Portfolio going into 2026:
$MUM.DE (14.9%)
$AJ91.DE (12.7%)
$CROX (9.3%)
$DOM.L (9.3%)
$JDG.L (9.2%)
$BWMX (8.5%)
$BUR (7.1%)
$WISE.L (6.4%)
$UMI.BR (6.3%)
$CAMB.BR (6.1%)
$G24.DE (6.0%)
TMV.DE (4.4%)
FY2025 ended with 10.2% (in EUR).
$BUR was my largest position entering the year (18%). The stock is down ~30% in USD and almost 40% in EUR. Given that, Iām fortunate to be up at all. If
$BUR had been flat in EUR, Iād be up 27.4%. But that's not how it works.
In hindsight, being that concentrated in a volatile, lumpy business may have been a mistake. That said, I still view BUR as an attractive risk/reward here and expect it to trade much higher over time.
$MUM.DE and $AJ91.DE are my two biggest positions going into 2026.
Iāve discussed DocCheck $AJ91.DE before and have a full post on the stack. Itās a good, growing business with hidden balance sheet assets, trading at <5x operating profit.
Mensch und Maschine
$MUM.DE is a German software company selling proprietary (mostly CAM) software (~2/3 of EBIT) and serving as Autodeskās largest value-added partner in Europe ā providing training, consulting, support, and customization for Autodeskās CAD/BIM products (~1/3 of EBIT).
MUM is a high-quality business: EPS up ~22% CAGR over the last decade, virtually no CapEx or tangible assets (very high earnings quality), and expected to grow EPS ~15% p.a. going forward, driven by continued digitization in construction and machining.
Because I like the business, valuation, and management, I added heavily this year and made it my largest position.
A big reason why I felt confident increasing my holding is the founder and chairman, Adi Drotleff, who owns 47% of the company (management owns another 6%) and comes across as a straight-talking, no-nonsense, level-headed guy.
The company doesn't host public earnings calls, but Mr. Drotleff gives a short, informal 20-minute audio interview after every quarter.
To give you an idea of his understanding of incentives: In the most recent interview, he mentioned how the managers of the ~100 profit centers at MUM (they run a decentralized organization) are compensated solely on profits, and an internal ranking of the highest profit-generating units is published. As you can imagine, nobody wants to be at the bottom third of the list two years in a row. So it's a self-correcting system.
2025 was a transitional year for the company because of Autodesk's commission model change and the unforeseen temporary operational/administrative headwinds that resulted from it. The coming year will therefore have easy comps.
I feel good about my two biggest positions. We will see how it goes.
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Biggest winners 2025: $1126.HK,
$NEA.MC,
$PHLL.L, $AJ91.DE,
$BWMX
Biggest losers 2025:
$BUR,
$BRAG.TO,
$TMV.DE,
$EVO.ST
Lessons from the winners:
- Cheap growing high earnings quality is the winning formula (duh!)
Lessons from the losers:
- Don't concentrate too heavily in volatile businesses
- Avoid businesses with poor earnings quality
- Extremely high margins have only one direction to go
- Avoid business models that don't pass the smell test (does it make sense that an extremely labour-intensive company can sustain >60% operating profit margins?)
- Don't follow even the best investors into an idea blindly (without having conviction in the thesis myself)
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Looking forward to studying businesses, learning, and getting better at this game in 2026.