We are pleased to award the Baillie Gifford Japanese Income Growth fund with a Positive Prospect rating. We believe it has plenty of features that make it a promising long-term strategy. However, it is a fairly new proposition having been launched in July 2016 and, as such, it is still untested in terms of how it will behave in different market conditions as well as through the economic cycle.

The fund is managed by a team we regard highly and have an impressive long-term track record of investing in Japanese equities. They believe that companies in Japan are in a unique position as they are able to operate for growth but can also ramp up their dividend payments. The team also believe there is a significant opportunity to benefit from a secular change in corporate attitudes towards dividend payouts and, in what was previously a limited market, there are now more and more companies not only with attractive growth characteristics but that are also believed to have appealing yields or dividend growth potential. This fund looks to benefit from a selection of these companies.