Value Creation Awards 2014-2024

The graph below shows how 1 USD evolved in 1964 when it was invested in U.S. government bonds (US Treasuries), in the U.S. Broad Stock Index (S&P 500), or in a Berkshire Hathaway stock. Investing in stocks seems to have been more than just a good way to protect against inflation in the long term. The 10-year US interest rate, as well as inflation, have been positive over all these years; only in 2008 did inflation flirt with the 0% limit (0.1%).

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This track record has meant that Berkshire Hathaway is today the ninth largest listed company in the world with a market value of 995 billion euros. The world's 10 largest listed companies are: 1. Microsoft (3,012 billion euro), Nvidia (2,946 billion euro), 3. Apple (2,815 billion euro), 4. Amazon (1,947 billion euro), 5. Alphabet (1,806 billion euro), 6. Saudi Arabian Oil Company (1,505 billion euro), 7. Meta Platforms (1,436 billion euro), 8. Tesla (1,006 billion euro), 9. Berkshire Hathaway (995.2 billion euro) and 10. Broadcom (965 billion euro). SAP is the most valuable European company in 25th place (326 billion euro), number 2 and 3 in Europe are luxury manufacturers Hermes in 31st place (273 billion euro) and LVMH in 37th (252 billion euro).

The largest Belgian listed company, beer brewer AB Inbev, is ranked 122 with a stock market capitalization of 122 billion euros. (data on 19/05/2025 Bloomberg).

Methodology

The evolution of book value is a good measure of the evolution of intrinsic or “real” value. In our study, we assess fundamental value creation using the following formula: we take the book value per share at the end of 2024, adding all the net dividends received in cash by a private shareholder over the past 10 years; finally, we compare this sum with the book value per share at the end of 2014. From this quotient, we calculate the compound interest rate to obtain the value creation per year.

The book value per share is obtained by dividing the consolidated equity (group share) by the number of shares at the end of the financial year (excluding the number of treasury shares). We also make adjustments for capital increases to stock market prices above book value (for the financial year prior to the capital increase).

By the way, such an analysis of the fundamental economic performance over 10 years is one of the many criteria that asset manager Value Square takes into account to assess the quality and risks of all listed companies it monitors.

This fundamental analysis approach is independent of the evolution of stock prices, which a manager has no control over. The track record of managers is therefore better evaluated based on the evolution of the fundamental figures. In the short term, stock prices are strongly influenced by emotions such as fear and greed. In the long term, stock prices should follow or even exceed the evolution of the underlying fundamental asset, as is the case with Berkshire Hathaway.

Perhaps just emphasize that intrinsic value and book value are two different things. The intrinsic value of a stock or company is equal to the current discount of future free cash flows. But since intrinsic value is calculated differently by everyone, the evolution of the (easy to calculate) book value is a good indication of the evolution of intrinsic value.

Every year, Value Square awards awards to the three highest-scoring companies in this study and their management is rewarded with a gold, silver or bronze “Value Creation Award”. The prizes were presented at the “Value Creation Awards” event on Tuesday, May 20, 2025 at the Handelsbeurs on the Kouter in Ghent.

91 Belgian companies screened/86 analyzed

We screened a total of 91 Belgian listed companies (listed on the stock exchange over the past 10 years). We were unable to measure the fundamental value creation of five companies through a negative start and/or end value (Cumulex, Crescent, MDX Health, Nyrstar and Oxurion). Our analysis therefore includes 86 Belgian listed companies.

Two Belgian companies disappeared from the stock market in 2024, Intervest Offices and SVK. The American investment company TPG made an offer for the logistics real estate player Intervest Offices. And the Scheerders Van Kerchove building materials group from Sint-Niklaas was taken over by Stones nv (an investment vehicle owned by Antwerp's Aertssen and Beerens business families).

Seven new companies were included in our study. In 2014, 4 companies came to the stock exchange: the manufacturer of hygiene products Ontex, biotech company Argenx, 3D printing company Materialise, and engineering firm ABO Group. We included DEME (active in dredging and the offshore wind energy market) in the study (with CFE's history before the split into CFE/DEME) even though it only got its own stock market life in 2022, and Syensqo was also added after the split with Solvay. Finally, Fluxys was also included.

VGP wins “GOLDEN Value Creation Award”

There seems to be no end to VGP's victory streak. The winner of the Value Creation Awards remains VGP of Van Geet Parks for the fourth year in a row. The family business created 23.5% value per year in the period 2014-2024. VGP is a pan-European owner, manager and developer of logistics and semi-industrial real estate. Meanwhile, VGP has operations in 18 European countries, both directly and through 50:50 joint ventures.

