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Emerging Markets Growth Fund Class J (USD) William Blair SICAV - Emerging Markets Growth Fund Class J (USD) Portfolio Review June 2021 Todd M. McClone, CFA, Partner Casey K. Preyss, CFA, Partner ISIN: LU0995405320 Portfolio Managers FOR PROFESSIONAL INVESTORS ONLY Summary & Outlook June 2021 manager’s index (PMI) which rose to a record high level (63.4) in June. Market Review Strength within Latin America (+15.56% for the quarter Global equities continued to advance in the second quarter and +9.64% year-to-date) was primarily driven by Brazil (the MSCI ACWI IMI gained +7.18% in the second quarter (+23.60% for the quarter and +11.89% year-to-date) and 12.68% year-to-date in USD terms) amid further bolstered by stronger commodity prices and currency success of vaccination rollouts and a healthy rebound in tailwinds. China underperformed on a relative basis economic activity, especially in developed markets. The (+2.35% for the quarter and +2.36% year-to-date) amid sharp style rotation in the first quarter which favored value concerns over tightening liquidity and increased regulatory areas subsided in the second quarter with growth stocks oversight on large cap technology companies. outperforming. From a global sector perspective, Information Technology outperformed (+10.22% for the Performance quarter and +12.39% year-to-date) while Utilities significantly underperformed (-0.09% for the quarter and Second quarter outperformance versus the MSCI Emerging +0.86% year-to-date). Energy also continued to rally Markets IMI (net) was primarily driven by positive stock (+10.08% for the quarter and +30.51% year-to-date) as selection across most sectors. The Communication rising demand drove stronger crude oil prices. Services, Health Care and Information Technology sectors were the most significant sources of relative return. Within US equities advanced (+8.36% for the quarter and +15.05% Communication Services, Kakao Corp aided relative returns year-to-date) as investors welcomed news of additional as the stock rallied on strong operating performance and federal spending to revive the economy. In addition to the the favorable growth outlook for its core business and $1.9 trillion Covid relief plan and $2.3 trillion infrastructure expanding opportunities. Stock performance was also plan introduced in the first quarter, the Biden boosted by positive sentiment amid the upcoming IPO of its administration also announced a $1.8 trillion American fintech businesses, Kakao Bank and Kakao Pay. Wuxi Families Plan emphasizing strong support for national Biologics Cayman Inc, a leading contract development and childcare to ensure an equitable recovery from the manufacturing organization (CDMO) in China within the pandemic, especially for female workers and mothers. Health Care sector was an additional source of Significant federal spending drove concerns over rising outperformance. The company’s strong operating inflation. In May, headline inflation rose to 5.0% year on momentum and robust growth outlook continued to drive year, above expectations. the stock higher as management increased 2021 sales European equities kept pace with the benchmark (+7.26% guidance and the longer-term growth outlook remain well for the quarter and +11.81% year-to-date) as several supported with an accelerating number of projects in its European countries gradually relaxed restrictions on travel pipeline. Within the Information Technology sector, Silergy and business activity. Economic data was also supportive, Corp helped relative performance. The Chinese leading specifically the Eurozone manufacturing purchasing analog semiconductor company continues to benefit from Summary & Outlook June 2021 structural growth demand from automobile, cloud, and 5G Navin Fluorine International were purchased during the end markets as well as the localization trend. quarter. In our view, UPL, the Indian agrochemical company, is well positioned to benefit from a favorable agrochemical demand outlook driven by higher crop prices. Partially offsetting these effects were the underweight Moreover, it continues to gain market share amid increased allocation to the Materials sector and an underweight product innovation and strong execution. Navin Fluorine allocation to Brazil, coupled with below average stock International is a pure play fluorochemical company in selection within the Industrials sector. Within Industrials, India with a significant focus on research and development. the lack of exposure to marine transportation detracted to We believe the company has positioned itself for relative performance as shipping companies’ share prices exponential growth on the back of industry tailwinds soared on the back of favorable supply-demand dynamics. including increased usage of the fluorine molecule