The Invesco European Growth Fund (Trades, Portfolio) looks for long-term growth potential in companies based in Europe. That strategy has worked pretty well. In the last decade, that approach has produced a return of better than 8%. In the last five years, the return was even better – about 13% – and it was better still in the last three years (more than 15%).
Invesco European Growth Fund (Trades, Portfolio)’s most heavily weighted second-quarter transactions involved either buying or selling entire stakes, and its most significant deal was its sale of its 235,518-share stake in Shire PLC (LSE:SHP, Financial), a Dublin, Ireland-based specialty biopharmaceutical company, for an average price of £79.84 (nearly $125.56 in U.S. money) per share. The sale had a -1.3% impact on the Fund’s portfolio.
Shire has a market cap of $30.58 billion and an enterprise value of $33.36 billion. It has a P/E of 13.4, a Price/Book of 5.1 and a Price/Sales of 7.7. Signature Select Canadian Fund (Trades, Portfolio) has shares of Shire in its portfolio.
Invesco also sold its 1,286,911-share stake in Petroleum Geo-Services ASA (OSL:PGS, Financial), a Norwegian petroleum products provider, for an average price of Kr5.46 (about $0.69 in American currency) per share. The transaction had a -0.54% impact on Invesco’s portfolio.
Petroleum Geo-Services has a market cap of $9.19 billion and an enterprise value of $17.27 billion. It has a Price/Book of 0.6 and a Price/Sales of 0.8.
Invesco invested in two new stakes in the quarter – Lloyds Banking Group PLC (LSE:LLOY, Financial) and Swatch Group AG (XSWX:UHR, Financial).
Lloyds Banking Group is a London-based financial institution. Invesco purchased 9,446,909 shares for an average price of £0.78 (nearly $1.23 in U.S. money) per share. The acquisition had a 0.81% impact on Invesco’s portfolio.
Lloyds Banking Group has a market cap of $60.91 billion and an enterprise value of $83.53 billion. It has a Price/Book of 1.3 and a Price/Sales of 1.9. David Herro (Trades, Portfolio) and Causeway International Value (Trades, Portfolio) have shares of Lloyds Banking Group in their portfolios.
Swatch Group is a Swiss company that designs, manufactures, distributes and sells finished watches, watch movements, prestige watch components, electronic systems and luxury jewelry. Invesco paid an average price of CHF423.49 (nearly $455.05 in U.S. currency) per share for a 24,374-share stake. The purchase had a 0.79% impact on Invesco’s portfolio.
Swatch Group has a market cap of $20.26 billion and an enterprise value of $18.87 billion. It has a P/E of 14.3, a Price/Book of 1.9 and a Price/Sales of 2.3. Wintergreen Fund (Trades, Portfolio) has shares of Swatch Group in its portfolio.
Invesco reduced its stakes in five companies – GEA Group AG (XTER:G1A, Financial), Anheuser-Busch Inbev SA (XBRU:ABI), SAP SE (XTER:SAP), Smiths Group PLC (LSE:SMIN) and Homeserve PLC (LSE:HSV) – and added to its stakes in two others – Getinge AB (OSTO:GETI B) and LM Ericsson Telephone Company (OSTO:ERIC B).
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