In focus
This trust has changed its name and introduced an enhanced
dividend policy to help narrow its discount
JPMorgan China
Growth & Income
TRUSTNET
the board has tackled with a new
enhanced-dividend policy. This
targets a yield of 4 per cent of net
assets at the end of the previous
financial year, paid through capital
gains and net revenue.
The move is designed to broaden
the trust’s investor base and reduce
the discount over time. Winterflood
said one of the arguments against
such a tactic is that there is no
evidence it leads to a narrowing
of the discount. However, it noted
that JPMorgan’s other trusts that
have taken this approach have
been largely successful – notably
JPMorgan Global Growth & Income.
JPMorgan China Growth & Income
has made 157.28 per cent over the
past 10 years, compared with gains of
106.47 per cent from its MSCI China
index benchmark.
FACT BOX
MANAGERS: Howard Wang, Shumin Huang & Rebecca Jiang / LAUNCHED: 19/10/1993 /
PREMIUM/DISCOUNT: -14.8% / OCF: 1.26%
CROWN RATING
PERFORMANCE OF TRUST VS SECTOR & INDEX OVER 10YRS
JPMorgan China Growth &
Income (157.28%)
IT Country Specialist Asia
Pacific ex Jap (137.99%)
MSCI China
(106.47%)
200%
175%
150%
125%
100%
75%
50%
25%
0%
12
-25%
Shumin Huang and Rebecca Jiang
– targets long-term capital growth
by investing in well-managed, high-
quality companies that return money
to minority shareholders in a fair
manner. The managers take a high-
conviction approach that emphasises
bottom-up research but with some
top-down views.
One such view relates to “New
China” and sectors able to capitalise
on moves towards a consumer-driven
economy. This, they believe, will help
deliver stronger returns and let them
access some of the fastest-growing
Chinese companies.
The portfolio contains internet
giants Alibaba and Tencent as well as
stocks poised to benefit from changing
demographic trends, such as insurer
Ping An and healthcare company WuXi.
Recently, the trust has been
hampered by a high discount, which
I
nvesting in China may seem
like a risky move, with the
country closely associated with
the outbreak of the coronavirus.
However, Chinese strategies proved
surprisingly resilient in the initial
downturn, with IA China/Greater
China the second-best performing
open-ended sector in February,
while global markets tanked.
Nevertheless, fears over the
coronavirus continue to spook
investors and a number of top-
performing investment trusts
focused on China can be found at
compelling discounts.
One such trust is the recently
renamed JPMorgan China Growth
& Income – formerly known as
JPMorgan Chinese – which is
trading at a 14.8 per cent discount.
This £322.5m investment trust
– overseen by Howard Wang,
[ TRUST ]
42 / 43
Source: FE Analytics
trustnet.com