Rolinco - EUR E

Marco van Lent is Lead Portfolio Manager Robeco MegaTrends/Rolinco, Portfolio Manager Robeco Digital Innovations and member of the Thematic Investing team. Before 2013, he managed Robeco Infrastructure Equities. Marco joined Robeco in October 2007 to co-manage two European equity funds. He worked at Van Lanschot Asset Management to manage the Van Lanschot European Equity Fund. After the acquisition of Kempen Capital Management by Van Lanschot, he worked at Kempen Capital Management for six months to manage European equity mandates. He was Portfolio Manager European equities at Philips Investment Management in the period 1999-2005 and in the period 1996-1999 he was Portfolio Manager at Van Spaendonck Asset Management. He started his investment career in 1985 as a sell-side analyst/strategist. Marco holds a Master's in Business Economics and Finance from Tilburg University. Steef Bergakker is Portfolio Manager Robeco MegaTrends/Rolinco, Portfolio Manager Robeco Digital Innovations and member of the Thematic Investing team. Previously, he was trends researcher within the Trends Equities team and has authored several white papers. Before that, Steef was portfolio manager of Robeco Infrastructure Equities and Robeco Hollands Bezit. Prior to rejoining Robeco in 2008, Steef held different functions at IRIS (Institute for Research and Investment Services), the former research joint venture of Robeco and Rabobank. From 1998 through 2008 he served as head of IRIS Equity Research, and before that he worked as equity analyst for eight years. Steef started his career in the investment industry at Robeco in 1990 as an analyst. He holds a Master’s in Monetary Economics and Finance and Investments from Erasmus University Rotterdam. Dora is Portfolio Manager Robeco MegaTrends/Rolinco and member of the Thematic Investing team. She joined Robeco in 2021 and is dedicated to the MegaTrends strategy. Dora holds experience as a buy-side research analyst who held positions as analyst and investment manager with Baillie Gifford for 6 years. In the last year she was a research consultant for a large UK-based global impact fund, providing long-term fundamental, industry-agnostic and sustainability-focused investment research. Dora is a CFA® Charterholder and obtained her Master of Arts in Economics and Chinese from the University of Edinburgh.

The fund is established in the Netherlands. The fund is managed as a 'naamloze vennootschap' (public limited company). The fund has the status of 'fiscal investment institution' in the sense of article 28 of the Dutch Corporate-Income Tax Act 1969, and, as such, is taxed at a corporate-income tax rate of 0%.The fund is obliged to pay out the realized current income in the form of dividend within 8 months after the end of the financial year. From 1 January 2007 the fund withholds Dutch dividend tax at a rate of 15% from these dividend payments. The fund can in principle use the Dutch treaty network to partially recover any withholding tax on its income.

For private investors residing in the Netherlands real interest and dividend income or capital gains received on their investments are not relevant for tax purposes. Participating units held by private investors who are taxpayers in the Netherlands belong in Box 3. If and insofar as an investor's net assets exceed the net wealth exemption limit, said investor is liable from 1 January to pay 1.2% annually on the balance of his or her net assets. Investors residing in the Netherlands may offset the Dutch dividend tax withheld (15% as at 1 January 2007) against their income-tax payment. Investors who are not subject to (exempt from) Dutch corporate-income tax (e.g. pension funds) are not taxed on the achieved result. Dutch tax-exempt bodies may seek a full refund on the 15% dividend tax withheld on dividends (25% prior to 1 January 2007). Interest income is exempt from tax withheld at source. Investors who are subject to Dutch corporate-income tax can be taxed for the result achieved on their investment in the fund. Dutch bodies that are subject to corporate-income tax are obligated to declare interest and dividend income in their tax return. In principle, Dutch bodies that are subject to corporate-income tax may offset the 15% dividend tax withheld on dividends (25% prior to 1 January 2007) against the corporate-income tax and seek a refund of the excess amount. Investors residing outside the Netherlands are subject to their respective national tax regime applying to foreign investment funds. Shareholders who do not pay tax in the Netherlands and who are resident in countries that have a tax treaty with the Netherlands to prevent double taxation, may seek a refund for part of the Dutch dividend tax from the Dutch tax authorities, depending on the treaty. As of 1 January 2007, a pension fund having its registered office in another EU member state is also entitled to a dividend-tax refund in the Netherlands. The above is based on the current fiscal legislation and regulation.

The fund incorporates sustainability in the investment process through exclusions, ESG integration, engagement and voting. The fund does not invest in issuers that are in breach of international norms or where activities have been deemed detrimental to society following Robeco's exclusion policy. Financially material ESG factors are integrated in the bottom-up investment analysis to assess existing and potential ESG risks and opportunities. In the stock selection the fund limits exposure to elevated sustainability risks. In addition, where a stock issuer is flagged for breaching international standards in the ongoing monitoring, the issuer will become subject to engagement. Lastly, the fund makes use of shareholder rights and applies proxy voting in accordance with Robeco's proxy voting policy.The following sections display the ESG-metrics for this fund along with short descriptions. For more information please visit the sustainability-related disclosures.

October marked the third month in a row of receding equity markets. Although the Fed has taken a pause in its interest rate hiking journey, the ever-present threat of further hikes down the line is paralyzing a large part of the investing community. Under the present dominant narrative, interest rates are now expected to remain higher for a longer time than under the previous narrative, which held that the Fed would be forced to start cutting interest rates fairly soon on account of a dramatic slowdown in economic activity. However, so far the economy has proven much more resilient than many thought possible. Bond markets have responded to this economic strength by jumping to higher levels, which, in turn, have put a dampener on investors' risk appetite.

Based on transaction prices, the fund's return was -3.77%. Resource Stewardship was the poorest performer, with the Connected Enterprise trend down 0.9%. The weakest performers in Connected Enterprise included Zebra Technologies (-11%), Analog Devices (-10%) and Siemens (-8%). The Digital World trend (-2.2%) outperformed the broader index, with Amazon (+5%) and Visa (+2%) as the only positive contributors. Payment-related names Adyen (-10%) and Block (-9%) faced market aversion, while Coursera (-7%) did not benefit from its good third-quarter results. Emerging Middle Class declined 3.6%, with Nu Holdings (+13%) being the sole positive contributor. Healthy Aging fell -4.1%, primarily due to medtech stocks, including Illumina (-20%), Thermo Fisher Scientific (-12%) and Intuitive Surgical (-10%). Resource Stewardship (-8.2%) remained the weakest performer, with Xylem (+3%) as the lone positive contributor. Tesla (-20%), Infineon (-12%) and Aptiv (-11%) were the most affected.

Within Rolinco, we highlight the following opportunities: In Connected Enterprise, we are enthusiastic about companies that are specifically exposed to onshoring, cybersecurity and automation trends. In Digital World, the loss-making pandemic winners have been particularly hard-hit as reopening in the US and Europe reversed the digitalization trend and higher interest rates sent valuations into a freefall. Our contention is that the sell-off has been overdone and several of our e-commerce and payment platforms should benefit going forward. The end of China's zero-Covid policy and the ongoing digitalization and formalization of financial and commerce sectors in frontier markets should prove to be tailwinds to the holdings in our Emerging Middle Class trend. Within Healthy Aging, we see upside potential for companies hit by Covid-induced procedure disruptions as well as hospital budget cuts. Finally, companies within the Resource Stewardship trend that enable greater energy efficiency, circularity and electrification of grid systems should experience continued positive demand momentum, supported by government stimuli, particularly in the United States.