Fidelity European Trust PLC (FEV) Earnings Call Transcripts

Fidelity European Trust PLC's Latest Earnings Call - May 12, 2026

In the earnings call for Fidelity European Trust PLC (FEV:GB) held on May 12, 2026, management highlighted a challenging year with a significant underperformance in stock selection, particularly in the context of a strong market. The trust reported a share price increase of over 20% for the previous year, but the NAV return was disappointing due to poor stock picking, particularly with holdings like Novo Nordisk. Management maintained a cautious outlook, emphasizing the need for improved stock selection to align with their long-term investment philosophy focused on dividend growth and quality. No changes to guidance were mentioned, but management expressed hope for a stronger second half of the fiscal year.

Reported metrics

Guidance from management

Management did not provide specific numerical guidance but expressed hope for improved performance in the second half of 2026, emphasizing the need for better stock selection.

What management said

But that is an area where we doing a lot of work because I mean the yellow pages was a very good business model. And then it was obviously essentially worked out by the Internet. So we do need to be careful in these very strong business franchises today that they are not imperiled by AI. And so that's what that our analysts and ourselves continually are pouring over.

And generally, we would expect our volatility to be lower than the market, much lower on an unlevered basis, and that's true in the open-ended fund -- and we would also expect our beta to be lower than the market generally over time because of our cautious approach and focus on businesses with strong balance sheets. And you might say, well, Sam, generally, the market goes up over time, so surely you want to beat or m...

What analysts pressed on

Analysts raised concerns about the turnaround in performance, questioning when the trust might recover from its recent underperformance. There were also inquiries regarding the impact of macroeconomic factors on the trust's strategy.

Main topics on the call

• Stock Selection Challenges — Management acknowledged that stock selection was 'very poor relative to the benchmark, down 13%,' which they described as 'probably the worst year that I've had since I've started running this portfolio.' This underperfo...
• Merger with Henderson European Trust — The merger with Henderson European Trust was completed in September 2025, resulting in net assets exceeding EUR 2 billion. Management noted that the merger did not impact costs for existing shareholders, as Fidelity cont...
• Discount Management Policy — The Board adopted an enhanced discount management policy aimed at maintaining the share price discount to net asset value in mid-single digits. The discount to NAV averaged just over 3% over the past 12 months, indicatin...
• Outlook for 2026 — Management expressed cautious optimism for the second half of 2026, noting that 'the market has shown a lot of resilience' since the first quarter. They emphasized the importance of stock picking in improving performance...

Read the full Fidelity European Trust PLC transcript (May 12, 2026) → Summary generated from the call transcript; every figure above is stated by management on the record.

Earnings Call History

EarningsCalls.dev has 5 Fidelity European Trust PLC earnings call transcripts on record, spanning May 10, 2022 to May 12, 2026. Based on this history, Fidelity European Trust PLC reports annually. The most recent call on file is dated May 12, 2026. The full list is below — each row opens the complete, free-to-read transcript.

Ticker

FEV

Exchange

LSE

Country

GB

Sector

Financials

Industry

Capital Markets

Calls on record

5

First call

May 10, 2022

Most recent

May 12, 2026

Reporting cadence

annually