As its name suggests, the Invesco European Growth Fund (Trades, Portfolio) is active in European stocks - but in 2015, many of the Fund's European holdings have been shrinking, not growing. In January, the Fund bought shares in six companies - including three that are new to its portfolio - but sold shares in nearly 30.
As I wrote in December, Invesco has done pretty well in recent years. In 2013, the Fund returned more than 23.5%; the year before, it returned 21.08%. But that level of success didn't hold up in the volatile year of 2014, when Invesco's return was -6.21%.
Much of that may be due to the dizzying decline in oil prices in the second half of 2014, and, to be sure, Invesco did sell all or some of its holdings in oil companies in January of this year. Invesco divested itself entirely of its holdings in Total SA (FP.PA) and TGS-NOPEC Geophysical Co ASA (TGS.OL) and portions of its stakes in Royal Dutch Shell PLC (LSE:RDS B) and Petroleum Geo-Services ASA (PGS.OL), but it sold holdings in other sectors as well.
The three companies that are new to Invesco's portfolio are Sky PLC (SKY.L), Bollore SA (BOL.PA) and Getinge AB (GETI-B.ST).
Invesco bought 3,345,864 shares of Sky PLC, a London-based satellite broadcasting, Internet streaming media, broadband and telephone services company, for an average price of �9.03 (almost $13.37 at the present currency conversion rate) per share. With more than 20 million subscribers, Sky is Europe's leading media company and largest pay-TV provider.
Although new to Invesco's portfolio, Sky is the seventh-largest stake (by volume) in Invesco's portfolio.
Sky has a P/E of 10.7, a Price/Book of 6.2 and a Price/Sales of 2.0.
Invesco acquired 2,464,200 shares of Bollore SA, an investment and industrial holding group headquartered in the western suburbs of Paris, for an average price of ?3.85 (nearly $4.15 at the present conversion rate) per share. Bollore, which was founded as a paper manufacturer in 1822 and is also active in logistics and freight, employs 28,000 people worldwide.
Bollore, the 13th-largest stake (by volume) in Invesco's portfolio, has a P/E of 44.7, a Price/Book of 1.2 and a Price/Sales of 1.2.
Compared to those purchases, Invesco's investment in 335,639 shares of Getinge AB, a Swedish-based medical technology company that was founded in 1904, was much more modest. Invesco paid an average price of Kr174.8 (nearly $20.26 per the latest currency conversion rate) per share for Getinge.
Getinge has a P/E of 35.8, a Price/Book of 2.7 and a Price/Sales of 1.9.
In January, Invesco added to its holdings in Sberbank Of Russia (MIC:SBERP), John Wood Group PLC (WG.V) and Dragon Oil PLC (DGO.L).
Invesco added 3,998,038 shares to its stake in Sberbank, a Moscow-based shareholder-owned bank with the Russian government in the majority, for an average price of ?47.24 (roughly $0.82 per the present conversion rate) per share. Sberbank is the largest stake (by volume) in Invesco's portfolio.
Sberbank has a P/E of 5.4, a Price/Book of 0.7 and a Price/Sales of 1.4.
Invesco bought 200,007 shares of Wood Group, an oil and gas services company based in Aberdeen, Scotland, for an average price of �6.08 (slightly more than $9 at the present conversion rate) per share.
The Wood Group has a P/E of 13.5, a Price/Book of 1.5 and a Price/Sales of 0.5. It is the 15th-largest stake (by volume) in Invesco's portfolio.
Invesco added 206,446 shares to its stake in Dragon Oil, a Dubai-based international oil and gas exploration, development and production business, for an average price of �5.17 (a little more than $7.65) per share.
Dragon Oil, the ninth-largest stake (by volume) in Invesco's portfolio, has a P/E of 8.9, a Price/Book of 1.2 and a Price/Sales of 4.0.
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