Bestinvest says
Stephen Harker is one of the most experienced managers of Japanese equities and he has a distinctive approach to investment. The investment process focuses on stocks with recent poor performance that are cheap on a Price to Book basis. The extent to which he does this is unusual however, given Japan's idiosyncratic nature, Harker has been very successful in implementing it. This style can lead to aggressive contrarian calls which can result in periods of underperformance but Harker has also proved adept at keeping up with the index when his style has been out of favour. This is testament to his stock picking abilities. Over a sustained period this has been the stand out fund in the sector.
The manager's style is very pragmatic and actually quite simple, founded as it is on his significant experience in Japanese equities and a keen study of history.
The fund's process is based on the belief that large cap value stocks will out perform over the long term. The managers believe that there is significant mean reversion in stock markets generally and in Japan particularly. Typically the managers therefore focus on what they consider to be valuation anomalies rather than companies with high growth rates.
The preferred valuation methodology is Price to Book which compares the company's market capitalisation to its assets. Traditionally this has been a potent metric in Japan. The managers conduct balance sheet analysis to ensure that the company is financially secure.
The fund managers are based in York. The managers visit Japan regularly.