L-R: Julia Faurschou, reporter at Investment Adviser, Dale Erdei, head of field sales at JPMorgan Asset Management, and Richard Romer-Lee, managing director at Square Mile Investment Consulting & Research
The JPM Japan fund, one of the many new entrants to the 100 Club this year, was launched in April 1970 with the aim of providing capital growth over the long term by investing in the shares of Japanese companies.
Managed by the trio of Nicholas Weindling, Miyako Urabe and Shoichi Mizusawa, the portfolio has gathered more than £230m of assets and has comfortably outperformed the IA Japan sector across one, three, five and 10 years.
The vehicle’s Topix benchmark has also failed to keep pace with the fund. In the 12 months to October 28, the portfolio’s return of 41.6 per cent has outperformed the sector average of 32.1 per cent and the index’s gain of 32.7 per cent, data from FE Analytics shows.
Unsurprisingly, this fund impressed the judges with its recent performance and the calibre of the team. They noted: “JPM has a strong Tokyo-based team and impressive results over the past year have extended its strong track record.”
The fund’s C accumulation share class sits at a risk-reward level of six out of seven, with the portfolio displaying some differences compared with its benchmark, including a 17 per cent sector allocation to ‘others’, its factsheet shows.
The vehicle’s top-10 holdings include some lesser-known names, such as Keyence, Meiji and Daikin Industries.
What the judges say
This fund’s team-based approach found favour, as did the turnaround in performance demonstrated in recent years.
