Dear co-investor,
Finally, a very difficult year for everyone has come to an end. I can add little to the encouragement and gratitude for your trust that we have shown you in our previous letters. May the arrival of the vaccine be the turning point we all wish for our lives.

Indeed, that turning point seems to have already come to the financial markets, with equity indexes experiencing a strong recovery in the last months of the year. This time it was the most cyclical and smaller, less liquid companies that outperformed. Thus, Horos Value Internacional returned 26.3% in the quarter, compared to 11.9% in its benchmark index. On the other hand, Horos Value Iberia posted a return of 27.9%, outperforming the 22.8% rise of its benchmark.

However, we continue to believe that the companies we own in our portfolio, mostly cyclical and smaller companies, have a high upside potential. As you know, our exposure to the commodities sector is a significant feature of our funds. It is therefore very important that you understand how we analyze this industry and select the companies in which we invest. This is what we will be devoting the bulk of this last letter of 2020 to, including an account of our investment mistake in offshore drilling companies. As we always say, in order to improve our investment process, we must detect the mistakes we make and learn what decisions/reasons led us to make them, in order to reduce the chances of these situations occurring again.

My best wishes for 2021.

Yours sincerely,

ı———ı
Javier Ruiz, CFA
Chief Investment Officer
Horos Asset Management

Additionally, you can access december factsheets for Horos Value Iberia, Horos Value Internacional and Horos Internacional PP, where you can see more in detail our top 10 positions for each fund.

Dear co-investor,

We finished another quarter affected, to a greater or lesser extent, by the evolution of the pandemic and the decisions made by our governments. It is difficult to get used to this “new normal” situation, but the Horos family sends you all its encouragement and support for these difficult times.

At the market level, after last quarter’s recovery, markets have once again entered a dynamic in which large companies with more predictable earnings are favored by the investment community, to the detriment of smaller companies and those with
more cyclical businesses. Horos Value Internacional has not been immune to this dichotomy of performance, posting a -4.7% return in the quarter, compared to 3.6% of benchmark index. On the other hand, Horos Value Iberia returned -0.8%, outperforming the -6.3% of its benchmark index.

This dynamic, which we already highlighted last year, has even been exacerbated by the uncertainty we are experiencing today, as well as the policies enacted by central banks and governments around the world. At Horos we are convinced that we are not going to play a game in which the risk taken does not compensate for the potential reward of certain investment. We also understand that the current dynamics are not helping our investment style. However, we still prefer to invest where the opportunities exist, without being carried away by the irrational investment flow that feeds on the gains of the same type of companies, making them more and more expensive. History has shown, time and again, that valuations ALWAYS determine the returns we can expect as investors. This time, it will be no different. This is what we will dedicate this letter to.

Yours sincerely,

ı———ı
Javier Ruiz, CFA
Chief Investment Officer
Horos Asset Management

Additionally, you can access september factsheets for Horos Value Iberia, Horos Value Internacional and Horos Internacional PP, where you can see more in detail our top 10 positions for each fund.

Dear co-investor,

We finished a quarter marked, once again, by the huge impact that covid-19 has had on our lives. A quarter in which we can at least hope that the worst is over. I would like to give everyone who has been affected much encouragement and, of course, thank all of our investors for their trust and patience in this challenging environment.

At the market level, after the sharp falls in February and March, the world’s stock markets rebounded strongly, which has contributed to cutting the YTD 2020 losses. Our portfolios have not been immune to this recovery, with Horos Value Internacional posting a 16.0% return in the quarter in line with the 16.5% rise of its benchmark index, and Horos Value Iberia returning 14.1%, above the 8.5% of its benchmark index.

Despite this rise in the NAVs, our funds’ upside potential remains close to all-time highs.1 We are well aware that trusting these potentials implies trusting our way of doing things at Horos. That is why I think it is essential to devote this quarterly letter to a more in-depth look at how we analyse companies. In particular, we will study the role of narratives in our investment theses and the upside potential we obtain for our portfolios.

We continue to strongly believe that these are extraordinary times to invest in our funds. We do not have any crystal ball, nor do we have control over the performance of our portfolios (at least in the short term). But what is clear to us is that, if the work we are doing is correct, these high potentials will eventually turn into healthy and sustainable returns over time.

Yours sincerely,

ı———ı
Javier Ruiz, CFA
Chief Investment Officer
Horos Asset Management

Additionally, you can access June factsheets for Horos Value Iberia, Horos Value Internacional and Horos Internacional PP, where you can see more in detail our top 10 positions for each fund.

Dear co-investor,

We finished what has been one of the most challenging quarters we have ever experienced, both professionally and, of course, personally. Therefore, I would like to start by thanking you for your great trust in our work and wishing you all the best in these tough times.

I would also like, if I may, to express my congratulations and gratitude to the rest of the members of the Horos team, for the great effort they are making, so that our service and work can continue to be carried out as normally as possible. You can count on our dedication and rigor to be the same as always.

This quarter has been characterised by a sharp market downturn, as a result of investors’ panic and increased demand for liquidity, in the face of economic uncertainty due to the coronavirus pandemic. Thus, Horos Value Iberia fell by -35.1% compared to -27.6% of its benchmark index. On the other hand, Horos Value Internacional was down by -30.2% compared to -19.6% of its benchmark index.

In this quarterly letter, I would like to try to do my part to explain the severity of the market crash. But, most importantly, in an exercise in transparency that goes beyond previous letters, I will devote the bulk of this letter to discussing, in great detail, the changes we have made to our portfolios in order to mitigate potential risks and increase their upside potential to all-time highs.

We are convinced that we have an outstanding investment opportunity ahead of us. We are also proud to be able to say that in March, one of the worst months for the stock market on record, we had net inflows from our co-investors.

Yours sincerely,

ı———ı
Javier Ruiz, CFA
Chief Investment Officer
Horos Asset Management

Additionally, you can access March factsheets for Horos Value Iberia, Horos Value Internacional and Horos Internacional PP, where you can see more in detail our top 10 positions for each fund.

Dear co-investor,

We end a year that has been marked, as you know, by (very) high volatility in equity markets, caused by global political and economic uncertainties. As we have stressed in previous letters, this environment has led investors to seek out companies with more stable businesses or those that are currently more popular. The result is that these companies are becoming more and more expensive relative to smaller or more cyclical businesses.

This trend has slightly reversed in the last quarter of 2019, giving a boost to those who, like us, invest in stocks with a high margin of safety and which are precisely the least popular in this context of uncertainty. Perhaps the progress made in the trade negotiations between the United States and China, or the likely Brexit outcome in the United Kingdom, explains this recent change in investors’ sentiment.

However, valuation divergences are still very pronounced, and we remain convinced that our portfolio is best suited to generate attractive and sustainable returns over the long term, as evidenced by its high upside potential. We are aware that it is sometimes difficult to deal with this volatility. That is why we are very grateful for your confidence. We are sure that patience will eventually pay off.

My best wishes for 2020.

Yours sincerely,

ı———ı
Javier Ruiz, CFA
Chief Investment Officer
Horos Asset Management

Additionally, you can access December factsheets for Horos Value Iberia, Horos Value Internacional and Horos Internacional PP, where you can see more in detail our top 10 positions for each fund.