fund
Schroder Asian Alpha Plus L
Invests in companies in the Asia ex Japan.
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125.20p
Price (Inc)
These are the shares in the fund that pay out an income to clients. The income is made up of the total dividends – the money a company can pay out to its investors – from the companies in the fund.
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135.70p
Price (Acc)
These are the shares in the fund that don’t pay out an income to clients. Any dividends – the money a company can pay out to its investors – are reinvested into companies in the fund. Despite no income, the shares should be worth more over time. Good incentive, eh?
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0.00%
Initial chargeSome funds charge you when you first invest, which is aptly known as the initial charge. They’re usually between 3-5% but at Bestinvest, we usually don’t charge you a penny!
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0.68%
Annual management charge
This is how much the fund management company charges to run the fund. It’s like paying a babysitter, dog sitter or house sitter (that makes well-informed, heavily researched changes to improve your baby/dog/house when needed).
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0.87%
Ongoing charges
This stands for Ongoing Charges Figure. It’s the cost of running a fund and includes admin fees, manager fees, administration costs, etc.
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0.80%
Yield
How much the fund is currently paying out in income to investors. It’s NOT to be confused with the overall growth of a fund – a very different thing indeed. It’s also NOT a guarantee of future pay-outs, just a snapshot. This is more what it’s not than what it is…
The fund aims to achieve capital growth through investment in securities in the Asia (ex Japan) region. Manager Matthew Dobbs is unconstrained by any benchmark and leverages fundamental research from a large group of analysts based across the region. The fund invests in a portfolio of 50-70 quality companies with a focus on those with positive cash flow, balance sheet strength and valuation support.
Fund summary
| Sector | Asia Pacific Excluding Japan |
| Structure | UNIT TRUST |
| Launched | October, 2013 |
| Size | £1,233m |
| Yield | 0.80% |
| Charging basis | Income |
| Dividends paid | 31 Aug |
Charges
| Standard initial charge | 0.00% |
| Initial charge via Bestinvest | 0.00% |
| Additional bid/offer spread | 0.00% |
| Annual management charge | 0.68% |
| Ongoing charges figure | 0.87% |
Allocation
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Investment process
The investment process is bottom-up with top-down overlay. The manager works off the wide international network of in-house career sector analysts. The analysts use proprietary models to assess prospective earnings growth, quality of earnings, competitive position, barriers and entry and focus on shareholder value. Following extensive research the analysts generate a recommendation for each stock based on a 1 to 4 rating scale (with 1 being a strong buy). The primary source of stock ideas will focus on strong buys although other stocks will not be disregarded. The manager also uses his extensive network of contacts alongside selective use of sell-side research. The manager then uses a top-down overlay to determine the country allocation. This overlay consists of a combination of proprietary models, independent macro research and a central Schroder economic team.
Manager research
Average monthly relative returns
- 16/17 0.18%
- 17/18 0.00%
- 18/19 0.00%
- 19/20 0.00%
- 20/21 0.00%
Bestinvest MRI
- 3 years 0.00%
- 5 years 0.00%
- Career 0.02%
- 3 years 0.00%
- 5 years 0.00%
- Career 0.00%
Performance figures are based on the average of monthly percentage returns relative to the benchmark index.
Matthew Dobbs
Born in 1959, Dobbs graduated in History & Economics from Oxford. His investment career commenced in 1981 when he joined Schroders as a UK Investment Analyst. He was seconded to New York in 1983 and from 1985 he was Head of the Investment Division in Singapore. He returned to London in 1987 with responsibility for specialist Far Eastern equity portfolios. In 1996 Dobbs returned to Singapore as Global Regional Managing Director of SIM in South East Asia. Since 1999 he has managed Pacific Basin equities and is also responsible for multi-regional small cap portfolios.
Track record
The track record of Matthew Dobbs in managing mutual funds in this sector is still too short for us to draw any meaningful conclusions and so our assessment is based largely on qualitative aspects.
Periods of worst performance
| Absolute | -50.00% (June 2001 - January 2003) |
| Relative | -11.00% (June 2001 - July 2001) |
About the MRI
Our unique indicator: the Bestinvest Manager Record Index (MRI) measures the likelihood that the fund manager is adding value through their decisions. It is based on their performance record over the course of their career, adjusted for the amount of risk taken. MRI is an important contributor to our fund rating system but it is also vital to take account of qualitative factors. It is also very important to select funds to form a cohesive portfolio with an appropriate overall risk level.
Allocation
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Top 10 holdings
Data accurate as at 31 July 2020
| 9.42% | Samsung Electronics Co |
| 8.61% | Taiwan Semiconductor Co |
| 8.61% | Tencent Hldgs Ltd |
| 7.54% | Alibaba Group Hldg Ltd |
| 3.47% | Aia Group Ltd |
| 2.79% | Galaxy Entertainment Group |
| 2.66% | Samsung Sdi |
| 2.61% | Bhp Group Plc |
| 2.41% | Hdfc Bank Ltd |
| 2.3% | Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing |
| Source: Trustnet |
Sector breakdown
| Information Technology | 27.00% |
| Consumer Discretionary | 22.00% |
| Financials | 19.00% |
| Communications | 11.00% |
| Industrials | 5.00% |
| Materials | 4.00% |
| Others | 3.00% |
| Real Estate | 3.00% |
| Money Market | 3.00% |
| Health Care | 2.00% |
Portfolio
The portfolio consist of between 50-70 stocks. The cash level target is <5%.
Constraints
Stocks are restricted to +/- 10% at time of purchase.