Comments on: The Search For Global Small-Cap Funds

By: chandra

chandra — Mon, 28 Jan 2019 16:18:31 +0000

Thanks for the article.Learnt a lot.

By: The Uncertain Investor

The Uncertain Investor — Mon, 28 Jan 2019 15:10:54 +0000

I forgot to mention in my previous message that I also hold Edinburgh Worldwide as a small cap focused alternative to Scottish Mortgage. Today (Mon 28th Jan) it has undergone a 5:1 stock split so some of the historic price charts might look a bit odd.
There is an informative 17 minute video presentation on Edinburgh Worldwide by one of its managers available via the Shares Magazine YouTube channel, from March 2018:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQsypsaB6Dk

By: ITinvestor

ITinvestor — Mon, 28 Jan 2019 11:49:26 +0000

Thanks, Uncertain Investor (like the name!) That’s very useful info, and I have made a note of the Wisdom Tree ETF to look at.

By: The Uncertain Investor

The Uncertain Investor — Sun, 27 Jan 2019 21:03:05 +0000

Firstly, thanks for your site which I’ve found via a recent link in Monevator’s list of links.
Your search for elusive Global Small Cap vehicles is one I’ve gone through in the past and here is what I’ve settled on for now which may be of some use to you:

I think there’s a case for specialisation by region in the small cap space. In addition, having invested in FCS for a while I wasn’t happy with it being partly a fund of funds. So, after some (positive) experience of his Fidelity Asian Smaller Companies OEIC, I noted that Nitin Bajaj was appointed manager of Fidelity Asian Values IT – which according to the recent AGM presentation has about 75% of the portfolio invested in companies below $5bn market cap. So I transferred into that.

In addition to that, and Baillie Gifford Shin Nippon, I struggled to find a dedicated EM small cap fund or trust so being (mostly) an income investor in early retirement I decided to go down the ETF route for EM small cap income exposure through Wisdom Tree’s Emerging Market Small Cap Dividend ETF (DGSE). The capital performance has been broadly OK relative to other EM income vehicles, but thus far what sets it apart from (e.g.) the JP Morgan EM Income trust has been strong dividend growth in the last couple of years ($0.4685 in 2017/8; $0.5615 in 2018/9), although of course there’s no guarantee that this will persist, and the rather widespread nature of this ETF’s holdings (just over 1000!) may not be to everyone’s taste.

By: ITinvestor

ITinvestor — Sun, 27 Jan 2019 08:25:53 +0000

In reply to Eagle.

Thanks Eagle. I didn’t spot that one before, probably because they removed ‘Smaller’ from the trust name.

I largely used the AIC sector groupings for this piece and they can be a blunt instrument sometimes. Although there is a Japanese Smaller Companies category, there is no separate category for Asian Smaller Companies right now.

I think the AIC is planning a category revamp is planned at some point this year, so that may help rectify the situation where we have certain trusts like this that don’t fit neatly.

By: ITinvestor

ITinvestor — Sun, 27 Jan 2019 08:18:59 +0000

In reply to tom_grlla.

Thanks Tom. I see it released this factsheet in the last week which shows the cash level has indeed fallen significantly and stood at 28% at the end of December.
https://www.scotgems.com/globalassets/scotgems/factsheets/20181231_scotgems-plc_factsheet.pdf

By: Eagle

Eagle — Sun, 27 Jan 2019 05:45:36 +0000

Hi
Aberdeen has renamed the Aberdeen Asian smaller companies to Aberdeen Standard Asia Focus .
https://www.investmentweek.co.uk/investment-week/news/3066152/aberdeen-asian-smaller-companies-it-renamed-young-appointed-manager

By: tom_grlla

tom_grlla — Sun, 27 Jan 2019 00:08:00 +0000

Scotgems does quarterly updates on their website.

They have taken a long time to invest cash, but this reflects their caution, which obviously paid off somewhat in the Autumn.

The portfolio is intriguing, but it’s certainly one to only hold for 5-10 years.

And it’s tiny, so liquidity will be an issue for quite a while.

p.s. I found you through monevator.

By: ITinvestor

ITinvestor — Fri, 11 Jan 2019 09:31:37 +0000

In reply to Steve.

Doh! Thanks, Steve. Not sure how I missed those.

I made a note of the old F&C fund in my initial notes but completely forgot about it when writing the article. And there is also Scottish Oriental Smaller Companies (SST), an Asian Pacific ex Japan fund, that I can see I missed out as well.

I plan to amend the article for these later today.