Aegon Global Equities Flash Report
See below for the February global equity funds performance and positioning information*.

 

Fund

Fund (%)

Benchmark (%)

Aegon Global Equity Income Fund

-1.72

MSCI AC World Index (USD)

-0.57

Aegon Global Sustainable Equity Fund

-5.74

MSCI World AC Index (EUR)

-0.62
Equity market backdrop

 

  • February was a difficult month for investors, with the MSCI ACWI falling -0.6%, as large differences between sectors and regions and a rotation away from the themes that had worked well throughout the previous year influenced markets.

  • Economic data proved unhelpful for the US as consumer price inflation ('CPI') ticked upwards and consumer confidence registered its largest decline since August 2021. Additionally increased uncertainty over tariffs, fiscal policy and the potential for sweeping cuts to the Federal workforce served as headwinds.

  • Outside of the US, there were more positive signs in international markets, with Europe being helped by strong corporate results and tentative signs that some economic indicators are improving, causing financials and defence stocks to surge to far this year.

  • In China, sentiment has been boosted by the recent unveiling of DeepSeek's Artificial Intelligence ('AI') capabilities, which has reignited interest in the Chinese tech sector. In addition, signs of a softening in the attitude of the country's leadership to the business sector, and in particular large tech, has helped market sentiment.
Aegon Global Equity Income Fund
  • The market environment was unforgiving towards AI related technology stocks in February and accordingly our AI exposed semi-conductor plays TSMC and Broadcom represented the largest relative detractors to performance.

  • Notably, industrial companies connected to the AI thematic also fell in sympathy during the month and Eaton Corp. de-rated as a consequence of this dynamic.

  • AbbVie and AstraZeneca both added notable value, as the pharma giants re-rated on the back of terrific quarterly results which beat consensus expectations.

  • Our financials registered healthy gains too. European names Zurich Financial Group and Norwegian bank DNB were boosted by strong results while Pan Asian insurer AIA also rose on ongoing operational momentum.

  • Lastly, not holding Magnificent 7 cohorts Tesla and Amazon (as a result of our stringent income criteria) proved beneficial.

  • Similar to last month, there were no new additions or complete sales in February, reflecting our long-term philosophy and low turnover approach.

Article 8

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Aegon Global Sustainable Equity Fund
  • The largest detractor was digital transformation consultancy Endava, with the firm issuing mixed results for the quarter and lowering guidance for the full year.

  • Additionally, low-cost gym operator Planet Fitness recorded solid Q4 numbers, but shares retreated as guidance fell short.

  • Given the defensive nature of markets, the portfolio’s better performers were mostly established, steady growth holdings. For example, shares in American Tower reacted well to results and guidance which came in slightly ahead of expectations.

  • One real bright spot was the significant jump in the shares of recent purchase PowerFleet, which surged after results showed improving organic growth, more large deals and expanding margins.

  • In trading, we added two new names to the portfolio in Atlas Copco and NASDAQ and exited Hubbell (volumes under pressure and supply chain issues), Halma (valuation has re-rated strongly, investment case played out) and Tetra Tech (concerns over new US policy and federal spending).

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*Source: Lipper as at 28 February 2025. NAV to NAV, noon prices, income reinvested, net of ongoing charges, excluding entry or exit charges. Performance for the Aegon Global Equity Income Fund is for the C Inc USD share class. Performance for the Aegon Global Sustainable Equity Fund is for the B Acc EUR share class, the Fund launched 21 April 2016. The performance benchmark for the Aegon Global Equity Income Fund and the Aegon Global Sustainable Equity Fund is the MSCI All Countries World Index. Note: index benchmarks have close of day prices. The peer group for the Aegon Global Equity Income Fund is the Lipper Global Equity Global Income.

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Risks

The main risks of investing in these funds are:

 

Liquidity

Other markets

Concentration

Foreign exchange

Global Equity Income Fund

✘

✘

✘

 ✘

Global Sustainable Equity Fund

✘

✘

✘

 ✘


For more information on the risks involved with these funds please see the Prospectus/KIID.

Calendar Year Performance (%)

Source: Lipper as at 31 December 2024. NAV to NAV, noon prices, income reinvested, net of ongoing charges, excluding entry or exit charges. Performance for the Aegon Global Equity Income Fund is for the C Inc GBP share class. Performance for the Aegon Global Sustainable Equity Fund is for the B Acc GBP share class, the Fund launched 21 April 2016. The performance benchmark for the Aegon Global Equity Income Fund and the Aegon Global Sustainable Equity Fund is the MSCI All Countries World Index GBP.

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