This is an analyst-driven product where the analyst pool has been cut significantly - only three of the current group were at Schroders in 2005. In addition, the performance of the analyst ranks has not been especially good over the last few years, even before considering the slippage in implementing them in the actual portfolio.
As a result we have reduced our rating to 3 stars. This is still a reasonable product for those that need one core manager in Japan and do not want too much tracking error relative to Topix. However, there are higher conviction alternatives for investors who are comfortable with a less benchmark-focused manager.