Following an annual tradition since 2013, by the end of the year, I review my portfolio by writing/updating very short summaries for each individual position. 17 of the 23 positions from last year are still in the portfolio and I have added 6 new positions. That turnover has been mostly driven by reviews (Admiral, ABO Energy), or the price target had been reached (DEME) and by finding new ideas. A more comprehensive Performance review will follow in early January 2025.
A short user guide:
My preferred style of investing is a bottom up approach, focusing on 20-30 small/midcap stocks that in my opinion have a good return/risk profile over the next 3-5 (or more) years. Many of these stocks are not household names and are unlikely to make spectacular gains in any single year. Many of them look interesting only after the second or third glance and are rather boring, which is exactly what I am looking for. So if you are looking for a “Hot stock for 2025”, this post won’t help you much.
And always remember: THIS IS NOT INVESTMENT ADVICE. PLEASE DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH.
As last year, I have created a portfolio overview chart based on holding periods which I proudly present here:
The summaries of the previous years can be found here:
My 22 (+1) Investments for 2024
My 23 Investments for 2023
My 28 Investments for 2022
My 21 (+6) Investments for 2021
My 20 investments for 2020
My 22(+1) Investments for 2019
My 21 investments for 2018
My 27 investments for 2017
My 27 investments for 2016
My 28 investments for 2015
My 24 investments for 2014
My 22 investments for 2013
Let’s go:
1. TFF Group (Holding period 14,0 years)
TFF is the “Last stock standing” from the initial portfolio 13 years ago. It is the world leading, family owned & run oak barrel manufacturer. Their official motto is “Time is on your side”. Has grown well over many years due to Asian demand for aged French wines and opportunistic acquisitions. Whisky barrels have added to growth. After a couple of years of organically building US operations (Bourbon) from scratch, which required significant capital outlay and no sales. 2024, after some time looked a little bit weeker which is most likely the result of an overall more difficult environment for premium wine, whisky and other alcohol. This led to a significant multiple compression, on a trailing 12 month basis, the stock is as cheap as after the GFC. For me, no reason to sell. “Long term Hold”
2. G. Perrier (11,8 years)
French, family owned & run small cap, specialist for electric installations with a strong position in Nuclear maintenance. Continued growth despite economic headwinds. They added a new segment in 2021 (aerospace and defence) which is now contributing significantly. As many French small caps, 2024 led to a significant mutliple compression. Maybe they can use the environment to acquire some more companies. “Long term Hold”.
3. Thermador (11,5 years)
Thermador is a French based, specialist construction supply distribution company with a focus on pumps and anything connected with water circulation. Distinct “outsider style” corporate culture with an emphasis on decentralized decision making and regular M&A activity. 2024 has been tough for Thermador, with the French economy not recovering. They still manage to earn decent margins which speaks to the quality of theire business model. “Long term hold”.
4. Bouvet (10,4 years)
IT consulting company from Norway. When I bought the stock ten years ago, the stock price previously had been hit hard by the oil price decline, Statoil was the largest client. The business and the stock showed a strong recovery since 2016. I was unsure about the stock in some years but the company kept growing. In early 2020, I sold half of the position (much too early of course). The company surprises me every year, again with double digit (organc) growth in 2024. Compared to the quality of the business, the stock is not too expensive. “Hold”.
5. Partners Fund -MSA Capital (9,3 years)
An investment into a fund run by a very good friend. Mathias is a “Munger style” investor with a concentrated portfolio of “moaty” companies, many of them from the US. I think it is a good complimentary exposure for my investment style and he has been ouperforming my portfolio by some percentage points per year until 2022. At the end of 2024, the fund will move under a new “legal umbrella” but everything else remains the same. Other than many “Cathy Woods style” growth investors, I am 100% sure that the Partners Fund will continue to do well over the next 10-20 Years “Long term hold”.
6. Sixt AG Pref & Common shares (4,9 years)
Sixt is a company I have been admiring for a long time but never managed to “pull the trigger” to buy. Finally, during the dark days of Covid-19, I managed to build up a position in the cheaper pref shares.
2024 was not such a great year because of market value losses of the car inventory especially in the US. However, growth, especially in the US was impressive and 2025 could turn out to be a lot better without the losses on the used car sales. “Long term hold, potentially add”.
