Update on Echiquier Space ǀ September 2025
Echiquier Space invests in the space ecosystem and related technology sectors, including aerospace components, defence and specialist software. Falling under the scope of Article 8 of the SFDR, this international thematic fund follows a high-conviction investment strategy, with a concentrated portfolio of around 35 stocks. It currently invests primarily in industrial companies in the aerospace and defence sectors, technology companies (hardware and semiconductor manufacturers, software) and satellite communications. Adopting a rigorous approach, it seeks to combine technological growth and active risk management, establishing itself as a pioneering player in space-related megatrends.
PORTFOLIO ACTIVITY
Tactical operations
We took profits on North American stocks at the end of 2024, either to increase our positions or add new ones, such as Italian company Avio. We continued this strategy in 2025 by strengthening positions in Avio, Thalès, Airbus and BAE Systèmes, and adding other European aerospace stocks, namely Leonardo in January and Indra in May following its acquisition of Hispasat. This enabled us to benefit from the announcement of European rearmament plans, which will accelerate these companies’ growth. The DOGE initiative, led by Elon Musk to reduce public spending in the United States, temporarily weighed on the valuations of our American holdings. However, the US government at the same time unveiled the Golden Dome project aimed at protecting American airspace, which is opening up new budgets for space defence. We therefore took advantage of more attractive valuations to increase our holdings in US defence companies, including Teledyne, RTX, MDA, Kratos, Leidos, and SAIC. We also participated in the IPOs of Karman and Firefly, and added L3Harris to the portfolio.
Fundamentals
The year got off to a good start in January with positive announcements for the sector from Donald Trump, including a manned American mission to Mars and the imminent creation of the Golden Dome. These announcements signalled a further increase in public military spending on space defence and dedicated public budgets for space exploration. We increased our exposure to defence from 20% (and 44% including stocks deriving at least 10-15% of their revenue from defence) to 32% (and 59%) in June 2025. The weighting of industrial stocks thus increased from 6% to 57% over the period. Among tech stocks (26% of the fund[1]), we increased our exposure to hardware manufacturers such as Gilat, Teledyne and Trimble, while taking profits on semiconductors.
INVESTMENT STRATEGY
In a universe of more than 200 stocks identified by our semantic algorithms, our strategy draws on our sector expertise to identify the best opportunities in the space ecosystem through fundamental financial and non-financial analysis. We focus on four key profiles: companies operating in space, on Earth, or between Earth and space, and companies developing cross-cutting technologies. We favour companies that provide the most innovative equipment or solutions, or those for which the use of space activities or data could have the greatest amplifying effect. We have designed tools to identify opportunities and compare their growth prospects and valuations. Our portfolio focuses on stocks that we believe will enable us to capture the value created by this revolution over the long term.