Questor on JPMorgan Japanese – How to buy local knowledge in Warren Buffett’s favourite foreign market
With managers based in Tokyo, this Japanese trust continues to outperform
Japan is back – just ask Warren Buffett.
Much like the nation, many investment trusts focused on Japan have been through periods of difficulty, although few lasted as long as the troubles of its stock market. One such, the largest focused on the region, is JPMorgan Japanese.
While it suffered between 2021-2022 due to its growth focus, the trust is now firmly one of the best performers thanks precisely to that investment style. Its net asset value (Nav) is recovering nicely, and last year the trust was able to expand by absorbing £144m of assets from JPMorgan Japan Small Cap Growth and Income.
Nicholas Weindling has managed JPMorgan Japanese since August 2010 and worked with the trust for even longer than that. He has established a remarkable track record over the past 14.5 years – shareholders in the trust made a return of 377pc between August 2010 and end January 2025, which compares to 207pc from the MSCI Japan Index.
For the last five years, Mr Weindling has worked alongside Miyako Urabe. She was also one of the named managers on the small cap trust before its combination with JPMorgan Japanese. The two managers are based in JPMorgan’s Tokyo office, where they are also supported by a large team of 15 analysts. Mr Weindling says that being based in the country gives an advantage when it comes to researching and evaluating stocks – the value of this was most obvious during the Covid period, when it was impossible for investors based outside the country to visit…. read more here