The management led by CEO Jan Van Geet and CFO Piet Van Geet is proud that VGP is contributing to the reindustrialization of Europe. Germany is pre-eminently the most important market in VGP's real estate portfolio, weighing 52%. In the coming years, VGP could therefore benefit from Chancellor Friedrich Merz's ambitious 500 billion euro investment package to boost the German economy.

The VGP stock did not perform well in 2024, like many other real estate companies, because the hoped-for interest rate falls have not happened (yet) and because the market is afraid that the engine of the European industry is not really working yet. However, VGP was able to publish good results for the 2024 financial year, with a record of new rental income worth 91.6 million euros. The net profit tripled from 87.3 to 287.0 million euros. As a result, VGP's equity increased by 8.4% in 2024.

Over the past 10 years, investors in VGP can't complain. Indeed, the stock market return (including net dividends) was 330%, which implies an annual stock return of 15.7%; this is significantly less than the fundamental value creation.

Melexis wins the Silver Value Creation Award. It is now the sixth year in a row that Melexis won second place. The tech company — half owned by Françoise Chombar, Rudi De Winter and Roland Duchatelet — has created 20.3% annual fundamental value over the past decade. Melexis designs, develops, tests and sells semiconductors for many markets, but the automotive is by far the most important. Due to increasing electrification and increasing comfort and safety applications, there is an increasing demand for analog chips in the automotive sector.

However, electrification was much slower than generally assumed in 2024. Once again — just like during corona — the automotive semiconductor sector is burdened by too high stocks. They must be removed first. The Melexis stock rose sharply in 2024, leaving its annual stock return of only 7.1% significantly behind fundamental performance over the past 10 years. Despite the lower stock market performance, we cannot ignore the fact that Melexis has done a fantastic job in recent years. Melexis is a dominant presence on stage at the Value Creation Awards. For the past 10 years, Melexis was either ranked 1st (3 times) or 2nd (7 times). Congratulations to all Melexians!

One of the biggest success stories on the Belgian stock exchange is undoubtedly Lotus Bakeries. The Boone family's family cookie company, with Jan Boone as CEO, has been able to increase sales every year over the past 10 years. In 2014, the turnover was around 350 million euros; in 2024, it exceeded 1.2 billion euros. Just over half (56%) of this comes from the Lotus gingerbread cookie “Biscoff”. Lotus Bakeries sold a whopping 11.5 billion cookies last year. The company's ambitions are no small: “Biscoff” should become the third (today fifth) most important cookie brand in the world after Chips Ahoy and Oreo (both from Mondelez).

Lotus has also been able to grow strongly in the United States in recent years thanks to a partnership with Delta Airlines, but also through smart distribution in supermarkets and coffee chains. Management still sees a lot of potential in the US, as evidenced by a brand new factory in North Carolina that makes Biscoff cookies for the North American market. In addition, the “healthy snacks” segment is also growing rapidly with brands such as Nakd and Bear.

Fundamental value creation has amounted to 17.0% over the past 10 years, placing Lotus Bakeries in third place in our study and thus taking the Bronze Value Creation Award to its home base in Lembeke.

The stock market performance is even more remarkable with an annual stock return of 28.0%, which provided the company with an entry ticket to the BEL20 Index in 2024.

Results of the full study

Berkshire Hathaway achieved a total value creation of 260.9% in the period 2014-2024, amounting to 13.7% per year (in euro). Warren Buffett and Value Square are convinced that stock prices follow the fundamental value evolution in the long term. Over the past ten years, Berkshire Hathaway's share price has risen by an average of 13.4% per year (in euro). At Berkshire, the stock price therefore follows the fundamentals perfectly.

This year, there are nine Belgian companies that have created more fundamental value than Berkshire Hathaway over the past decade: VGP, Melexis, Lotus Bakeries, ArgenX, Campine, Floridienne, WDP, Montea and EVS. They achieved an average fundamental value creation of 17.1% per year and their stock market return has averaged 19.8% per year over the past 10 years. Like last year, Jensen Group is in 10th place (with a fundamental value creation of 13.2%).

The fundamental increase in value of the 86 companies analysed over the period 2014-2024 averaged 6.9% per year. At 4.8%, the average stock market performance lags behind fundamental value creation by a full 2%.