in the Positioning pharmaceutical and agrochemical space. During the second quarter, Information Technology Laurus Labs Ltd and Metropolis Healthcare Ltd within the exposure was reduced through the liquidations of Health Care sector were purchased during the period. RichWave Technology Corp, Alchip Technologies Ltd and Laurus Labs is one of the leading active pharmaceutical Hua Hong Semiconductor Ltd. RichWave, the fabless ingredient producers globally, providing ingredients to all semiconductor design company focused on radio frequency the global pharmaceutical companies leveraging its scale (RF) chips, was liquidated amid weaker margins due to a and low-cost operating structure. The company has product mix shift and supply chain concerns. Alchip, a expanded to diversify its revenue streams and now offers a Taiwanese back-end integrated circuit design services one-stop-shop approach enabling them to develop strategic company, was sold after the U.S. Department of Commerce partnerships. The company’s attractive growth profile is added new Chinese companies to the entity list, including underpinned by strong underlying demand, capacity Phytium, which is Alchip’s largest single customer. expansion and portfolio expansion. Consumer Discretionary exposure was also reduced to an underweight position during the period. Midea Group, the Metropolis Healthcare is a leading player in the attractive Chinese home appliance company, was sold in favor of Indian diagnostic testing market. We believe the company better near-term growth opportunities as the company is well-positioned to benefit from increased diagnostic faces increased profit margin pressure on the back of market penetration, higher levels of utilization per patient, soaring raw material prices and a slow uptick in demand. and ongoing consolidation of the highly fragmented We exited Offcn Education Technology Co, the vocational industry. Through its asset-light business model Metropolis training company, amid weakening near term generates very strong returns with a three-year CFROIC fundamentals. average of 30%. These reductions were offset primarily by increases to Materials and Health Care. Within Materials, UPL Ltd and Summary & Outlook June 2021 From a geographic perspective, notable adjustments were flipped from dominating in 1Q (typical of recovery periods) an increase to India, offset by decreases to Taiwan and to not much of a factor. Quality and Growth re-asserted China. themselves positively. All of these characteristics are very typical of performance during an economic expansion and we believe they are likely to continue. Inflation concerns have been a natural topic of debate all Outlook year. We continue to foresee reflation back to long-term, i.e., manageable, levels. In this unique cycle, we are The market is experiencing a tug of war between the experiencing price increases driven by the re-opening of impressive acceleration of economic growth due to global supply not keeping up with demand fast enough. While in re-openings, and fears of a resurgence of COVID virus case some cases we are already seeing a few industrial counts. We believe economic growth will win out. While commodity prices reverting, we expect that it will take concerning, the positive view is that the vaccines are another 3-6 months for the supply catch up to occur across working, and the delta variant is proving not as harmful. most industries. As for recent economic activity, it has been more of the The global market is up close to 40% over the last twelve same, with both consumption and production activity months. While market valuations receive a lot of attention, strong – in some cases above 2019 levels. While we expect perhaps unnoticed is that this market appreciation has a sequential peak in GDP growth likely occurred in 2Q, the been driven entirely by earnings growth. The market has remainder of the year should continue to be quite strong. actually de-rated a bit during this period. We believe that corporate earnings growth, which has been impressive thus far in 2021, remains underestimated. In More economically sensitive sectors of the market (e.g., fact, projected bottom-up corporate profit growth lags top- cyclicals and financials) have re-rated along with a down GDP estimates by a wider margin than we saw resurgence of their growth. In contrast, companies with coming out of the global financial crisis of 2008 (GFC). stronger structural long-term growth have lagged on a Thus, we are confident profit growth will continue to relative basis, and in some cases have seen their stock surprise to the upside. multiples compress. We view this is a classic period of structural winners “growing into” their multiples. As is the case in almost every economic expansion period, earnings growth has
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