By Laurent Picard, Portfoliomanager at Bellevue Asset Management

Every year around this time, I look forward to a few busy days in Nice for Bernstein's annual European Small Cap Conference, an event that combines hard work with an exceptional setting. We spend long days meeting management teams at just the right time: by this stage of the year, we have a much clearer picture of how companies are executing, allowing us to further refine our investment theses.

It's also the start of summer, which certainly doesn't hurt. Over the years, I've developed a few rituals. I always stay at Hôtel Amour, a boutique hotel just a short walk from the Promenade des Anglais. Evenings are often spent at Davia, a traditional Niçois restaurant, where discussions about markets continue over delicious local food with fellow fund managers who have become friends. And if I have a free evening, I take a taxi to Paloma Beach in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat for dinner by the sea. This stay perfectly illustrates how some of the best investment conversations happen far from conference rooms.

Summer floating on the Limmat

Growing up in Paris, I always thought spending time in nature meant planning a weekend away. Living in Zurich changed that perspective. In summer, one of my favourite rituals is heading to a Badi for a swim after work. And while I wouldn't recommend swimming in the Seine, floating down the Limmat on a summer evening is something everyone should experience at least once. Winter is just as easy. If the forecast looks promising, there's nothing better than deciding on a Friday evening to go skiing and being on the slopes by morning.

One of my favourite escapes is Bergus Radons, near Savognin, a cosy mountain hotel only reachable by snowmobile in winter. Whatever the season, a few hours are all it takes for a complete disconnect. Switzerland's efficient rail network makes even remote places feel close. One of my favourite hikes starts at Klöntalersee, where steep mountain walls rise straight from the turquoise water. It's one of those landscapes that hardly seems real and reminds me, every time, how lucky I am to call Switzerland home.

Reliable access to sufficient energy is essential

The investment environment remains unusually uncertain, shaped by shifting alliances, a more fragmented world economy and the return of protectionist policies. This is creating volatility and making the outlook harder to predict. While these developments may weigh on short-term sentiment, they are also reinforcing a number of long-term investment themes that we believe will remain relevant for years to come.

Among them, security and sovereignty stand out. This extends well beyond defence spending, although that is clearly one area benefiting from higher investment. Across Europe, greater strategic autonomy - in defence, technology and energy - has become as much an economic priority as a political one.

Energy is a good example. Europe continues to consume significantly more gas than it produces, leaving the region dependent on external suppliers. At the same time, the electrification of the economy is becoming increasingly strategic, making the modernisation of ageing electricity networks a critical priority. As renewable generation expands, substantial investment in transmission and distribution infrastructure will be required to manage intermittency while ensuring a reliable and affordable supply of electricity.

These investments are essential not only to reduce Europe's carbon footprint, but also to provide the stable, competitively priced power that increasingly energy-intensive activities such as data centres and artificial intelligence will require. In our view, access to abundant, reliable and predictable electricity will become a key determinant of Europe's future productivity and long-term economic growth.

We are also seeing a shift towards more pragmatic economic policies in Europe. While progress is unlikely to be linear, there are signs that European competition authorities are becoming more supportive of consolidation where it strengthens the region's industrial competitiveness. This matters in particular for small and mid-cap companies. We recently saw this play out with Exail, a world leader in underwater drones and one of our holdings, which is currently being acquired by Thales,  a good illustration of how strategic consolidation can crystallise value in this space.

In this environment, we continue to focus on businesses with strong competitive positions and exposure to these structural trends, strong balance sheets, rather than trying to position portfolios around short-term macroeconomic or political developments.