< The 2015 All-Europe Research Team
Mika Koskinen & team
SEB Equities
First-Place Appearances: 10
Total Appearances: 23
Team Debut: 1992
Earning its tenth top finish on this lineup — and first No. 1 since 2012 — SEB Equities rises from second place after two years. The troupe of 42 under the direction of Mika Koskinen is headquartered in Stockholm and maintains offices in Copenhagen, Helsinki and Oslo. With 265 companies in their sector portfolio, they impress clients with the breadth and depth of their research as well as their client service. “They’re comprehensive, covering all sectors,” one European portfolio manager observes. “The analysts have a lot of experience — particularly in medical technology and pharmaceuticals — but the young analysts are quite clever as well. They also have a very helpful seminar in Copenhagen on smaller companies that I always make sure to attend.” Since earning a licentiate degree in economic sciences at the Hanken School of Economics and Business Administration in Helsinki, Koskinen, 47, has spent most of his professional life at SEB. He joined the firm in 1997 and has worked in equity, trading, capital markets and research. He left the firm three years later to work as chief financial officer at eQ Online, a public investment services company, and as an analyst at hedge fund Avenir Capital, before returning to the fold in 2005. Koskinen was named global head of SEB’s research in August 2012. He and his teammates dub Copenhagen’s Pandora a top pick going forward. The world’s third-largest jewelry brand in the affordable luxury category, by sales, after America’s Tiffany & Co. and France’s Société Cartier, Pandora continues to launch new products while upgrading and expanding its store network, they advise. Moreover, it boasts impressive geographical reach: Pandora’s goods are sold through some 10,000 retailers in more than 50 countries, and its biggest exposure is in the U.S. (roughly 30 percent of group sales), the U.K. (about 15 percent) and Australia (slightly more than 5 percent). The company not only generates surplus cash, adds Koskinen, but consistently returns it to shareholders through dividends and share buybacks. The SEB crew pegs the stock at 660 Danish kroner, which represents a 39.6 percent upside to the share price at the end of January.