"Management Commentary Blog Post 1"

General Development

In April 2025, the fund price recorded a decrease of 1.2 percent, after being able to recover briefly by 13% from the low on April 9. Please refer to our factsheet for complete details on performance.
The Trump administration’s massive announcements regarding the introduction of comprehensive tariffs against a variety of states have caused considerable turbulence in the global financial markets. This was not just about individual protectionist measures – rather, Trump questioned the fundamental rules of world trade. This geopolitical escalation triggered the strongest price decline on international stock exchanges in five years.
The US bond market also reacted with noticeable pressure, which ultimately forced the US government to make a partial U-turn in April: numerous announced tariffs were withdrawn or at least postponed – with the exception of measures against China. The realization is growing that a trade war against the world can hardly be won. The partial de-escalation of tariff threats subsequently contributed to a general calming of the markets.

Fund Performance

The development in April shows a mixed picture

In April, fourteen of our portfolio values recorded gains, while sixteen values had to accept losses. The largest positive contributions came from German companies such as Aumann, Voltabox and the hydrogen companies ITM Power and Hexagon Purus, as well as Wolfspeed from the E-Mobility sector.
The largest individual losses were recorded by Plug Power, JinkoSolar, Enphase, Daqo Energy, PowerCell Sweden, SMA Solar, Enapter and DynaCert from the main sectors of hydrogen and solar. At the end of the month in March, the equity ratio of our portfolio was 97 percent.
The high fluctuations of the USD against the Euro were completely hedged in the portfolio.

Company Examples

Targeted purchase at extremely low prices
In the course of April, we used the sometimes extreme price declines in individual portfolio companies for an anti-cyclical repurchase. We bought more of the following values: Canadian Solar, Enphase, Hexagon Purus, Maxeon Solar, Nano One, Nel ASA, Novonix, Plug Power, SMA Solar and Wolfspeed. At SFC Energy, we secured profits and reduced the position somewhat.

Complete sale and new purchases in the portfolio
We usually hold positions in the portfolio for many years – often longer than five years. From a risk perspective, however, we have completely separated from Meyer Burger. Decisive were statements by the management on the mere day-to-day extension of bonds as well as speculations about a possible takeover with an unclear outcome, which caused considerable uncertainty. In view of these developments, we were not prepared to continue to bear the increasing risk and have therefore sold the remaining residual position of 1.4 percent.

We had completely sold our position in First Solar in 2023 at attractive prices, realizing a profit of around EUR 3.7 million. In view of the currently very favorable valuation, we have now rebuilt a position. The company convinces with an impressive order backlog of 66.1 gigawatts worth USD 19.8 billion as of March 31, 2025. First Solar is also financially solid: the company has a liquidity reserve of USD 900 million with comparatively moderate liabilities of USD 525 million. The intrinsic value of the company – the so-called Shareholder Equity – is USD 8.2 billion.

We have newly added the Elia Group to the portfolio – our first position in the high-growth segment of smart grid technology, which we believe has great potential in the long term. As an established and extremely solid company, Elia Group forms a first building block in this future area. The European transmission system operator, based in Brussels, plays a central role in the electricity supply of Belgium and Eastern Germany with its subsidiaries. Elia Group is thus a key player in the European energy transition: it connects national electricity markets, integrates offshore wind power and ensures grid stability in an increasingly decentralized energy system.

With a market capitalization of EUR 8.5 billion and sales of EUR 4.1 billion in 2024, the company has a very high profit margin of over 50 percent – supported by regulatorily guaranteed revenues. The current dividend yield is about 2.8 percent; the distribution policy is designed for continuous increase. We also used a temporary price setback at Elia Group specifically for our entry.

Impact of tariffs on solar companies in the USA
The CEO of Enphase emphasized that the newly announced US tariffs of 145% on products from China, as well as the additional 10% countervailing duties on imports from other countries, are expected to have only a minor impact on the microinverter business. The reason for this is the already highly diversified supply chain in this segment. The situation is different for battery systems: Here, Enphase currently still obtains battery cell packages from China, so that the new tariffs are likely to burden the gross margin in the second quarter of 2025 by around two percent. To counteract this, Enphase plans to completely relocate its battery cell suppliers to India and South Korea by mid-2026.

The newly announced US tariffs strengthen First Solar in competitive protection in the domestic market. At the same time, however, the company faces possible declines in demand that could be triggered by those tariffs – before it can fully exploit its cost advantages over foreign competitors. First Solar has strong domestic structures with large production facilities in Ohio and Alabama and is also planning a new plant in Louisiana. This pronounced US production represents a significant strength.

However, CEO Mark Widmar described the Trump administration’s measures as a “significant economic difficulty” for First Solar’s international production sites in India, Malaysia and Vietnam. In particular in Malaysia and Vietnam, whose plants produce exclusively for the US market, there could be production cuts or even closures. The new tariffs are a significant challenge for 2025, which was not foreseeable in this form at the beginning of the year, Widmar continued.

Despite these short-term burdens, First Solar sees itself well positioned in the long term. Widmar emphasizes that increasingly also Republican members of parliament recognize the benefits of the existing tax credits and advantages through the IRA (Inflation Reduction Act) – especially with regard to falling electricity costs for consumers in the USA. The US government must also keep this in mind.