7. Chapters Group (4,8 years)
Chapters is “Germanies answer” to Constellation Software and/or “Mini Danaher” and has established a few platforms through which they acquire small business. The company again managed to sell shares to new investors at high share prices. The stock is clearly a bet on the Jokey Jan, whom I know since many years. in 2024 I had the pleasure to visit their investor day and annual shareholder meeting in Hamburg. The current stock price clearly has future growth priced in, but still a “Long term hold”.
8. AOC Fund (4,4 years)
The second fund investment. This time into an “activist fund”, most famous because of its successful campaign on Stada some years ago. They take a pretty concentrated long term approach and actively work with/in company boards. Besides te really great ong term performance, a goal is also to follow and trying to learn from them. After a very strong 2022, 2023 and 2024 were clearly weaker years in absolute and relative terms as a couple of the positions (AGFA, PNE Wind) are struggling. The long term track record is still outstanding. “Long term Hold”.
10. Alimentation Couche-Tard (3,9 years)
ACT entered the portfolio in 2021 as one of my very few large cap investments. It was the rare chance to get into a high quality compounder at a reasonable valuation (13-14x trailing PE) almost 5 years ago. The company is famous for its decentralized, entrepreneurial culture and excellent capital allocation. After a failed bid for Carrefour, ACT had fallen out of favor with some investors which opened this opportunity. 2024 once again saw a failed bid for “Seven &I”, the Japanese Group owning the 7-11 brand. At some point in time I might have to “re-underwrite” as they also have a new CEO. “Hold/Review”.
11. DCC Plc (2,1 years)
At its core, DCC is a very unglamorous, mid-cap distribution company headquartered in Ireland and operating via 3 different platforms (Energy, “Technology” and healthcare) around the globe and could be characterized as “serial acquirer”. Despite an extremely strong 20 year+ track record, the stock fell out of favour and traded at very attractive valuation levels. The main business, (fossile) Energy clearly has challenges, but DCC is adressing this actively in their strategy. As in 2023, Energy was the main driver of DCC’s business in 2024. Quite as a surprise, DCC announced that after a strategic review, they will disinvest evrything except the Energy business in the coming years. This led to a short term share price increase, however the stock faded back down lately. Although I like the change in principal, I will need to watch how they execute this startegy change. “Hold & Watch”.
12. Royal Unibrew (2,2 years)
Royal Unibrew is the second Danish addition resulting from my “all Danish shares” series. What I liked about the company is the fact, that on top of a very strong track record, they seem to have a very interesting decentralized culture and really good capital allocation skills plus top notch reporting. The business as such seems to be a vey stable on and very attractive compared to other beverage categories.
As the rest of the alcoholic beverage industry, they had problems in passing cost inflation to customers in 2022/2023. In 2024, margins recovered, although they are still significantly below “pre Covid” levels. For me, the long term case is still intact,“Hold”.
13. Sto SE (2,3 years)
Sto SE, the German insulation company, is the remaining member of the “freedom Insulation” basket”.Sto is financially really solid and the valuation is moderate. However, as other construction related stocks, Sto suffered from the decline and also regulatory uncertainty esp. in Germany. I had added to the position through 2023 with high hopes of a recovery in 2024. However, the company seems to have not managed the cycle well and issed a big profit warning for 2024 and cancelled their mid-term target without giving a new one. I have to admit that this really disturbed me. This is clearly a position to “Watch”.
14. SFS Group (1,9 years)
SFS Group was one of the first new addition in 2023. Swiss based SFS produces metal precision parts and also distributes tools for the machinery industry. They managed to acquire Hoffmann, a well known German tool distributor. I also like the culture with a big focus on the apprenticeship system. The CEO has started his carreer as an apprentice and worked his way to the top. The company did quite well despite a difficult environment in 2024. A Global presence with local manufacturing in all large markets is a plus. “Hold”.
15. Energiekontor (1,5 years)
Energiekontor is currently my only renewable energy company. The main difference to ABO Wind is that they also own and run renewable power plants and do have a decent capital allocation. They don’t operate as internationally as ABO Wind. As many other players, they had to issue a profit warning due to project delays. So far it looks that 2025 could be a very good year. Mid term, there is clearly uncertainty for the politcal side. “Hold/Watch”.
