,2%
Squad European Convictions +9,9%
Frankfurter Aktienfonds für Stiftungen +7,4%
Squad Aguja Special Situation +4,4%

Paladin One -5,2%
Alphastars Europe +13,7%


The performance of the peers reflects to a large extent the weakness esp. in European/German small caps, especially those outside indices. If you missed out on the few bright spots, you underperformed significantly.

Over the 13 years from 12/31/2010 to 12/31/2023, the portfolio gained +398% against +120% for the Benchmark (before taxes). In CAGR numbers this translates into 13,2% p.a. for the portfolio vs. 6,2% p.a. for the Benchmark. The portfolio ended 2023 also with a new All-time-high.  As a graph this looks as follows:

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Performance review Q3 2023 – Comment: “How tall should your hurdle be ?”

In the first 9 months of 2023, the Value & Opportunity portfolio gained  +6,5% (including dividends, no taxes) against a gain of +8,3% for the Benchmark (Eurostoxx50 (25%), EuroStoxx small 200 (25%), DAX (30%), MDAX (20%), all TR indices).

Links to previous Performance reviews can be found on the Performance Page of the blog. Some other funds that I follow have performed as follows in the first 9M 2023:

Partners Fund TGV: -0,9% (as of Sep 15th)
Profitlich/Schmidlin: +12,9%
Squad European Convictions 5,7%
Frankfurter Aktienfonds für Stiftungen +4,9%
Squad Aguja Special Situation +2,4%

Paladin One -4,7%
Alphastars Europe +4,9%

Performance review:

Within a quarter, the YTD performance jumped from close to the bottom of the peer group to second position. Looking at the monthly returns, it is not difficult to see that especially August and September were in relative terms very good:

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Performance review 6m 2023 – “AI has saved the day”

In the first 6 months of 2023, the Value & Opportunity portfolio gained  +5,0% (including dividends, no taxes) against a gain of +12,8% for the Benchmark (Eurostoxx50 (25%), EuroStoxx small 200 (25%), DAX (30%), MDAX (20%), all TR indices).

Links to previous Performance reviews can be found on the Performance Page of the blog. Some other funds that I follow have performed as follows in the first 6M 2023:

Partners Fund TGV: 3,6%
Profitlich/Schmidlin: 16,6%
Squad European Convictions +7,6%
Frankfurter Aktienfonds für Stiftungen 6,9%
Squad Aguja Special Situation +5,3%
Paladin One -0,8%
Alphastars Europe + 11,4%

Performance review:

Overall, the portfolio performance was in the lower third of my peer group. As the peer group is mostly Small cap focused, the overall relative low returns correspond with the returns of European small cap indices and are mosly well below Large cap indices. Looking at the monthly returns, it is not difficult to see that especially January and June were in relative terms very disappointing.

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Performance review 3M 2023 – Comment: “Please don’t give me a cyrstal ball & How to cope best with massive changes (Covid, Ukraine, Inflation)”

In the first 3 months of 2023, the Value & Opportunity portfolio gained  +4,7% (including dividends, no taxes) against a gain of +11,3% for the Benchmark (Eurostoxx50 (25%), EuroStoxx small 200 (25%), DAX (30%), MDAX (20%), all TR indices).

Links to previous Performance reviews can be found on the Performance Page of the blog. Some other funds that I follow have performed as follows in the first 3M 2023:

Partners Fund TGV: -3,3%
Profitlich/Schmidlin: +8,0%
Squad European Convictions +5,3%
Frankfurter Aktienfonds für Stiftungen 1,3%
Squad Aguja Special Situation +3,9%
Paladin One +4,9%
Alphastars Europe + 4,2%

I have slightly adjusted the Peer Group by eliminating Ennismore as it is actually a long/short Fund and Greiff Special situations. I have added Alphastars Europa, a quite new fund,. What I like about Alphastars is that one has an almost real time view into the portfolio. The Europa funds contains a selection of quite unusual but very interesting selection of European small caps and will be a challenging peer for me going forward.

Performance review:

Overall, the portfolio performance was again more or less in the middle of my peer group. As the peer group is pretty Small cap focused, the relative low returns correspond with the returns of European small cap indices. Looking at the monthly returns, it is not difficult to see that especially January was in relative terms very disappointing.

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Value & Opportunity 2022 Performance Review & 2023 Outlook

2022 overview

2022 was a in absolute terms pretty bad, in relative terms however very lucky. The Value & Opportunity portfolio lost  -3,9 % (including dividends, no taxes, AOC fund as of 30.09.) against -16,7% for the Benchmark (Eurostoxx50(25%), Eurostoxx small 200 (25%), DAX (30%), MDAX (20%), all performance indices including Dividends).

Links to previous Performance reviews can be found on the Performance Page of the blog. Some other funds that I follow have performed as follows in 2020:

Partners Fund TGV: -33,6% (30.12.) 
Profitlich/Schmidlin: -19,2% (30.12.)
Squad European Convictions -14,1% (30.12.)
Ennismore European Smaller Cos (30.12.) +3,8% (in EUR)
Frankfurter Aktienfonds für Stiftungen (30.12.) -17,3%
Greiff Special Situation (30.12.) -3,5%
Squad Aguja Special Situation (30.12.) -19,2%
Paladin One (30.12.) -19,1%

Most of the “Long only funds” in the peer Group were clustered together near the benchmark in a tight range of -14% to -19%. The only positive peer was Ennismore, which is a long/short funds.

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