Trustnet Magazine Issue 8 June 2015 | Page 19

REGIONAL SECTORS JAPAN trustnet.com PROFILE: SCHRODER JAPAN GROWTH The relative performance of the £204m Schroder Japan Growth fund over three and five years may look unexciting in the competitive AIC Japan sector, but it is still substantially ahead of the Topix index over each period. Equally, the trust’s 6.6 per cent discount compares favourably to that of the investors’ favourite, Baillie Gifford. Simon Moore, head of research at BestInvest, says that manager Andrew Rose has a big team and has proved himself a capable manager over the long term. It is smaller company-focused and has also benefited from the currency trade over the past 12 months. It currently has gearing of approximately 12 per cent. Toyota Motors is the trust’s largest holding, a sign of Rose’s generally optimistic view on the outlook for the Japanese market from here. for fund managers that have focused on smaller companies or “value” opportunities. Stephen Peters, analyst at Charles Stanley, says all the trusts in the sector have a growth bias. “Last year favoured those companies with quality ear