Asset Allocation & Fund Positioning, Copley Fund Research

Steven Holden

Asset Allocation & Fund Positioning

Copley Fund Research

Copley Fund Research provide research and data on asset allocation among Global and Emerging Market equity funds.  The analysis details absolute and relative positioning across countries, sectors and industries together with highly granular data on single stock and single fund allocations.  The data is updated monthly with time series going back to January 2011.

Global Research - Analysis of 165 prominent Global equity funds, combined AUM $335bn
GEM Research - Analysis of 127 prominent global EM equity funds, combined AUM $250bn

Asset Allocation - Global and GEM Equity

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

<p>Among active Global managers, Japan Consumer Discretionary stocks are the 3rd largest country/sector holding in the Asia region.  Average fund weights sit behind Taiwan Tech and Japan Industrials at 1.07%, with 57.1% of the 380 funds in our analysis invested in the sector with combined AUM of $9.18bn.</p><p>Measured against other Asian country/sectors, changes in fund ownership have been positive and among the highest across all measures over the last 6-months.  Against a backdrop of plummeting exposure in China Consumer Discretionary stocks, average weights, funds invested, cash flows and the balance of buyers vs sellers were all positive for Japan Consumer Discretionary stocks.  </p><p>Infact, across most ownership metrics, Japan Consumer Discretionary stocks have overtaken, or at least closed to gap to China Consumer Discretionary stocks since the 'Tech Crackdown' in October of 2020.  We can see evidence of this rotation on a fund level, with Aberdeen's Global Unconstrained Fund, LBPAM's Actions Monde and BNY Mellon's Global Opportunities Fund examples of managers rotating from China Consumer Discretionary and into Japan since October 2020.</p><p><em>Analysis taken from our Global research, covering 380 active Global strategies with combined AUM of $1.1bn</em></p>

Among active Global managers, Japan Consumer Discretionary stocks are the 3rd largest country/sector holding in the Asia region.  Average fund weights sit behind Taiwan Tech and Japan Industrials at 1.07%, with 57.1% of the 380 funds in our analysis invested in the sector with combined AUM of $9.18bn.Measured against other Asian country/sectors, changes in fund ownership have been positive and among the highest across all measures over the last 6-months.  Against a backdrop of plummeting exposure in China Consumer Discretionary stocks, average weights, funds invested, cash flows and the balance of buyers vs sellers were all positive for Japan Consumer Discretionary stocks.  Infact, across most ownership metrics, Japan Consumer Discretionary stocks have overtaken, or at least closed to gap to China Consumer Discretionary stocks since the 'Tech Crackdown' in October of 2020.  We can see evidence of this rotation on a fund level, with Aberdeen's Global Unconstrained Fund, LBPAM's Actions Monde and BNY Mellon's Global Opportunities Fund examples of managers rotating from China Consumer Discretionary and into Japan since October 2020.Analysis taken from our Global research, covering 380 active Global strategies with combined AUM of $1.1bn

