Managing Partner, VRS (Valuation & Research Specialists)

VRS (Valuation & Research Specialists)

Managing Partner

Valuation & Research Specialists (VRS) is a boutique financial advisor with more than 17 years of experience in Corporate Valuation and Finance, and a diversified client base including some of the largest Companies in Greece.

Since 2002, VRS has completed more than 200 engagements in the areas of business valuation and financial analysis for more than 100 clients in a wide range of industries.

VRS has been honored to work with small and large private and publicly traded companies in Europe and overseas.

Boutique Financial Advisor

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

<ul><li>The re-emergence of AI as a topic of hype, caution and investment contains, in equal parts, the re-discovery of a pre-existing technology, but now on steroids, plus all the excitement of the race among the top 5 techs to invest enough in order to dominate the field .</li><li>The 2000 Dot.com boom involved hundreds of IPOs of start-ups, all with the word “internet” in their names, except now the AI boom involves mostly buying up existing startups by the big Techs.</li><li>The re emergence of AI will undoubtedly change a lot of the ways in which data are used and monetized, it will make Google search far more client-friendly and it will step up the capacity of software to program themselves. </li></ul>

The re-emergence of AI as a topic of hype, caution and investment contains, in equal parts, the re-discovery of a pre-existing technology, but now on steroids, plus all the excitement of the race among the top 5 techs to invest enough in order to dominate the field .The 2000 Dot.com boom involved hundreds of IPOs of start-ups, all with the word “internet” in their names, except now the AI boom involves mostly buying up existing startups by the big Techs.The re emergence of AI will undoubtedly change a lot of the ways in which data are used and monetized, it will make Google search far more client-friendly and it will step up the capacity of software to program themselves. 

The “ AI Revolution” : A Cautionary Tale and Its Investment Consequences

Marketing Director, Asia Frontier Capital

Asia Frontier Capital

Marketing Director

Investing in high growth Asian frontier economies.

Asia Frontier Capital Ltd. is a pioneering fund management company based in Hong Kong that specializes in investing in high growth Asian frontier economies by managing the AFC Asia Frontier Fund , AFC Iraq Fund and the AFC Vietnam Fund.

The AFC Asia Frontier Fund invests in public equities of Asian frontier countries that are seeing increasing consumption due to favorable demographic trends, rising incomes and high GDP growth. The fund invests in listed equities of companies that have their principal business activities in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Iraq, Laos, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar (Burma), Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka and Vietnam. The AFC Asia Frontier Fund is positioned to take advantage of the continuing economic shifts in these countries and offers high returns combined with significant diversification opportunities. This fund is directed by the founder and CEO of Asia Frontier Capital, Thomas Hugger, who has been investing in frontier markets across Asia and Africa for more than 20 years.

The AFC Iraq Fund was launched on the 26th June 2015 and aims to achieve long-term capital appreciation for investors by capturing value and growth potential in the post conflict high-growth & resource rich Iraq market. The fund emphasises long term investment horizon to truly capture the opportunity in Iraq. The fund's investable universe consists of locally listed companies that have their principal business activities in Iraq as well as foreign listed companies that have the majority of the business in Iraq as a whole including the prosperous Kurdish Region of Iraq (KRI). The AFC Iraq Fund offers access to investments in post conflict recovery potential of Iraq, including the KRI, and/or stability in its territory. The AFC Iraq Fund is managed by Asia Frontier Capital (Iraq) Limited, Cayman Islands under the executive leadership team of Thomas Hugger (CEO & Fund Manager) and Ahmed Tabaqchali (CIO) who have more than 47 years of investment experience as well as an extensive background covering global, emerging, frontier and MENA markets.

The AFC Vietnam Fund invests exclusively in listed Vietnamese equities to capture value in growth companies with a focus on the small to medium size companies. This market segment offers a unique investment opportunity as the valuation gap between large- and small-cap stocks in Vietnam is presently much wider than in comparable neighboring markets and the valuations are significantly depressed versus their regional peers. The fund adopts a fundamental-quantitative approach and employs an in-house earnings model to identify attractive companies where we see high growth opportunities. In conjunction with targeting the maximum upside potential the portfolio has been structured to mitigate corporate government and liquidity risks. The fund invests in a diversified portfolio of 70-90 attractively valued companies to carefully control concentration risk.  This approach allows the fund to sell, or buy, positions without having a significant market impact. The fund is directed under the executive leadership of Thomas Hugger and Andreas Vogelsanger who have more than 50 years combined experience managing investments in frontier markets, Asia and around the world.

For more information about the fund, management team and investment strategy please contact us at info@asiafrontiercapital.com.

Cross Asset Strategy

<ul><li>Asian frontier markets had another solid month led by gains in Pakistan and Sri Lanka.</li><li>The ongoing upward re-rating in Asian frontier markets does not surprise us as we have been communicating since the end of 2022 that this would happen as inflation and interest rates are peaking and our universe will rally strongly given that our markets entered 2023 at significantly discounted valuations.</li><li>Year-to-date, many Asian frontier markets have significantly outperformed the region. </li></ul>

Asian frontier markets had another solid month led by gains in Pakistan and Sri Lanka.The ongoing upward re-rating in Asian frontier markets does not surprise us as we have been communicating since the end of 2022 that this would happen as inflation and interest rates are peaking and our universe will rally strongly given that our markets entered 2023 at significantly discounted valuations.Year-to-date, many Asian frontier markets have significantly outperformed the region. 

