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EXCALIBUR
Returns still stable despite
turbulent first six months
In 2024 the Excalibur Fixed Income fund continued to deliver good returns
in a turbulent environment and periodically unpredictable markets.
Thanks to the fund’s excellent performance in recent years, interest from
several different customer groups increased significantly during the year.
The year 2024 was eventful and exciting in financial terms. At
the start of the year, inflation was still quite high: 5.4 percent
in Sweden, 3.6 percent in the eurozone and 4 percent in the
United States. Central banks aim for inflation to remain at around 2.0
percent. This meant that the year began with a continued struggle
to bring down inflation, a struggle that gradually bore fruit. Inflation
decreased in the second half of the year, approaching the central
banks’ targets.
“All central banks cut their key interest rates quite significantly
during the year,” says Excalibur’s CEO Thomas Pohjanen. “Towards
the end of the year, we approached a level that could be defined as
a neutral interest rate, and that’s probably the level at which central
banks want to start slowing down the fall in interest rates.”
CONTINUED TO DELIVER ON LONG-TERM TARGETS ONE HUNDRED KRONOR HAS BECOME 137
An expected trend in inflation materialized in 2024, although most of Thomas Pohjanen says that customer interest started to grow with
it took place in the second half of the year. The first half of the year the coronavirus outbreak in 2020. In all the years since, the fund’s
was turbulent and much more difficult to predict. Policies, in this case returns have been clearly positive, while one of the alternative
monetary policy, can take a long time to have an impact. The market investments, bond funds, has lost ground. If you invested SEK 100 in
is quick to discount the changes, but it may take time for them to a bond fund in 2020, you have SEK 94 today. If you invested SEK 100
feed through to the economy. The fight against inflation in 2024 took in the Excalibur fund at the same time, you have SEK 137 today. Those
longer than most people had thought. figures speak for themselves, as customers are beginning to realize.
“This is exactly the kind of change we need to be good at predicting,” “The conditions for running fixed income funds have improved
says Thomas Pohjanen. “We position the fund to deliver a stable considerably ever since interest rates were once again able to gen
annual return, which was 7.34 percent in 2024. In credit-proofed erate positive returns,” says Thomas Pohjanen. “Our assessment is
instruments with good liquidity, we continued to deliver in line with that the central banks do not wish to return to zero interest rates, as
our long-term target.” excessively low rates over a prolonged period increase the risks of
financial instability. That’s why we think the conditions for savings
We position the fund to deliver a with interest in 2025 and beyond will be favourable for us,” he
stable annual return, which was concludes.
7.34 percent in 2024 We’ve seen growing
interest in the fund from
STABLE RETURNS AND GREATER CUSTOMER INTEREST customers old and new
External factors in the second half of 2024 were generally favourable
for fixed income investments, apart from during a short period THOMAS POHJANEN,
around the time of the US elections. CEO
“Most importantly, the fund continued to generate good, stable
returns overall during the year,” says Thomas Pohjanen. “But it’s also
gratifying and almost equally important that we’ve seen growing
interest from customers old and new. We want to grow our customer
volumes and aim to reach one billion Swedish kronor in assets under
management in the next few years, preferably already in 2025.”
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