Portfolio manager comments — Q2 2024P
Fund performance was positive in Q2 and the fund rose close to 2% in SEK, benefitting in particular from the holdings in Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and Zealand Pharma, which rose sharply after the major breakthrough made by the obesity drugs. Zealand Pharma published results at the end of the quarter from a Phase 1 study for its drug candidate Petrelintide that showed a weight loss of -8.6% after 16 weeks, which contributed to a strong share price upturn of just over 20%.
Three of the fund’s holdings, Shockwave Medical, Alpine Immune and Calliditas, were acquired at a significant premium during the quarter. We believe the acquisition activity among several major pharmaceutical companies can continue as a result of the declining interest rates and the need for companies to supplement the pipeline after patent expirations to ensure further growth. The fund has a number of smaller positions in exciting research companies that can be interesting for acquisitions if they attain their research targets.
On the negative side, Thermo Fisher posted weaker performance after the competitor Sartorius reported weak results and outlooks for 2024. Dexcom, which posted relatively strong performance in Q1, also showed slightly weaker performance after publishing full-year guidance that was below market expectations.
Returns thus far have been very strong in both absolute and relative terms. We expect the positive performance to continue given that several interesting study results are expected throughout the remainder of the year and the long-term needs for healthcare worldwide are significant.