By the end of February 2023, the NAV of Croatian mutual funds amounted to EUR 2.09bn, representing a decrease of 3.6% MoM, and 17% YoY. This would also mean that compared to its pre-COVID-19 maximum, the NAV is 32.5% lower.
The latest monthly report on the developments recorded by the Croatian capital markets has recently been released by HANFA. In this article, we’ll review Croatian mutual funds, one of the several key players in the Croatian capital market. In February 2023, the NAV of the Croatian mutual funds amounted to EUR 2.09bn, recording a noteworthy decrease of 3.6% MoM, and 17% YoY.
Taking a deeper dive at the changes recorded by the asset holdings of the funds, on a monthly basis, all but 1 of the asset holdings recorded a decrease. The largest absolute decrease was recorded by deposits & cash, which declined by EUR 57.8m, or 16.1%. Following them, we have bond holdings, which decreased by EUR 28.5m, or 2.2%, receivables, which declined by EUR 5.9m, or 56%, and finally, the money market holdings, which declined by 5.2%, or EUR 3.2m. On the other hand, shareholdings increased by EUR 4.4m or 1.5% MoM.
Moving on to the YoY changes, we see a similar story again, with almost all but one asset holdings recording a decrease. The largest absolute decrease was recorded by deposits and cash, whose value declined by EUR 304.1m, or 50.3%, followed by bonds, which lost EUR 171.8m, or 12.1% of their value, and receivables, which lost EUR 46.3m, or 90.9% of its value. Inv. funds and shares also lost some value, at EUR -6.4m, and EUR 1.4m, respectively. On the other hand, the money market holdings increased by EUR 11.4m or 23.9% YoY.
Total assets of Croatian mutual funds (2015 – February 2023, EURm)
Source: HANFA, InterCapital Research
It should be noted that the change in the value of the asset holdings can come from one of several sources: firstly of course, the increase/decrease in value of the underlying assets. Secondly, the decision of the fund managers to reduce their exposure to certain assets and increase it in others. Finally, the net contributions to the funds, which can also be positive or negative. Breaking the last point further, the net contributions into the Croatian mutual funds amounted to EUR -76.6m in February 2023, meaning that more people were redeeming their stakes in the funds than there were investing in them. Breaking this even further, the most significant absolute decrease was recorded by net contributions into the bond funds, which recorded a noteworthy decrease of EUR 72.6m, meaning the majority of people pulling their stakes out of the funds was in the bond holdings.
However, looking at the overall bond holdings change MoM, it declined by “only” EUR 28.5m, meaning that the fund managers did increase their position in bonds during the month, hence the difference.
Moving on to securities and deposits, in total, they amounted to EUR 261.6m in February 2023, representing a decrease of 1.8% (or EUR 4.7m) MoM, and 7.8% (or EUR 22.2m) YoY. Of this, domestic securities and deposits amounted to EUR 129.1m, representing 49.35% of the total, and decreasing by 4.4% MoM, and 25% YoY. On the other hand, foreign securities and deposits accounted for the remaining 50.65% and recorded an increase of 0.89% MoM, and 18.8% YoY.
Finally, taking a look at the current asset structure of the funds, we can see that bond holdings still hold the vast majority, at 59.2% of the total, representing an increase of 1.2 p.p. MoM, and 5.2 p.p. YoY. Following them we have shares, which accounted for 14.6% of the total, an increase of 0.8 p.p. MoM, and 2.9 p.p. YoY, and deposits and cash, which accounted for 14.2% of the total, representing a decrease of 2 p.p. MoM, and 8.7 p.p. YoY.
Current AUM of the Croatian mutual funds (February 2023, % of the total)
Source: HANFA, InterCapital Research
