2010-09-02

The fund performed significantly better than the renewable energy and water indices during the month; the fund outperformed the renewable energy sector by 2.8 ppts and the water sector by 1.9 ppts. However, the fund’s outperformance of the sub-sectors was not enough to beat the MSCI World index; the fund underperformed MSCI World by 0.1 ppts. The largest contributors to the fund's excess return against renewable energy and water was the relatively higher exposure to Asian markets and a larger cash position (> 10%).

In August the debate on global warming and climate change emerged again after having been relegated to the "backyard" of public debate since the failure of the Copenhagen meeting in December 2009. Severe flooding in Pakistan and China, and the highest temperature averages ever recorded in a month in Russia - resulting in massive fires - helped to once again bring the subject up on the public agenda. Even in the Nordic countries climate change has left its mark during the year in the form of an exceptionally cold winter and an equally exceptional hot and dry summer.

On the stock market Danish Vestas, the world’s largest manufacturer of wind turbines, delivered a report for the second quarter that was significantly worse than expected. The company was forced to lower the full-year guidance for sales from €7-8 billion to €6 billion and at the same time - and most surprisingly - more than halved the forecast for the operating margin from the previous 11-12% to 5-6%. The stock dropped 23% on the reporting day and is down 18% (DKK) for the month. Takeover rumors have already started to flourish in the market and a floor for the share price, from a takeover perspective, is believed to be around DKK 200.

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