BlackRock European Dynamic Fund

Why do all the stock market headlines talk about the US market? It seems like the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ are the centre of the universe, and stocks like Apple, Tesla and Amazon are the most important companies in the world. What about Europe? What about companies in Europe? Europe is home to a good number of high quality global companies, which often quietly avoid the media headlines. The only people that seem to notice them are active fund managers, who are constantly looking for high growth businesses to make money for their investors.

Who are these companies?

LVMH (a portfolio of luxury brands including Luis Vuitton and Moet), Novo Nordisk (world leader in diabetes care medications) and DSV (transportation and logistics company – Europe’s answer to DHL) are three examples of companies that aren’t household names to you and me, but are in the same league as Apple, Microsoft and Amazon, in that they each have world-leading brands, strong global businesses and have been growing those businesses for many years. Simply put, Europe is dominated by strong global companies that just happen to be based in Europe. But, with investors’ eyes focussed on the US market, and its large technology sector, Europe can often be overlooked. And investing in a market at a time when others are turning their attentions elsewhere can sometimes be a profitable thing to do. With such a wide selection of funds to choose from, we focus our attention on the BlackRock European Dynamic Fund, which has a long and successful track record in identifying Europe’s winning companies. Past performance is not a reliable guide to future performance.

Europe, as place to invest, is a market made up of 14 very different countries with 14 different underlying economies, yet all coming together to represent one combined economic region, it’s easy to see how periods of uncertainty can lead to the entire region moving in tandem. And this is why you need to take a ‘dynamic’ approach to investing in Europe. Such a dynamic approach enables the fund manager to take advantage of a constantly changing investment and economic landscape. You need to be able to know when sentiment is strong and it’s time to back the winners, yet you also need to understand when markets are ‘not behaving themselves’ and to take a bit of risk off the table. And this is exactly what the team at BlackRock have been doing for many years.

This ‘dynamic’ approach to investing has resulted in periods of time when the fund outperforms during all market conditions – both good and bad. And the team’s ability to find interesting (and profitable) companies is why the fund has such a strong performance track record. And this is why it has made it onto the Barclays Fund List.

BlackRock has one of the most experienced and talented European fund management teams, and while no one knows where markets are heading from here, this could be a fund worth considering if you are thinking of investing in Europe. In addition to the BlackRock European Dynamic Fund, there are also four more funds on the Barclays Funds List that focus on Europe (excluding UK). Find out more information on these funds.

To diversify your investment, you may like to consider our own Barclays Ready-made Investments (RMI). The RMI are just one example of a range of diversified funds which allow you to select the level of risk you are most comfortable with. These multi-asset funds invest in passive funds across a range of asset classes and regions, offering a globally diversified one-stop solution for investors. Ready-made Investments are not the only funds that we offer and they won’t be appropriate for everyone.

Whichever option you choose, you must accept that all investments can still fall in value as well as rise and you might get back less than you invest.

Investments can fall in value. You may get back less than you invested. These are our current opinions but the future, as ever, is uncertain and outcomes may differ. Past performance of the fund and its manager are not a reliable indicator of their future performance.

We don’t offer personal investment advice so if you’re unsure you should seek that independently. Funds are designed for the long term so you should only consider them if you can stay invested for at least five years.

Read the Assessment of Value report for funds run by Barclays [PDF, 683KB].