How European innovators are shaping their own destiny

'Very easy to miss this turning point'

It has not been a good year for equities across the board, and we have seen small-cap names struggle to keep pace with their large-cap peers on a year-to-date basis.

To the end of September, the performance of the MSCI Europe Small Cap Index has been -31% in EUR, this compares to comparatively lesser losses of -20% for the STOXX 600 and -19% for the MSCI Europe. But 12 months in financial markets does not tell the full story. Looking across what might be considered a more normal investment timescale, small caps have been impressive. Despite this year's losses, on a 10-year view European smaller companies have registered an increase of 81%, compared to the Stoxx 600 at 44% and the MSCI Europe at 41%. One problem we often see is investors trying to ...