Scottish Oriental Smaller Companies - Asian small-cap specialist, unloved asset class

Scottish Oriental Smaller Companies Trust (SST) aims to deliver long-term capital growth from investing in smaller companies listed in Asia ex-Japan. The investment approach is bottom-up to find quality companies with sustainable growth that are reasonably valued. Unconstrained by the benchmark, the well-diversified portfolio of c 60 stocks represents the manager’s highest-conviction ideas, with a preference for domestically oriented businesses in less-developed economies, which can benefit from structural growth drivers. SST has a strong, long-term performance track record and over 10 years has delivered an annualised NAV total return of 18.5%. The trust’s current 14.9% discount to cum-income NAV is deeper than its three-year average, in part reflecting a more risk-averse market sentiment. There is scope for this discount to narrow should sentiment towards Asian equities, and small-caps in particular, improve.