Japan Consumer Discretionary:  Benefiting from China's Downfall

Pan-Asia Catalysts/Events, Quiddity Advisors

Travis Lundy

Pan-Asia Catalysts/Events

Quiddity Advisors

<p>On Friday 11 June, the TSE published its final revisions to the Corporate Governance Code which had been undergoing review by the <em>Council of Experts Concerning the Follow-up of Japan’s Stewardship Code and Japan’s Corporate Governance Code</em> and subsequently comment for the past many months. The new Code went into effect as of 11 June. The first revision to the <em>Guidelines for Investor and Company Engagement</em> were published as well. </p><p>The new version of Japan's Corporate Governance Code is <a href="https://www.jpx.co.jp/english/news/1020/b5b4pj0000046kxj-att/b5b4pj0000046l07.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a> with the tracked change version <a href="https://www.jpx.co.jp/english/news/1020/b5b4pj0000046kxj-att/b5b4pj0000046l0c.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>. This is the second revision of the Code (the first revision was in 2018).</p><p>The revisions to the JFSA Guidelines for Investor and Company Engagement are <a href="https://www.jpx.co.jp/english/news/1020/b5b4pj0000046kxj-att/b5b4pj0000046l3e.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>. Tracked changes are <a href="https://www.jpx.co.jp/english/news/1020/b5b4pj0000046kxj-att/b5b4pj0000046l50.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.</p><p>The major changes to the Code recommend enhancements to Board independence, diversity, Sustainability and ESG, and also recommend improvements to investor accessibility and voting and a small change to listed parent-listed subsidiary relationships which unfortunately will not do much to counter abuse by companies of listed sub minority shareholders. </p><p>Below is more discussion of the changes and what they mean.</p><p>But I remind investors, these changes are almost all box-ticking exercises. They will not improve governance for shareholders except at the margins. </p><p>Companies which "get" good governance are still rare. And those which don't get it seem to abuse shareholders on a regular basis. And for that, investors still need more cowbell.</p>

On Friday 11 June, the TSE published its final revisions to the Corporate Governance Code which had been undergoing review by the Council of Experts Concerning the Follow-up of Japan’s Stewardship Code and Japan’s Corporate Governance Code and subsequently comment for the past many months. The new Code went into effect as of 11 June. The first revision to the Guidelines for Investor and Company Engagement were published as well. The new version of Japan's Corporate Governance Code is here with the tracked change version here. This is the second revision of the Code (the first revision was in 2018).The revisions to the JFSA Guidelines for Investor and Company Engagement are here. Tracked changes are here.The major changes to the Code recommend enhancements to Board independence, diversity, Sustainability and ESG, and also recommend improvements to investor accessibility and voting and a small change to listed parent-listed subsidiary relationships which unfortunately will not do much to counter abuse by companies of listed sub minority shareholders. Below is more discussion of the changes and what they mean.But I remind investors, these changes are almost all box-ticking exercises. They will not improve governance for shareholders except at the margins. Companies which "get" good governance are still rare. And those which don't get it seem to abuse shareholders on a regular basis. And for that, investors still need more cowbell.

TSE Prime: Japan's Corporate Governance Code Finalized So Boxes Will Be Furiously Ticked

Technical Analyst, Vermilion Research

Joe Jasper

Technical Analyst

Technical and Quantitative Research

Vermilion Research

Vermilion’s objective is to deliver timely, actionable, and unique technical research to professional investors through the application of our various technical indicators.

Our research strategists seek to highlight securities which we believe are at major inflection points, based on our various technical and quantitative indicators, and offer asymmetric risk/return profiles. Our unique research methodology, centered on relative strength, enables our strategists to deliver superior investment recommendations.

Our process begins by organizing the universe of actively traded stocks into discrete sectors, then into industry groups. We then apply our technical and quantitative tools to identify developing price trends. Once attractive trends are identified within a selected sector or group, we screen for individual stocks which we believe offer the best risk/reward profile. We provide a historical perspective that often reveals, through our long-term charts, how price patterns often repeat themselves over time.

Technical Analysis

<p>As long as market dynamics remain largely positive and the MSCI ACWI (ACWI-US), ACWI ex-US (ACWX-US), and EM (EEM-US) indexes are above their respective intermediate-term support levels we believe a constructive outlook is warranted. To reiterate, support levels to watch include $90 on ACWI-US, $53 on ACWX-US, and $52 on EEM-US. Open the attached file to read our complete International Strategy document, and to find links to detailed comments and recommendations for each of our 12 Sectors.</p>

As long as market dynamics remain largely positive and the MSCI ACWI (ACWI-US), ACWI ex-US (ACWX-US), and EM (EEM-US) indexes are above their respective intermediate-term support levels we believe a constructive outlook is warranted. To reiterate, support levels to watch include $90 on ACWI-US, $53 on ACWX-US, and $52 on EEM-US. Open the attached file to read our complete International Strategy document, and to find links to detailed comments and recommendations for each of our 12 Sectors.

