JohnBaronPortfolios.co.uk

Formerly Aberdeen Asian Smaller Companies, AAS is an investment company focusing on high-quality small caps across Asia ex-Japan through a concentrated, high-conviction portfolio of roughly 50 names, built from deep, on-the-ground research and a quality-first philosophy. The portfolio is deliberately differentiated from its benchmark, the MSCI AC Asia ex Japan Small Cap Index, and diversified across India, China/Hong Kong, Southeast Asia, Taiwan, and Korea, with selective use of gearing. Current positioning leans into domestic growth (notably India) while owning export winners in Taiwan/Korea, aiming to capture Asia’s structural trends while managing risk through thoughtful portfolio construction.
In the interview, portfolio manager Gabriel Sacks explains the evolution of the trust's strategy, including a rebalancing of geographic exposure towards North Asia and asset-light businesses, as well as a deepened focus on the China market and a detailed investment process emphasizing quality, valuation, and active portfolio management. He outlines the portfolio's geographic allocation across India, China and Hong Kong, Southeast Asia, and Taiwan and Korea, driven by themes like middle-class growth, advanced manufacturing, digitalization, and green energy infrastructure. And he explains his positive long-term outlook for Asian small caps as the “growth engine of the new world,” and why exposure to domestic consumption helps buffer the ongoing impact of tariff turmoil.

BRAI is a systematic, active equity investment companytargeting US value stocks with the dual aim of delivering consistent returns and a 6% annual dividend yield. The trust applies four decades of BlackRock’s systematic investing expertise, combining advanced data science, AI, and portfolio construction discipline to outperform the Russell 1000 Value Index. Its structure allows for long-term capital deployment, with stringent shareholder protections including a 100% tender offer if it fails to beat its benchmark by 50bps annually over three years. Holding 150–250 stocks diversified across sectors, the trust seeks to capture inefficiencies in one of the world’s most competitive markets while managing risk and maintaining reliable income.
In the interview, co-manager Muzo Kayacan explains how AI – including transformer-based large language models – is reshaping the trust's investment process, from digesting 6,500 broker notes a day in 47 languages to back testing millions of ideas in seconds. He describes the balance between automation and human insight, where machines handle data-heavy analysis while portfolio managers focus on creative and complex decision-making. The conversation explores portfolio construction, risk controls, dividend sustainability, and how systematic signals such as valuation, management quality and sentiment combine to identify underappreciated US value opportunities. Kayacan also reflects on the “second golden age for quant,” outlining how scale, innovation, and continuous discovery of new signals give BlackRock an edge in staying ahead in systematic investing.

Welcome to The Two Johns, the investment trust podcastbrought to you by the website www.johnbaronportfolios.co.uk. Each month, John Baron joins former Investors' Chronicle editor John Hughman to discuss the big themes dominating the investment landscape and the important issues affecting the sector, while explaining how these are influencing the way the website's ten live investment trust portfolios are being managed.
In this episode 13, the two Johns discuss the portfolios' large contrarian bet on the healthcare sector, and how the triple tailwinds of ageing populations, accelerated innovation, and greater political clarity have been overlooked by the market. They also dissect the recent Autumn budget to assess its implication for investors, and where the opportunities may lie as economic growth continues to evade the Chancellor.

JEDT aims to deliver long-term capital growth by investing in high-quality smaller companies across continental Europe. Rebranded from the Small Cap Trust, its new identity reflects its focus on uncovering under-researched and overlooked businesses with strong growth potential. With a benchmark of the MSCI Europe ex-UK Small Cap Index, the trust is managed by Jon Ingram, Jules Bloch and Jack Featherby, who use a flexible, factor-driven investment process to identify opportunities across value, quality, and operational momentum. The portfolio is deliberately diversified across geographies and sectors, with a bias toward areas such as industrials, healthcare, and technology - sectors most likely to generate 'ten-bagger' returns. The trust employs gearing of up to 20% to enhance returns.
In this interview we speak to portfolio manager Jack Featherby who outlines why European small caps are such a compelling hunting ground, highlighting their superior long-term performance, stronger growth rates than even the S&P 500, and current attractive valuations; he describes the process for identifying hidden gems and the trust's focus on finding companies dominating niche markets with clear growth catalysts; and he stresses the importance of direct engagement with management, which helps uncover crucial insights into business drivers.

Welcome to The Two Johns, the investment trust podcast brought to you by the website www.johnbaronportfolios.co.uk. Each month, John Baron joins former Investors' Chronicle editor John Hughman to discuss the big themes dominating the investment landscape and the important issues affecting the sector, while explaining how these are influencing the way the website's ten live investment trust portfolios are being managed.
In this episode, they return to the subject of gold and precious metals, and the possibility that gold could displace the dollar as the reserve asset that underpins the global financial system. They also look at the opportunities offered by the precious metal mining companies given their valuations, and gold’s role within the discipline of diversification alongside other non-correlated assets that offer a useful alternative to bonds.