James Carthew: Schroder Oriental Income thrives on Asia’s inefficiencies
Richard Sennitt has a tried and tested skill for finding mispriced companies that deliver a good total return as well as a growing income.
Schroder Oriental Income (SOI) can boast that it is both the largest and the best performing of the trusts in the Asia Pacific income sector, ranking top over every time period, including an impressive 52% return over the past 12 months.
It has been managed by Richard Sennitt since Matthew Dobbs – who had ran the trust from launch in 2005 – retired in late 2020. Richard, who started at Schroders since 1993, was the natural choice of successor as he was managing the trust’s open-ended equivalent.
Whilst he is based in London, Richard can tap into the knowledge of a large pool of analysts based in the region.
The investment approach is founded on the principle that Asian markets are inefficient and that fundamental analysis can reveal mispriced companies. Its roughly 60-stock portfolio is very much a reflection of Richard’s stock selection decisions rather than a top-down, asset allocation driven process. However, country exposures will reflect an assessment of the economic and political environment as well as valuations.
Schroder Oriental is also a… read more here