Top 10

Top 20

There are 3 new entrants in the top 20 compared to last year: ArgenX (4th place), Financière de Tubize (12th place) and ABO Group (19th place). Bpost, Tessenderlo and Econocom are out of the Top 20.

The top 20 Belgian listed companies that created the most value achieved a fundamental increase in value of 14.3% per year over the period 2014-2024. At 14.0%, the average stock market return of the top 20 is very close to the fundamentals.

A remarkable new name in the top 10 is biotech gem ArgenX. Argenx has made an exceptional journey since its listing on the stock exchange in 2014. The Ghent biotech company focuses on autoimmune diseases and developed breakthrough therapy against the muscle disease myasthenia gravis with the drug Vyvgart. This was approved in the US in 2021 and quickly grew into a blockbuster (a drug with a turnover of more than $1 billion). ArgenX has a leading position in FCRN-targeted therapies (a pioneering treatment class for autoimmune diseases that break down harmful antibodies in the body). Argenx excels in scientific research, clinical execution and smart strategic partnerships with Genmab and AbbVie, among others. The stock market performance is staggering. ArgenX's share price was 7.62 euros at the end of 2014 and rose to 600 euros at the end of 2024, this is times 78.7 or a stock return of 54.7% per year. This stock market return is far ahead of the fundamental value creation of 16.8% per year. On the one hand, this is due to the adjustments we are making for capital increases at prices above book value per share and, on the other hand, because promising biotech companies have their potential far in the future. Over the period 2014-2024, ArgenX raised more than 5.3 billion euros in capital. ArgenX is likely to rise further in our Value Creation Awards ranking in the coming years, at least if analysts' estimates come true. ArgenX made a positive net profit of 150 million USD for the first time in 2024, which, according to analyst consensus, will reach 3.8 billion USD by 2030!

Both ArgenX and UCB were high-flyers on the Belgian stock exchange last year. ArgenX rose by 73.9%. UCB did even better with a return (including dividend) of 144.5%. In the wake of her daughter, the parent company was able to rise above UCB, Financière de Tubize, by 99.2%. Tubize achieved a fundamental increase in value of 13.2% per annum over the past 10 years. At 10.8% per annum, the stock market return lagged behind subsidiary UCB (which posted a stock return of 12.3% per annum), so that Tubize's discount of around 50% remains stubbornly high.

ABO group is also a new name in our study. In 2014, ABO merged with the empty stock exchange shell Thenergo. ABO specializes in soil research, geotechniques and environmental studies. The company is 90% owned by Frank De Palmenaer. He has taken over many companies in recent years and, partly thanks to these acquisitions, ABO will exceed the turnover mark of 100 million euros. The fundamental value creation over the period 2014-2024 is 10.4% per year. Due to the too high share price in the merger with Thenergo, the total return on the stock market over this period (-0.87% per annum) is negative.

Investment Criteria for Value Creation

After 60 years, Warren Buffett, at 94, still managed to grow Berkshire Hathaway by a solid 13.7% annually over the past decade. Admittedly, this percentage is declining (as it amounts to 18.24% over 60 years), but that is not illogical due to the gigantic size of this investment vehicle. In Berkshire Hathaway's annual report, Buffett regularly describes the criteria that new investments must meet: consistent profitability, capable and honest management, and a good return on equity. A Value Square study of all Belgian listed stocks found that there is a strong correlation between the average return on equity (ROE) and fundamental value creation (FWC) over a period of 10 years, as shown in the scatter chart below. A correlation of more than 0.5 points can be considered strong.

A consistently high ROE is a strong indicator of long-term fundamental value creation among listed companies. Both empirical research and practical examples support the idea that companies that use their equity efficiently achieve superior returns for shareholders. As an investor, it is therefore useful to look for companies with a sustainably high return on equity when selecting stocks, as this often indicates strong business fundamentals and the potential for long-term value creation.

Family businesses

We label a company as a “family business” if an individual or family holds 20% of the share capital and has at least one family member on management or board of directors. Of the 86 “calculated” companies, 66 are family businesses, which is 77% of the number of companies studied. The family businesses in our study achieved an average fundamental value creation of 6.96% per year over the past 10 years; non-family businesses achieved a fundamental return of 6.66%. Bizarrely enough, this is not a big difference; but it has a lot to do with the fact that a number of non-family companies have destroyed almost all their value (Nyrstar, Oxurion, MDX Health) and could not be calculated in this study; but where we can assume that fundamental value creation approaches -100%.

