In its first full month of trading, Minotaur Capital delivered a slightly up result.

Our Japanese names once again performed strongly, although our US software names experienced a rebound and contributed well after some posted better than expected results. Companies in Europe and Asia have traditionally traded at substantial discounts for comparable quality companies vs. their US peers. We feel like this gap is no longer warranted given substantial macro- and micro-economic changes such as the return of inflation and positive interest rates, end of fiscal austerity, the addition of buybacks to already healthy dividend yields, and improvements in corporate governance. Again, this is a strong reason why we like Japan and we see the potential re-rating there as a once-in-a-generation opportunity. Japan is a non-obvious way to play obvious thematics. As an example, the GLP-1 weight loss drug thematic is still going strong and everyone talks about the obvious plays of Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk. But Chugai is one of Japan’s leading research-based pharmaceutical companies and offers an oral GLP-1 called Orforglipron which has been licensed out to Eli Lilly. This is a key holding in our portfolio.

Despite being generally structurally bullish on the region, macro and the cycle was not our friend this month in Europe. Our laggards were our French and other European names. Macron’s snap election has caused uncertainty around the longer-term implications for the economy and markets. At the start of the month, we had a significant overweight position in France. During the month, we felt it prudent to trim some of our holdings and stick to our highest conviction names until this short-term malaise resolves. We will continue to monitor the ever-changing nature of geopolitics and the markets and try to react sensibly and prudently. As Heraclitus says, “There is nothing permanent except change.”