Ackermans & van Haaren: Tops my expecations
Update Q3 2024
Short description
Ackermans & van Haaren is the holding company of, unsurprisingly, the Ackermans & van Haaren families. Originating from dredging activities and a collaboration to deepen the Scheldt River in 1884, it has evolved into a holding company based on five major branches: Marine Engineering & Contracting, Private Banking, Real Estate, Energy & Resources, and Growth Capital.
Within Marine Engineering & Contracting, we find the construction company CFE and DEME. Stemming from its activities as a dredging and civil works company on water, DEME has also developed other offshore activities in renewable energy, soil remediation, and mineral extraction. Rent-a-Port and Green Offshore also fall under this branch. Currently, DEME remains the primary profit generator within this segment.
Private Banking includes the bank for entrepreneurs and liberal professions, Bank van Breda, and the asset manager Bank Delen. Besides DEME, the banks have been the strong pillars of the group in recent years.
Real Estate essentially involves Nextensa, the publicly traded merger group of LeasInvest and Extensa, active in the development and leasing of real estate. This company has also been included separately in the selection.
In the Energy & Resources branch, our focus should be on the palm oil producer Sipef. Contributions from Sagar Cement and Verdant Bioscience are currently not significant in the overall picture.
Growth Capital provides capital to family businesses with growth potential and a strong competitive position, either directly or through specialized funds. Well-known names within these companies include Van Moer Logistics, Turbo’s Hoet, Medikabazaar, Mediahuis, and Biotalys. These investments are not limited to local businesses; for example, Medikabazaar and Healthquad are in India.
Why we selected Ackermans & van Haaren
To be honest, I’ve already forgotten all the reasons why I originally chose Ackermans. It was 2009, in the middle of the financial crisis, and I managed to pick them up for just over €32. At the time, the price was the decisive factor.
I’ve held the shares for almost 16 years, even though the stock price barely moved between 2015 and 2020. While the price stagnated, the companies themselves performed well. Of course, there were some volatile periods, but the right steps were taken.
Today, the return over those nearly 16 years is more than 11% per year, and that’s excluding dividends.
Holdings are the kind of stocks we ideally want to hold onto forever. We only sell if they’re heavily overvalued. Otherwise, we try to buy more of these holdings regularly. Is Ackermans attractively priced enough today to justify further investment?