In August, Partners Group Listed Investments SICAV – Listed Infrastructure had a negative development. While the Fund started the reporting period positively the performance reversed in the last weeks of the month. Reasons for that were the negative performance of emerging markets and European, particularly Italian, infrastructure operators.
Following the collapse of a bridge in Genoa, which was operated by Atlantia, shares of the company went down significantly and also led to a negative performance of other toll road operators. As a consequence of the accident, Atlantia may face penalties, compensation claims and needs to rebuild the bridge. These costs could be at least partially covered by insurance.
On a positive note, Eutelsat published results that were ahead of market expectations. The friendly development of the stocks was mainly driven by the expectations of a return to growth next year. The company benefits from stable cash flows: they have long-term contracts in place and are not dependent of ad revenues such that decreasing TV viewer numbers do not have a significant impact on their revenues. In addition, the dividend payout has been increased.
In the meantime, emerging markets had a negative impact on the Fund’s performance. The reason is partially due to political uncertainty in Brazil, where elections are taking place in October. However, the continuing trade concerns between the US and China also had a unfavorable effect on emerging market stocks.
Finally, the diversified Spanish infrastructure operator Ferrovial contributed positively. The company’s UK airport Heathrow registered a significant passenger growth this year, mainly due to a weaker GBP.