The Re-Rating in Asian Frontier Markets Has Begun - July 2023 Update

Global Multi-Asset Investment Strategist, True Insights

Jeroen Blokland

Global Multi-Asset Investment Strategist

Build Well-Diversified Multi-Asset Portfolios

True Insights

Our research helps investors build well-diversified multi-asset portfolios and profit from market developments. In addition, our unique and proven Macro – Sentiment – Valuation (MSV) investment framework ensures a consistent flow of new investment opportunities. Together with our market views, these opportunities will be reflected in our live ETF-based Global Multi-Asset Portfolios.

<ul>
<li>Unlike many suggest, the downgrade of the US credit rating by Fitch, resulting in the US losing its Triple-A status, will have significant impact on markets.</li>
<li>The disappointing ISM Manufacturing Index comes with massive downside for Equities in all regions.</li>
<li>While the Big Tech earnings dream get to live another day, the risks of a further and more significant slowdown in company earnings remain abundant.</li>
</ul>


Unlike many suggest, the downgrade of the US credit rating by Fitch, resulting in the US losing its Triple-A status, will have significant impact on markets.
The disappointing ISM Manufacturing Index comes with massive downside for Equities in all regions.
While the Big Tech earnings dream get to live another day, the risks of a further and more significant slowdown in company earnings remain abundant.


The Weekly Market Monitor (31) – Bye, Bye, Triple-A

Head of Research and Global Chief Strategist, Steno Research

Andreas Steno

Head of Research and Global Chief Strategist

Macro and Geopolitical Research House

Steno Research

Steno Research is a new macro and geopolitical research house. We are based out of Copenhagen, Denmark, but have an international team and a strong network of sources and partners around the world. The team is lead by Andreas Steno, previous global head of strategy at Nordea Bank, and Mikkel Rosenvold, former chief consultant in the Danish Ministry of Finance.

<ul>
<li>Every month, we assess the risk/reward in asset allocation via our Macro Regime Indicator framework, where we use our asset allocation model to provide input for our thought process and positioning ahead of the new month’s trading.</li>
<li>In early July we wrote that: “We remain a bit split on whether we will see a pronounced change of the Macro Regime from “down, down, down” (in liquidity, inflation and growth) to Goldilocks without QE with inflation down, liquidity down and growth slightly up.</li>
<li>Our portfolio will hence combine the best of the two regimes for the month of July.</li>
</ul>


Every month, we assess the risk/reward in asset allocation via our Macro Regime Indicator framework, where we use our asset allocation model to provide input for our thought process and positioning ahead of the new month’s trading.
In early July we wrote that: “We remain a bit split on whether we will see a pronounced change of the Macro Regime from “down, down, down” (in liquidity, inflation and growth) to Goldilocks without QE with inflation down, liquidity down and growth slightly up.
Our portfolio will hence combine the best of the two regimes for the month of July.


Macro Regime Indicator: PMIs to drive price action together with headline inflation

<ul>
<li>The surprisingly dovish tone of Federal Reserve Chairman Powell and ECB President Lagarde suggests the end of the tightening cycle is in, boding well for Equities and Treasuries.</li>
<li>After quarters of declining or negative earnings and revenue growth, Big Tech companies are finally showing improvement. </li>
<li>After being in Frenzy for three weeks, our Fear &amp; Frenzy Sentiment Index has slipped back to Neutral. </li>
</ul>


The surprisingly dovish tone of Federal Reserve Chairman Powell and ECB President Lagarde suggests the end of the tightening cycle is in, boding well for Equities and Treasuries.
After quarters of declining or negative earnings and revenue growth, Big Tech companies are finally showing improvement. 
After being in Frenzy for three weeks, our Fear &amp; Frenzy Sentiment Index has slipped back to Neutral. 


The Weekly Market Monitor (30) – Behold the Dovish Shift!

United States

The MSCI World Index is a free-float weighted equity index. It was developed with a base value of 100 as of December 31, 1969. MXWO includes developed world markets, and does not include emerging markets. MXWD includes both emerging and developed markets.

MSCI World Index (MXWO INDEX)

The “ AI Revolution” : A Cautionary Tale and Its Investment Consequences

The re-emergence of AI as a topic of hype, caution and investment contains, in equal parts, the re-discovery of a pre-existing technology, but now...

VRS (Valuation & Research Specialists)

The Re-Rating in Asian Frontier Markets Has Begun - July 2023 Update

The ongoing upward re-rating in Asian frontier markets does not surprise us as we have been communicating since the end of 2022 that this would...

Asia Frontier Capital

The Weekly Market Monitor (31) – Bye, Bye, Triple-A

The US has lost the Triple A-rating, which, unlike many suggest, will have major implications. If not in the short run, then definitely in the long...

Jeroen Blokland

Macro Regime Indicator: PMIs to drive price action together with headline inflation

Every month, we assess the risk/reward in asset allocation via our Macro Regime Indicator framework, where we use our asset allocation model to...

Steno Research

The Weekly Market Monitor (30) – Behold the Dovish Shift!

A surprisingly hawkish tone of central bankers suggests the end of the tightening cycle is near, with positive implications for Equities and...

Jeroen Blokland