Hideo Shiozumi has managed Japanese equity for 20 years and has been the sole manager on this fund since launch in 1996. During this time he has periods of substantial outperformance however his performance since 2005 has been poor.
Shiozumi focuses on small cap companies that derive their earnings domestically. This is a very volatile part of the market and although in some market conditions the fund can produce very high returns investors that have held this fund over a sustained period will have been disappointed. The fund has fallen in size substantially in recent years which has further hindered the manager who has had to sell a number of his positions into a falling market. The fund is now only £22m in size.
The rating on the fund has therefore been reduced to 1 star. Investors are advised to consider JPM Japan to maintain exposure to small cap Japanese stocks.