JPMorgan European Discovery Trust - Becoming more stylistically balanced

JPMorgan European Discovery Trust (JEDT) specialises in continental European small and mid-caps. The strength of the strategy is that while it is actively managed, it is also stylistically more balanced than many funds in the sector and of late there has been a nuanced move to more ‘core’ and ‘value’ holdings and a reduction in ‘growth’ stocks. Performance over the year to the end of June 2022 was weaker than the index, but slightly ahead of the AIC European smaller companies peer group. This was due to a combination of good stock selection and a rapid reduction in gearing, although sector and stylistic positioning detracted from performance relative to the benchmark.