Global Equity Strategy: Constructive Pullback; Overweight Value

David Blennerhassett

Equity Bottom-Up

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<p>This week in StubWorld ...</p>
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<p>Ahead of the three-year anniversary lock-up expiring next month, enabling <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/prosus-nv" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:28104:1" rel="noopener">Prosus (PRX NA)</a>/<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/naspers-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:21085:1" rel="noopener">Naspers (NPN SJ)</a> to sell more shares of <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/tencent-holdings-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:26:1" rel="noopener">Tencent Holdings (700 HK)</a>,  Naspers' look-thru discount of 55% compares with 34% at the time of the Prosus spin-off in September 2019. </p>
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<p>Preceding my comments on Naspers/Prosus/Tencent <em>and </em><a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/pccw-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:873:1" rel="noopener">PCCW Ltd (8 HK)</a>, are the weekly setup/unwind tables for Asia-Pacific Holdcos.</p>
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<p>These relationships trade with a minimum liquidity threshold of US$1mn on a 90-day moving average, and a % market capitalisation threshold - the $ value of the holding/opco held, over the parent’s market capitalisation, expressed in percent - of at least 20%.</p>
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<p>As always, more below the fold.</p>
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This week in StubWorld ...




Ahead of the three-year anniversary lock-up expiring next month, enabling Prosus (PRX NA)/Naspers (NPN SJ) to sell more shares of Tencent Holdings (700 HK),  Naspers' look-thru discount of 55% compares with 34% at the time of the Prosus spin-off in September 2019. 




Preceding my comments on Naspers/Prosus/Tencent and PCCW Ltd (8 HK), are the weekly setup/unwind tables for Asia-Pacific Holdcos.



These relationships trade with a minimum liquidity threshold of US$1mn on a 90-day moving average, and a % market capitalisation threshold - the $ value of the holding/opco held, over the parent’s market capitalisation, expressed in percent - of at least 20%.



As always, more below the fold.


StubWorld: Naspers' Unsustainable Look-Through

'Quantamental' Japan Specialist, LightStream Research

Campbell Gunn

'Quantamental' Japan Specialist

Long-Short Analysis on Japan, Asia and the World

LightStream Research

LightStream conducts quantitatively rigorous and data-driven analysis with a focus on Japan and Asia.

We consistently cover the Tech, Consumer and Industrial sectors, and provide ECM and Events coverage more broadly.

We supplement traditional qualitative insights from company relationships with a robust quantitative foundation that examines as much historical data as is available.
We further refine the accuracy of our insights and calls through the use of alternative data to flesh out current trends, and through a valuation framework that emphasises non-superficial peer group selection and a proper attempt to understand the metrics and changes that have driven security valuations in the past.

<div><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>• RESULTS &amp; REVISIONS SUMMARY - 2nd FEBRUARY •</strong></p></div><div><p>Of Tuesday's 86 results announcements, 70% scored positively for earnings momentum despite trailing revenues falling by 5.9% on average and a 0.3 percentage point decline in operating margins. Only 3% of companies were in the red for the quarter.  62% of the 50 annual forecasts/revision announcements scored positively, and the average Forecast/Revision score was +2.9 points.</p></div><div><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>• BEST &amp; WORST •</strong></p></div><p>Tuesday's best and worst large-cap pairing is the Toyota Group parts Peer Group led by <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/denso-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:18703:1" rel="noopener">Denso Corp (6902 JP)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/toyota-industries-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:4500:1" rel="noopener">Toyota Industries (6201 JP)</a>, and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/aisin-seiki-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:11809:1" rel="noopener">Aisin Seiki (7259 JP)</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/monotaro-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:15441:1" rel="noopener">MonotaRO (3064 JP)</a>.</p><section class="figure"><figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/186/401/original/2021-01-27_06-56-24.png?1612302725" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="186401"></figure></section><section class="figure"><figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/186/402/original/2021-02-03_06-52-38.png?1612302769" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="186402"></figure></section><div class="content-caption">     Source for all charts &amp; tables: Japan Analytics</div>

