| ANNUALIZED SINCE INCEPTION | QUARTERLY | YTD |
|---|---|---|
| - | - | 15.6% |
Symmetry Invest delivered strong performance in H1 2025 with 15.6% returns, significantly outperforming the MSCI EU Small Cap benchmark's 10.4%. The fund's contrarian value strategy in European small-caps generated exceptional alpha in the first five months as investors recognized undervalued positions. Key contributors included insurance companies FBD Group and Admiral Group, with Admiral increasing EPS by 70%. The manager exemplified their contrarian approach through the GiG/Gentoo Media trade, buying the unwanted software business while selling the popular media division, resulting in 71% gains versus 57% losses respectively. However, summer months brought headwinds as risk appetite increased and lower-quality stocks rallied. In response, the manager reduced both gross and net exposure, building cash reserves for future opportunities. Major positions include CTT Portugal as the largest holding with 156% upside potential to 2027 target, and JDC Group where they maintain 3% ownership. The strategy remains focused on long-term value creation through disciplined contrarian investing.
Focus on undervalued European small-cap companies using contrarian approach, buying what others don't want and selling what everyone wants, while maintaining disciplined risk management and long-term perspective.
Manager has no clear prediction for rest of year, acknowledging uncertainty whether strategy will have tailwinds or headwinds. Committed to continuing disciplined approach focused on long-term results regardless of short-term market conditions.
| Date | Letter | Tickers | Keywords | Pitches | Quick Takes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 12 2025 | 2025 Q2 | ADM.L, BUR.L, CTT.LS, FBD.L, GIG.OL, IAC, IWG.L, JDC.DE, PAR, PROT.OL, SHEL.CO | alpha, Europe, insurance, Long/Short, small caps, value |
PAR JDC GR CTT.LS JDC.DE |
Symmetry delivered 15.6% H1 returns through contrarian European small-cap value investing, significantly outperforming benchmarks. Strong insurance positions and successful GiG trade exemplify their buy-what-others-hate strategy. Summer headwinds led to defensive positioning with increased cash. CTT Portugal largest holding with 156% upside potential. Disciplined long-term approach continues despite market uncertainty. |
| Dec 31 2024 | 2024 Q4 | ACIC, ADM.L, CAT.ST, CTT.LS, FBD.IR, FREE.CO, G2M.L, IWG.L, JDC.DE, OGN.L, PAR, PROTCT.OL | dividends, Europe, insurance, Logistics, small caps, technology, value | - | Symmetry delivered 9.6% returns in 2024 through concentrated European small-cap investing, particularly in undervalued insurance companies and growing technology businesses. The fund's weighted upside increased from 118% to 141%, suggesting strong returns ahead. Key positions include Admiral Group, PAR Technology, and CTT Correios de Portugal, all trading at attractive valuations despite strong fundamentals. |
| Jul 8 2024 | 2024 Q2 | - | Europe, Long/Short, Short Selling, small caps, unit economics, value | - | Symmetry's long/short European smallcap strategy delivered 7.1% net returns in H1 2024, outperforming markets through patient value investing and disciplined short selling. The manager learned valuable lessons about unit economics fragility and plans to intensify stress-testing while maintaining their proven approach that has generated 17.9% annualized returns over 11 years. |
| May 1 2023 | 2022 Q4 | - | - | - |
| QUARTER | THEMES | TAGS |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 Q2 |
ValueManager focuses on cheap European small-cap stocks that experienced strong performance in early 2025 as investors recognized their undervaluation. Strategy involves buying undervalued companies and selling overvalued positions, exemplified by the GiG/Gentoo Media trade where they bought what others didn't want. |
Undervalued Cheap Mispriced Contrarian European |
Small CapsPortfolio concentrated in European small-cap companies with strong alpha generation in first half of 2025. Manager compares performance to MSCI EU Small Cap benchmark, showing significant outperformance with 15.6% vs 10.4% YTD returns. |
European Outperformance Alpha MSCI Benchmark | |
InsuranceStrong focus on insurance companies including FBD Group with 13-15% dividend yield and organic premium growth of 10%, and Admiral Group which increased EPS by 70% in H1 2025. Manager appreciates conservative management approaches in insurance sector. |
Premium Growth Dividend Yield Conservative Earnings Profitable | |
| 2024 Q4 |
InsuranceMultiple insurance companies featured prominently including Admiral Group (UK car insurance), American Coastal Insurance (Florida property), FBD Holdings (Irish insurance), and Protector Forsikring (Nordic insurance). Manager emphasizes attractive valuations and strong dividend yields across the insurance sector. |
P&C Insurance Auto Insurance Reinsurance Dividends Value |
ValuePortfolio companies trading at historically low valuations with strong fundamentals. Examples include Admiral at 9.5x earnings versus historical 17-22x range, and multiple companies offering high dividend yields while trading below book value. |
Valuation Dividends Book Value Earnings Quality | |
LogisticsCTT Correios de Portugal represents exposure to European logistics and postal services with strong growth in Express & Parcels segment. Freetrailer Group provides trailer rental services across multiple European markets with consistent revenue growth. |
Express Parcels Distribution Europe Growth | |
TechnologyPAR Technology serves the restaurant software industry with strong ARR growth from $19 million to $276 million under current CEO. JDC Group positioned as leading insurtech player driving digital transformation in German insurance industry. |
SaaS Software Digital Transformation ARR Growth | |
| 2024 Q2 |
Small Caps2024 has been challenging for smallcap stocks globally, with European smallcaps up only 3.1% and American smallcaps approximately 2% by end of June. Symmetry has outperformed with 7% net returns despite difficult market conditions. The manager notes their portfolio is becoming cheaper as underlying companies perform better than stock prices indicate. |
