Baillie Gifford Japan Trust PLC on Friday reported net asset value growth, despite total return underperforming against its comparator index, and maintained an upbeat outlook.

The Edinburgh, Scotland-based investment management company focused on long-term capital growth mostly via medium to smaller sized Japanese companies said net asset value per share rose 6.4% to 838.0 pence as at February 29 from 787.7p at August 31.

NAV total return per share swung to 7.8% in the six months to February 29, from negative 1.2% a year prior.

However, it underperformed against the Topix index, which had a total return of 13.1%, up from 0.6% a year ago.

Looking ahead, the company said: ‘We continue to be positive about the outlook for the portfolio of stocks held by your company. Whilst these types of businesses have not been the short-term focus of the market, many continue to make solid operational progress and benefit from longer-term secular trends such as the moves towards digitalisation, automation and AI.’

Baillie Gifford Japan shares were 0.4% lower at 763.00 pence each on Friday morning in London.

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