Grieg Investor
A year unlike most others Last year, we named 2020 “The Different-Year.” If only we had known. When 2021 began with the storming of the US Congress, incited by the outgoing president, we could hardly believe the scenes that unfolded. Later in the year, Angela Merkel stepped down after 16 years as one of Europe’s most powerful politicians, while Jonas Gahr Støre won the election and took over as Norway’s Prime Minister after Erna Solberg. ABBA released a new album, which was completely overshadowed by the pandemic that flared up again, with all the challenges it brought the world that thought the worst was over. 2021 has in every way been an eventful year. T I R I L J A KO B S E N C E O, G R I E G I N V E S TO R
Despite many uncertainties last year, the stock market proved highly robust in 2021. It has been a formidable stock market year where both global equities and Nor-
When summarising the year that has passed and looking towards the one to come, a picture of several games of tug-of-war pulling in different directions emerges. Infection versus vaccine, economic fundamentals versus speculative trends, increased interest rates versus increased stock prices, transitory versus persistent inflation, and central banks as tailwinds or headwinds.
GRIEG MATURITAS | ANNUAL REPORT 2021
wegian equities were up well over 20% in Norwegian kroner. However, if we dig a little deeper into the figures, we see that the stock market in 2021 differs significantly from that of 2020. What has done well and what has done poorly has been turned upside down. WINNERS AND LOSERS The energy sector emerged victorious in the past year, with a return of just over 40% in Norwegian kroner. This is perhaps not so strange, given the galloping energy prices. In addition, bank and financial shares have risen due to higher interest rates. There has also been a power struggle between value and growth shares throughout the year. It almost ended in a draw, but value stocks took a narrow victory for the first time since 2016. IT stocks have continued to do well, but it was