European Smallcap Russell 2000 Outperformance Valuation Market Conditions |
ValueThe fund focuses on defensive value stocks in the smallcap segment, emphasizing patience when underlying values are being created. The manager states they will never sell undervalued stocks just because they are not increasing in value, preferring to wait for values to be reflected in stock prices rather than chase market trends. |
Defensive Value Undervalued Patience Underlying Value Long-term |
| Date | Pitch Type | Author | Ticker | Company | Industry | Sub Industry | Bull / Bear | Exchange | Keywords | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 12, 2025 | Fund Letters | Andreas Aaen | PAR | PAR Technology Corporation | Information Technology | Electronic Equipment, Instruments & Components | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | Acquisitions, ARR growth, profitability, Restaurant Tech, Volatility | Login |
| Aug 12, 2025 | Fund Letters | Andreas Aaen | JDC GR | JDC Group AG | Financials | Insurance Brokers | Bull | Xetra | acquisition, cross-selling, EBITDA growth, Insurtech, margin expansion, Platform Scalability | Login |
| Aug 1, 2025 | Fund Letters | Symmetry Invest | CTT.LS | CTT Portugal | Industrials | Air Freight & Logistics | Bull | Euronext Lisbon | acquisition, cash generation, e-commerce, Express Delivery, growth, Logistics, Portugal, Postal Services | Login |
| Aug 1, 2025 | Fund Letters | Symmetry Invest | JDC.DE | JDC Group | Financials | Insurance Brokers | Bull | XETRA | Acquisition Synergies, Customer Acquisition, Data Analytics, digital platform, Fintech, Germany, Insurance Technology, LTV | Login |
| TICKER | COMMENTARY |
|---|---|
| PAR | PAR Technology after Friday's financial statements. When I read the financial statements and listened to the conference call on Friday, it was quite disappointing. But after a closer look, the drop looks like a huge overreaction. Decided to buy up a lot of the stock. PAR is a stock that constantly gives us opportunities. We bought before and during Covid around 10-20 USD. Sold the majority in 2021 around 60-90 USD. Bought up a lot again in 2022 around 20-35 USD. Sold a lot in 2024 at 60-80 USD and have now bought up a lot again in 2025 - most recently in the 45-50 level after the financial statements. PAR has grown its ARR consequence over the entire period, delivered attractive acquisitions and has become profitable. Yet the stock market has given us 3 opportunities to buy the stock cheaply. Volatility in the market is truly an advantage for the long-term investor. |
| FBD.L | FBD Group. Things are still going really well for them and the share is extremely cheap. With organic premium growth of approx. 10% and a dividend yield of 13-15%, it really is a share that you can sleep well at night owning. My teams meeting with the management just emphasizes again how conservative they are in their approach – something we like for an insurance company. The market is still healthy and their earnings will continue to improve in the coming years as their bonds are reinvested at higher interest rates. |
| IAC | The stock has settled down quite a bit after the financial results. We see it as an overreaction and have bought up. |
| JDC.DE | JDC Group continues to deliver excellent results. And the stock market is finally starting to understand the potential. In the first 6 months of 2025, revenue grew by 14% YoY and EBITDA by 24%. The bottom line grew even more. Looking over a longer time horizon, the potential is even greater. Revenue has grown by 12% on average while EBITDA has grown by +30% per year. With the full recognition of FMK in 2026, we are quite confident that EBITDA will double to approximately EUR 40 million. Symmetry is still one of the largest shareholders in JDC Group with an ownership stake of approximately 3%. We believe the journey has only just begun and that the management is building a billion-dollar business. |
| ADM.L | Admiral Group which have also arrived in the morning. Our case has always been that their Quota-share contracts would give them a large increase in earnings over the coming years. Fortunately, we were right – Admiral increased EPS by approx. 70% in H1 2025 compared to the previous year. The stock responds nicely and rises by approx. 7%. Still super impressed by them, but decide to take a little profit in the company after the big increase. |
| SHEL.CO | It's still clear that Shelly is a long-term winner in the IOT market. Even though the stock has risen and is relatively expensive at around 30x P/E, we're still comfortable holding a smaller position. |
| PROT.OL | We have been huge fans of Protector for +10 years and still are. But after the recent increases we believe most of the potential has been realized and the risk has increased. We therefore started selling from +400 and all the way up to +500. We have decided to hold a smaller position as long as they still deliver. But want a better valuation to take a full position again. |
| CTT.LS | CTT is our largest position after the stock rose today. Fortunately for us, they are also performing fantastically. In the second quarter, revenue grew by 11% organically and EBIT by 28% organically. Including Cacesa, which was consolidated for 2 months in Q2, revenue grew by 18% and EBIT by 47%. And the earnings growth comes from the most important segment, E&P. Here, they grew 14% organically and EBIT 29% organically, while the growth including 2 months of Cacesa was 34% and 73%. We wrote in our analysis back in January that we believed the fair value in 2027 would be approximately EUR 20. We still believe that is realistic. Although the share has since increased from EUR 5.7 to EUR 7.8, this is still an upside of 156% over the next 2.5 years. Therefore, CTT is today our largest position. |
| Ticker | Put/Call | Amount Bought | Shares Bought | % Change | Weight % |
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| Ticker | Put/Call | Amount Sold | Shares Sold | % Change | Weight % | Status |
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| Industry | Prev Quarter % | Current Quarter % | Change |
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