JOHN HUSSELBEE
HEAD OF MULTI-ASSET
LIONTRUST ASSET MANAGEMENT
Score prediction: ENGLAND 3 – DENMARK 1
INVESTMENT INSIGHT:
On to the semi-final. A “very special opportunity” for England, says manager Gareth Southgate
Some encouraging stats from Goldman Sachs show England has a 57.7% chance of reaching the final at the 2020 Euros, and a 31.9% chance of lifting the trophy. Spain is at 54.6% and 24.6%, respectively, while Italy’s chances are less optimistic with a 45% chance to reach the final and 22.4% to win.
At the outset of the tournament, a prediction model from sports intelligence agency Twenty First Group gave us a 13% chance of winning, but a series of fortunate events – Spain coming second in their group, Netherlands losing to the Czech Republic, and World Cup champions France being booted out after losing to the Swiss – has led to us being seen as favourites.
Could we really end our 55-year major tournament drought? England have certainly been on fine form; 88% passing accuracy, yet to concede a goal, and Harry Kane is just a goal shy of matching Gary Lineker’s record for most England goals at major tournaments.
But when an asset class has had such a fine run, we usually take the opportunity to review whether it’s about to fall out of form. “Fans” of my punditry will know we’ve been positive on UK equities since late 2020, and continue to be so as nervousness is being replaced by optimism, with an opportunity to benefit from the strong economic recovery as we move through the stages of opening up.
All that remains is to wish England fans an enjoyable semi-final, and I hope to see you here one more time to update you ahead of an England final.
JOHNNY MADSEN
CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER
FORMUE- & INVESTERINGSPLEJE
Score prediction: ENGLAND 1 – DENMARK 1 (Denmark on penalties)
INVESTMENT INSIGHT:
I don’t think that the famous Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen could have written a fairy tale better than what is happening to the Danish football team.
First the horrible start of the Euro 2020, with the incident with Christian Eriksen, that luckily ended well. Then a Danish football team that nearly was out of the tournament, but due to terrific team spirit managed to get a great comeback, and match by match have grown and played very well.
The team spirit is a well-known competitive advantage for many Danish companies, because the employees are used to work as a team instead of a group of individuals. I believe this team spirit partly explains why a small country like Denmark can have so many successful global companies.
We hope that the Danish team spirit can help Denmark beating England in the semifinal, so we probably can be the best team in Europe.
On a finale note, the Queen of Denmark last Wednesday opened of a new museum devoted to Hans Christian Andersen in his home town of Odense.