Over the period 2014-2024, the listed family companies achieved an average annual stock return of 5.4% compared to 3.0% for their non-family colleagues. The severe stock market declines at the best-known non-family public companies Bpost and Proximus did not help. If we also take into account the bruises in Belgian stocks (see above), the average stock market return of Belgian non-family companies has even been negative (-2.4%) over the past 10 years!

Rather, investors in listed family companies should be reassured that their interests are similar to those of the reference shareholders. According to various studies, family-run companies perform better than non-family-run companies, partly due to their long-term focus and their more conservative attitude towards debt. Our study confirms this statement once again.

Dividend and aristocrats

An annual dividend is very important for many Belgian shareholders. A stable to rising dividend is appreciated by many family, but also small and large minority shareholders. For small shareholders, the net dividend yield is the most important. Normally, the term dividend aristocrats refer to companies that were able to increase or at least keep their dividends stable over 25 years. Here we take a look at the past 10 years.

The following Belgian companies have been able to maintain or increase their net dividends each year over the past 10 years: Aliaxis, Barco, Brederode, Care Property Invest, Etex, Lotus Bakeries, Sofina, Texaf, UCB and WDP. If we abstract an exceptional dividend at D'Ieteren in 2017 (paid out in 2018), the investment company of the family of the same name also belongs in the list above.

Aedifica changed its financial year to a calendar year in the period 2019/2020, leaving it with an extended financial year of 18 months; correcting this, this healthcare real estate player is also a dividend aristocrat.

If we keep the change in taxation in abstraction (raising the withholding tax in two steps from 25% to 27% and to 30%), where the gross dividend is stable or rising, then Ackermans & van Haaren, Ascencio, Elia, Fluxys, GIMV, Home Invest Belgium, Montea, Retail Estates, What's Cooking will also come? and added Financière de Tubize as stable dividend payers. This year, real estate developer Atenor falls off the list of stable dividend payers.

So last year, there were 22 companies that increased their (gross) dividends 10 years in a row or at least kept them stable. Investing in companies with a consistent dividend policy pays off. The average return on the stock market for these 22 companies has been 8.5% over the past 10 years; this is 0.8% less than their fundamental value creation of 9.3%. Both stock market performance and fundamental value creation are significantly higher among dividend aristocrats than the average of all 86 Belgian companies studied.

Investment companies

Holdings offer various benefits for (beginning) investors. First, holding companies are usually good at capital allocation because they strategically allocate resources to profitable companies or sectors, which creates long-term value for shareholders. Holdings often provide exposure to private markets, such as unlisted companies, that are otherwise difficult for private investors to access. Thanks to their structure, holdings usually have low management costs, especially compared to private equity vehicles, which has a positive effect on net returns. Many holdings are also family-based, which often leads to a long-term vision and stable entrepreneurship. This type of management is often associated with prudent financial policy and sustainable value creation.

Brederode has a balanced portfolio of listed stocks on the one hand and private equity on the other. The holding company is known for its family character and sophisticated investment strategy. Thanks to these qualities, Brederode has created a 12.5% annual return over the past 10 years and is thus crowned 13th in the Value Creation Awards. It is not without reason that the founder Pierre van der Mersch has been called the Belgian Warren Buffett for decades. However, van der Mersch “already” quit at the age of 89.

At Berkshire Hathaway's annual shareholders' meeting in Omaha, Buffett — aged 94 — announced his retirement. He will quit at the end of this year. It remains to be seen whether his successor Greg Abel can fill Buffett's big shoes. There is already a lot of work to be done, with an untapped cash mountain of no less than 348 billion US dollars.

In addition to Brederode, the performance of the family holdings D'Ieteren, Ackermans & van Haaren and Sofina can also be seen. This year, we are also including Tessenderlo in the list of investment companies. Due to the wide diversity of activities (Agro, biovalorization, industrial solutions, machines and technology (including Picanol's weaving machines) and T-Power energy arm), we now also consider Tessenderlo as an investment company. As the second best performing holding company, Luc Tack ends up just outside the top 20 in the overall ranking but second in the holding ranking, with an excellent annual value creation of 10.2%. GBL and Quest for Growth are at the bottom of the list of Belgian investment companies.

The full study

The full list of the Value Creation study can be obtained by sending an email to info@value-square.be with the subject “Value Creation Awards 2014-2024 list”.

This study was conducted under the responsibility of Patrick Millecam, Partner and Senior Portfolio Manager at Value Square. In doing so, he received the support of Robbe Debaene, intern and student Finance & Risk Management — Master of Business Sciences, Ghent University.