• RESULTS &amp; REVISIONS SUMMARY - 2nd FEBRUARY •Of Tuesday's 86 results announcements, 70% scored positively for earnings momentum despite trailing revenues falling by 5.9% on average and a 0.3 percentage point decline in operating margins. Only 3% of companies were in the red for the quarter.  62% of the 50 annual forecasts/revision announcements scored positively, and the average Forecast/Revision score was +2.9 points.• BEST &amp; WORST •Tuesday's best and worst large-cap pairing is the Toyota Group parts Peer Group led by Denso Corp (6902 JP), Toyota Industries (6201 JP), and Aisin Seiki (7259 JP) and MonotaRO (3064 JP).     Source for all charts &amp; tables: Japan Analytics

🇯🇵 JAPAN • Results & Revisions ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​02/​​​​​​​​​​​​​​02 - Aisin, MonotaRO

Japan

TOYOTA INDUSTRIES CORPORATION, a member of the Toyota Motor Group, assembles motor vehicles and manufactures automotive parts such as engines and air conditioner compressors.  The Company also produces industrial equipment and textile machinery as well as electronic devices such as computer modems and power inverters.

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Toyota Industries (6201 JP)

Japan Consumer Discretionary: Benefiting from China's Downfall

Against a backdrop of plummeting exposure in China Consumer Discretionary stocks, active Global managers have pivoted towards the Japan Consumer...

Steven Holden

TSE Prime: Japan's Corporate Governance Code Finalized So Boxes Will Be Furiously Ticked

The TSE on Friday announced the revisions to the Governance Code. This codifies the "governance thresholds" required to join TSE Prime next year....

Travis Lundy

Global Equity Strategy: Constructive Pullback; Overweight Value

As long as the MSCI ACWI (ACWI-US), ACWI ex-US (ACWX-US), and EM (EEM-US) indexes are above their respective intermediate-term support levels we...

Vermilion Research

StubWorld: Naspers' Unsustainable Look-Through

Long Naspers vs Tencent, is the obvious trade at the current look-through value. IF Naspers+Prosus decides to sell some more Tencent, expect...

David Blennerhassett

🇯🇵 JAPAN • Results & Revisions 02/02 - Aisin, MonotaRO

Of Tuesday's 86 results announcements, 70% scored positively for earnings momentum despite trailing revenues falling by 5.9% on average and a 0.3...

Campbell Gunn

Price Gauge

52-week Range

Market Cap (USDm)

P/E

Dividend (Yield)

Japan Consumer Discretionary: Benefiting from China's Downfall

Against a backdrop of plummeting exposure in China Consumer Discretionary stocks, active Global managers have pivoted towards the Japan Consumer...

Steven Holden

TSE Prime: Japan's Corporate Governance Code Finalized So Boxes Will Be Furiously Ticked

The TSE on Friday announced the revisions to the Governance Code. This codifies the "governance thresholds" required to join TSE Prime next year....

Travis Lundy

Global Equity Strategy: Constructive Pullback; Overweight Value

As long as the MSCI ACWI (ACWI-US), ACWI ex-US (ACWX-US), and EM (EEM-US) indexes are above their respective intermediate-term support levels we...

Vermilion Research

StubWorld: Naspers' Unsustainable Look-Through

Long Naspers vs Tencent, is the obvious trade at the current look-through value. IF Naspers+Prosus decides to sell some more Tencent, expect...

David Blennerhassett

🇯🇵 JAPAN • Results & Revisions ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​02/​​​​​​​​​​​​​​02 - Aisin, MonotaRO

Of Tuesday's 86 results announcements, 70% scored positively for earnings momentum despite trailing revenues falling by 5.9% on average and a 0.3...

Campbell Gunn

🇯🇵 JAPAN • Results & Revisions 02/02 - Aisin, MonotaRO