Adrigo monthly report September 2025

Performance

Adrigo Small & Midcap L/S Class A and Class C rose by 1.0% in August, after fees. Meanwhile, the Carnegie Small Cap Return Index Nordic fell by 1.6% during the month. The fund’s year-to-date performance of -7.6% is clearly unsatisfactory. Three of the fund’s larger investments have, in total, negatively affected performance by more than 15%.

Among the fund’s larger holdings, Online Brands (e-commerce) and Hansa Biopharma (pharmaceuticals) contributed positively. Among the fund’s small- and mid-sized positions, Frontline (transportation), Ratos (investment company), and Smart Eye (software) contributed well. The fund’s short positions, as a group, also had a positive impact on performance.

Since inception, Adrigo Small & Midcap L/S Class A has returned 56.1% after fees. Over the same period, the benchmark interest rate STIBOR 1M returned 9.1%, while the Carnegie Small Cap Return Index Nordic (not a benchmark index) returned 104.3%.

Market Overview

September is typically not among the strongest months for equity markets. This year, however, performance was solid, with the MSCI World up 3.3%, the S&P 500 up 3.7%, and the EURO STOXX 50 up 3.4%.

Emerging markets performed even more strongly, with the MSCI EM gaining 7.1%. The Chinese market rose 9.6%, Hang Seng gained 7.7%, and Korea advanced 11.6%. In the Nordic region, performance was mixed: the Finnish market rose 1.7%, while the Stockholm Stock Exchange ended the month up 0.8%. Denmark fell 2.9%, and Norway was down 0.1%.

Small caps continued to underperform large caps (CSX Sweden Small Return -2.0% vs. OMXS30 +1.5%).

A number of IPOs and larger block trades were completed during the month.

Companies and Performance Highlights

Hansa Biopharma reported results from its Phase 3 ConfIdeS study in the U.S. for imlifidase, a product used in kidney transplantations. The market potential is significant: around 100,000 patients in the US are currently on the waiting list for transplants. Each year, approximately 45,000 new patients are added to the list, while around 27,000 transplants are performed.

Among those on the waiting list, 10–15% are highly sensitised, meaning they have very limited chances of finding a suitable donor and undergoing transplantation. Highly sensitised patients have elevated levels of antibodies, increasing the risk of organ rejection. For this group, dialysis remains the only treatment option, one that both reduces quality of life and is costly, with an annual cost of just over USD 100,000 per patient.

The company aims to submit a Biologics License Application (BLA) to the FDA before year-end and seek accelerated approval, which could allow the product to become available during the second half of 2026. Soon after the results were announced, the company carried out a capital raise of USD 71 million.

Enea represents a medium-sized position in the fund. Its share price has performed poorly this year, down nearly 25%. However, we believe that this development does not reflect the company’s underlying progress, but rather illustrates a bifurcated market where, even within the small-cap segment, attention has been focused on the most liquid stocks. During the quarter, the company announced a renewal and expansion of a contract worth SEK 39 million with a leading North American mobile network operator. The contract covers Enea’s cloud-based 5G Service Engine, including the Stratum Network Data Layer. In our view, the valuation remains conservative, with a free cash flow yield exceeding 10% and a P/E ratio of around 8x based on expected 2026 earnings.

Finally, as always, we wish to thank our co-investors for your continued trust. Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any comments or questions.