The fund’s market value increased 2,870 billion kroner to 15,299 billion kroner in the first half of 2023, driven by a strong equity market and a weaker krone. The fund’s return for the period was 10.0 percent, or 1,501 billion kroner, which is 0.23 percentage point less than the return on the benchmark index.
CEO Nicolai Tangen and Deputy CEO Trond Grande presented the fund's first half 2023 results at Arendalsuka. They discussed how the market has developed so far this year, and how this has affected the fund's results. Chief Governance and Compliance Officer Carine Smith Ihenacho presented our new initiatives towards the companies the fund is invested in. The press conference was in Norwegian.
The equity investments returned 13.7 percent
The fixed-income investments returned 2.2 percent.
The unlisted real estate investments returned -4.6 percent.
The unlisted renewable energy infrastructure investments returned -6.5 percent.
The fund's market value was 15,299 billion kroner at the end of the first half of 2023.
The equity investments had a market value of 10,901 billion kroner. This was to 71.3 percent of the fund's total value.
The fixed-income investments had a market value of 4,037 billion kroner. This was to 26.4 percent of the fund's total value.
The unlisted real estate investments had a market value of 345 billion kroner. This was to 2.3 percent of the fund's total value.
The unlisted renewable energy infrastructure investments had a market value of 16 billion kroner. This was to 0.1 percent of the fund's total value.
We believe responsible development and use of AI will be important for well-functioning markets and legitimate products and services – and has the potential to affect the financial return on our investments over time. We support the development of a comprehensive and cohesive regulatory framework for AI that facilitates safe innovation and mitigation of adverse impacts.
We voted at 8,522 shareholder meetings in the first half of 2023 and on a total of 94,731 proposals. In this review, we look at trends and outcomes, including on key topics like board composition and executive pay, and on shareholder proposals on a range of topics, including climate change and human rights.
Every year we vote on more than 120,000 resolutions at more than 12,000 annual shareholder meetings. Learn how our voting works in practice.
As a diversified, global investor, we believe that the consideration of consumer interests in business strategy and risk management is aligned with long-term value creation at the companies in our portfolio – and, in turn, the financial return of the fund over time. Corporate respect for the rights and wellbeing of consumers is also a core component of responsible business conduct.