How is TNO Pension Fund doing?
Kostijn van Gerven, Director of TNO Pension Fund, gives his vision of recent developments. What stood out and what does this mean for our pension fund?
Dear reader,
In the March 2021 issue of Life & Pension, I discussed the “new normal” in detail. Working from home, holding meetings via a computer. We followed developments in the stock markets with suspicion and decided on an almost weekly basis whether additional action was necessary. In the end, we ended 2020 with an excellent result.
We achieved a good return of 8.8%. Part of that return comes from our portfolio of unlisted shares. This portfolio performed exceptionally well in 2020, with a net return of 35.8% after expenses. The downside of this exceptionally good return is that our investment costs in 2020 were also very high. This is because the costs of this asset class are largely linked to performance. If we end up with 35.8% below the line, that is fine by me.
This edition of Life & Pension will, as every year, focus on the 2020 results in the Special Annual Report. The full annual report can also be found on our website.
What can we expect from 2021? For the time being, we are still working from home and holding digital meetings. But the vaccination programme is going well and more and more easings of restrictions are being announced. I therefore expect that in the second half of this year we will have more of an office presence and be able to hold meetings in the office again. I do not think that we will go back to the situation before the coronavirus pandemic, but that we will find a middle ground somewhere.
And what can we expect from the results in 2021? We have started the year well, with rising interest rates, positive stock market sentiment and therefore a rising funding ratio. The portfolio of unlisted shares is also still performing well. Obviously there are no guarantees for the rest of the year. We know how quickly stock markets can react to an event.
Nevertheless, I am heading into the summer with a good feeling. A summer in which we are allowed to do a little more again. Being able to play sports together again. Being able to have a drink together on a terrace. And, of course, we will continue to closely monitor the situation on the stock exchanges. Wishing you a wonderful summer.
Kostijn van Gerven Director