Rolinco

Marco van Lent is Portfolio Manager of Robeco MegaTrends/Rolinco and Portfolio Manager of Robeco Digital Innovations. Marco joined Robeco in October 2007 to co-manage a European equity fund. In 2010, he became Portfolio Manager of the Robeco Infrastructure Equities fund. In 2013, Marco co-founded Robeco’s MegaTrends team and has also managed Robeco’s Digital Innovations fund since inception in 2017. Prior to Robeco, Marco was Portfolio Manager at Van Lanschot Asset Management (later Kempen Capital Management), Philips Investment Management and Van Spaendonck Asset Management. Marco holds a Master's in Business Economics and Finance from Tilburg University. Steef Bergakker is Portfolio Manager of Robeco MegaTrends/Rolinco and Portfolio Manager of Robeco Digital Innovations. 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. From 1990 to 2008, Steef held different functions at IRIS (Institute for Research and Investment Services), the former research joint venture of Robeco and Rabobank. He holds a Master’s in Monetary Economics and Finance and Investments from Erasmus University Rotterdam. Dora Buckulčíková is Portfolio Manager of Robeco MegaTrends/Rolinco. She joined Robeco in 2021 and is dedicated to the MegaTrends strategy. Dora holds experience as a buy-side research analyst and investment manager with Baillie Gifford from 2014 to 2020. Prior to joining Robeco, she was a research consultant for a large UK-based global impact fund, providing long-term thematic 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.

In the month of February, performance continued to mirror ongoing uncertainties regarding the future path of the global economy, interest rates and asset prices. While in January it seemed that a general economic slowdown would encourage rate setters to pause after a series of aggressive rate hikes to curb inflation, the Fed's actions in February did not live up to those expectations.

Based on transaction prices, the fund's return was -1.31%. During the month, we continued to closely monitor fundamental operational progress of our portfolio companies and the trends they are exposed to. We saw the combination of prudent cost control and measured investment in secular growth areas result in better-than-expected full year 2022 profits and upbeat mid-term guidance from a broad range of companies: from Swiss specialty chemicals company Sika to Latin American e-commerce and fintech player MercadoLibre and Indonesian micro-lender Bank Rakyat. The Connected Enterprise and Resource Stewardship trends delivered positive absolute returns, while the other three trends gave back some of January's gains.

Although many of the macroeconomic issues of 2022 remain far from resolved and recessionary fears across the world's largest economies persist, there remain multiple reasons for optimism. Equity valuations have come down substantially, expectations for growth moderated, and the focus on profitability has been fully reinstated. And while as long-term investors we do not pretend to have foresight on annual gyrations of the equity markets, we do think this bodes well for trend-driven stock picking in 2023.