LHV World Equities Fund

LHV World Equities Fund unit value increased by 3.1% in December and ended the 2019 with a 19.4% gain. The fund was holding positions first and foremost from Scandinavian stock markets, where several Finnish, Swedish and Danish stocks offered a good return. Equities from Tallinn stock market offered attractive dividend yield but gains in share prices were more modest. The global equity markets were mostly driven by the US market where stock prices once again increased many times faster than corporate profits did. For long term holding, in our opinion it is wiser to focus on listed companies with smaller market capitalizations that are not so overcrowded and expensive compared to bigger listed companies after such an aggressive increase in valuations. Currently we focus more on Scandinavian single stocks where we can find several high quality and reasonably priced stocks. Besides Finnish equities, we have added several positions from Sweden that have stabile business model and pay attractive dividend, as well as companies that were oversold to cheap levels last year. One of the oversold ideas in our view is Scandinavian banking sector which has not lost its importance in local markets. One of the largest fund investments is Swedbank where we see great upside potential after the money laundering accusations fade away. In our opinion, the highest risk for financial markets is sharp increase in the cost of capital which is currently at very low level and it boosts the asset prices. Central banks keep interest rates low and increase money supply through buying back government bonds. In the short run, we are still convinced that there will be better buying opportunities in the near future. In order to hedge risks, we have purchased gold-related positions that perform well in times when markets are going down. For that reason, the largest investment of the fund is one of the leading gold miners in the world – Barrick Gold.