(BFM Stock Exchange) – The portfolio of listed participations of the State Participation Agency displays a performance much higher than that of the Parisian index. This is explained by the fact that the state has the participations in sectors in vogue since the beginning of the year.

Since the beginning of the year, the CAC 40 has signed a half-fig half-grape performance. The flagship index of the Paris Stock Exchange wins 5.03%.

It is both much better than the S&P 500, the most important Wall Street barometer, which only takes 0.57%, but much less than the Dax 40 of Frankfurt (+20.53%). Even if in this specific case, the CAC 40 gr should be taken, that is to say with a reinvested dividend, to have the same basis for comparison with the German index. But even in this case, the Dax is largely ahead, the CAC 40 Gr taking only 8.2%. Milan’s FTSE MIB also beats CAC 40, with an increase of 17.26%.

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Beyond the other European clues, a portfolio completely eclipses CAC 40: that of the French State. The State Participation Agency (APE) has 10 participations in listed companies (and just over 70 in unlisted groups).

At the last score published by the APE, on April 24, this portfolio of 10 listed participations was valued at 60.74 billion euros and posted a performance of 13.13% between January 1 and April 24, against an increase of only 1.65% for the CAC 40 over this period, therefore eight times more.

A calculation on the basis of the stock market capitalizations of these 10 groups on May 28 shows that the value of this portfolio has further progressed.

According to this simplified calculation carried out by us, the portfolio of the APE was valued on this date at 67.2 billion euros, which has been translating a gross performance of just over 25% since January 1 (against 5% for the CAC 40 therefore).

Thales and La Défense, the good pick

How to explain that the portfolio of listed stakes in the outperform state at this point CAC 40? The answer is actually quite simple.

A large part of the actions present in this portfolio belong to sectors that have been on the rise since the beginning of the year, that is to say aeronautics and defense, but also telecoms and “utilities” (communities services, such as the supply of electricity, gas or waste treatment). These companies are evolving in local markets and have thus resisted market turbulence caused by American customs duties.

In detail, the APE portfolio includes one of the two stars of the CAC 40 on this first part of 2025, namely Thales (the other being Société Générale with an increase of 76.2% since January 1). The Technology and Defense Group has been 92.9% that has taken the start of the year. With this progression, Thales is now the largest stake in the state in a listed company, the 26.6% that the capital is valued at around 14.9 billion euros.

Thales benefited from the investor rush to European defense groups this year. This is evidenced by the performances of Dassault Aviation (61.7%) and especially the German Rheinmetall (+207%), which notably provides armored vehicles to the German army.

Since the beginning of the year, European leaders have multiplied the announcements to rearm Europe, Germany in mind. In view of the sometimes provocative declarations of the United States on the United States’s commitment to NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), Europeans have understood that they should count more on themselves and less on the United States to ensure their security. Currently, the United States represents approximately 70% of NATO spending, according to the independent AlphaValue design office.

A brutal alarm clock was thus made. “Europe has clearly changed paradigm in defense expenditure. This change has been triggered by the risk that the United States will withdraw its support from Ukraine in the current war and by the feeling that the protection they grant to Europe is threatened, in particular in the context of a potential conflict with Russia,” said Jefferies in March.

Orange and Engie, defensive values

This movement on defense titles benefited to a lesser extent in Airbus (+5.5%) and Safran (+22.4%), two companies in which the APE holds 10.8% and 11.6% of the capital, and which constitute the second and third largest participations of the agency respectively. These two groups are much less exposed to defense than Thales, this segment representing around 15% to 20% of their income against 53.3% for the group led by Patrice Caine.

Safran and Airbus also delivered solid publications for the first quarter. The first was supported by the dynamism of its post-sales activities, including sales of spare parts, while the second has largely exceeded expectations and reassured the impact of customs duties on its logistics chain.

Fourth greater state participation, Engie has been 24% since the start of the year. As said before, the group benefited from the revival of market interest for “utilities”, a sector which has constituted a basin of refuges values ​​for investors in the face of uncertainty caused by customs duties. ENGIE also twice the scholarship by first publishing its annual results in March, then its accounts in the first quarter. The first time, the group had delivered engaging prospects. The second time, the group had exceeded the expectations of analysts thanks in particular to the good performance of its gas and electrical networks infrastructure division.

Orange, sixth larger participation of the APE, has won 36.4% since the start of the year. As we explained in a recent article, the group offers a fairly unsuspected stock market alarm. In summary, Orange delivered more ambitious objectives than feared by analysts for 2025 in France, benefited from its status of defensive value and was carried by speculation of consolidation of the telecoms sector in France.

The other values ​​in the APE portfolio are undergoing changes, as a whole, less flamboyant. Air France-KLM gained 19.2%, ADP only took 5.7%, Renault advances by 2%, when FDJ United and Eramet fell respectively by 13.1%and 4.3%.

However, these five values ​​represent only 15% of the total value of the APE portfolio against 85% for Thales, Airbus, Safran, Engie and Orange.

Obviously the shareholder state is not intended to invest in companies as a traditional shareholder, which would focus on pure and hard performance. “The State is not a shareholder like any other,” said the Court of Auditors in a 2017 report. The challenges of sovereignties take precedence. “The Mission of the APE is to manage the portfolio of state participations, equity investor in companies deemed strategic, to stabilize their capital and support them in their development and their transformation,” said the agency on its site.

Let us also recall that in addition to the State, of public and parapublic organizations have participations in listed groups. This is the case of Bpifrance, shareholder of Stellantis, Worldline or Eutelsat, or more recently of Veolia and the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations, presents to the capital of Emeis (ex-Orpea), Euronext, Icade, or even the Compagnie des Alpes.