JPMorgan European Smaller Cos

Finding exciting investment opportunities

22 June 2017

JPMorgan European Smaller Companies Trust (JESC) aims to generate long-term capital growth from a portfolio of European (ex-UK) small-cap equities. Despite a period of underperformance versus the Euromoney Smaller Europe ex-UK benchmark in 2016 due to conservative portfolio positioning, JESC’s longer-term performance record remains intact. It has outperformed the benchmark over three, five and 10 years. The managers believe that the European economic backdrop is favourable, political risk has been reduced and they are finding plenty of investment opportunities, across a range of industries, including companies that are adapting in a period of rapid technological change. MORE »

Strong continuity of management

9 January 2017

JPMorgan European Smaller Companies Trust (JESC) is managed by a dedicated, highly experienced, three-man team. The ‘best ideas’ portfolio, which generally comprises 60-80 holdings, currently numbers 63. Stocks are selected on a bottom-up basis from a universe of c 1,000 companies, which constitute the Euromoney Smaller Companies ex-UK index, the trust’s benchmark. Long-term performance has been strong, as evidenced by its 10- and 20-year NAV and share price returns, which comfortably outstrip the benchmark and the MSCI Europe ex-UK index. MORE »

Ready for the next 25 years

10 September 2015

JPMorgan European Smaller Companies Trust (JESC) has a 25-year track record of seeking capital appreciation by investing in smaller Continental European companies. The managers note that the sector competes for investor attention against other high-growth areas such as emerging markets, and the recent sell-off in Asia could underpin investor demand, a trend suggested by the historically low level of discount. Performance has been strong versus the benchmark over both short and longer periods, with a 20-year NAV total return of 1,173% – all of which has been achieved under the long-serving current managers – beating the nearest peer by more than 60%. The managers favour cyclical stocks in the expectation of further economic recovery in Europe, driven by domestic demand. MORE »

A more focused approach to small-cap Europe

18 December 2014

JPMorgan European Smaller Companies Trust (JESC) is a long-established European small- and mid-cap specialist with a stable management team. It aims to achieve capital growth by picking the winners from a broad but under-researched universe of c 1,000 stocks. Sector and country weights are mainly a result of stock selection but there is currently an overweight to technology and France compared with the index. Long-term performance has been impressive (+1,227% over 20 years), although a recent sell-off in European small caps has seen the trust’s shares move to a wider discount than the average over one, three, five and 10 years. MORE »