16. Italmobiliare (1,3 years)
. Italmobiliare doesn’t deal in real estate or furniture, as a bad translation might indicate, but is a Private Equity style investor into Italian “Quality” companies, run by the current head of the founding family. At the time of purchase, the stock traded at around 50% of intrinsic value and many of the portfolio companies, especially the larger ones like Coffee brand Borbone and high end perfume maker Santa Marie Novella have very good growth prospects. They paid a massive 3 EUR didivdend in 2024, underlying businesses on average developed quite well. “Hold, potentially add”.
17. Laurent Perrier (1,4 years)
Laurent Perrier is also an 2023 addition, a small position that I see rather as part of a “stock collection”. Laurent Perrier is a pure play Champagne company with a long history, a very good brand and based on “post Covid” numbers looked quite cheap. 2024 was a tough year for Champagne and other alcoholic beverages, but Champagne is something that has been around for a long time and might stay relevant for an equally long time. “Hold”.
18. SAMSE Group (1 year)
SAMSE was my final 2023 addition. A french distributor of building materials that has been growing nicely for a long timeand is majority owned by the founding families and the employees. Looking back, the timing was clearly very bad, although they made an interesting acquistion in France which should help them a lot, if and when the economy turns around. “Hold”.
19. Eurokai (0,9 years)
Eurokai, the German, family owned operator of various Container terminals was basically a replacement trade as Logistec, my Canadian Port operator got taken over. It was also my best purchase in 2024. Despite a complicated structure and low liquidity, Eurokai in my opinion is a very attractive share as the valuation is extremely low and business has been doing very well. There are good chances, that 2025 will be even better plus there is a decent chance of an even higher dividend. I bought more during the year, making it one of my larger positions. “Hold”.
20. Amadeus Fire (0,8 years)
Talking a bout bad timing, Amadeus Fire, my second purchase in 2024 again was expertely bad timed. Amadeus operates both as a recruiter/temp staffing agnecy and as a professional training company active only in Germany. As they were expecting a recovery in 2024, the invested in new offices which obviously didn’t help them much. Although results were still quite OK, multiples compressed a lot in 2024. Not even activist AOC (where I am a fund investor) could change much despite buying a significant stake. 2025 should be defintely better, but who knows what happens. “Watch”.
21. Hermle (0,7 years)
Also my third purchase in 2024, Hermle, turned out to be badly timed. Hermle, a “Hidden Champion” manufacturer of High Tech 5-Axis multi purpose milling machines did clearly better than competitors in 2024, however a German machine maker small cap has few friends these days. Hermle keeps investing through the cycle which should pay off if and when the cycle turns. Valuation wise, the stock trades at “Euro crisis” level, but who cares about valuations these days anyway ? “Hold”.
21. EVS Broadcast (0,5 years)
EVS Broadcast, the main “fruit” of my all Belgian Stocks series did slightly better than the first two 2024 purchases. EVS, a market leader in equipment required to produce live sports television/streaming has been gaining market shares in its market over the past years and has made some smart acquitisions. Managment executes well and has increased the forecast 2 times in 2024. “uneven” years a usually a little bit weaker, but I am quite confident that they will continue to perform well. I made EVS over the year to one of my largest positions. “Long term hold”.
22. STEF SA (0,5 years)
STEF is another 2024 purchase, that despite being a French company, was not a total desaster. The company is the French leader in Cold chain wharehouses and transportation and is expaning strategically across Europe. The company is owned mostly by family and employee shareholders and has a very defendable business model based on a strong “physical moat” of their network. Of course 2024 was not great with the weak economy, but STEF managed to acquire further adjacent business and in my opinion, will do well over time. For an “infrastructure like” company, the valuation is very moderate. “Long term hold”.
23. Fuchs SE (0,2 years)
The last write-up and purchase in 2024 was Fuchs, a family owned and run Lubrication business based in Germany but acting globally. Despite not being “super cheap”, considering the high quality of the business and managment I still think that Fuchs offers a very decen risk/return profile. The company is a lot less reliant on the OEM passenger market than many investors think and in my opinion is a potential high quality, long term compounder at a decent valuation. “Long term hold”.
+1 Mystery Stock
Unfortunately, I did not have the time to finish the write-up for this one, but I already included it as a starter position in the portfolio. More on this one in early 2025.