Alma Eikoh Japan Large Cap Equity Fund
Overview
Alma Eikoh Japan Large Cap Equity is a long only fund investing in Japanese large cap stocks.
The fund is managed internally by Alma Capital London.
Share Class
NAV
Cumulative Performance (%)
Fund Inception 12 June 2014
| Daily | Monthly | Ytd | 1Yr | 3Yr | 5Yr | Incept. | Incept.Date |
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The performance data shown represents past performance. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results. Current performance may be lower or higher than the performance quoted. The investment return and the principal value of an investment will fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost.
Strategy & Manager
Fund Strategy
The Strategy seeks long-term capital growth by investing in Japanese large cap stocks, typically with market capitalisation in excess of US$ 1bn. The team analyses long term company fundamentals through extensive in-house bottom up research with strong risk management ethos. At the heart of the philosophy is a deep-seated knowledge and understanding of the Japanese companies that the Eikoh team invests in. Portfolio of around 30 companies which are well managed, profitable and with good prospects.
Investment Manager
Alma Capital London is an FCA-authorised fund management company, which is a subsidiary of Alma Capital Investment Management, a Luxembourg-based independent management company founded in 2006.
Key Persons
James Pulsford
Portfolio Manager
James started his career at Morgan Grenfell in 1987, moving to Japan shortly thereafter. During his 12 years in Tokyo, he went on to become the Head of the Small Cap Equity team. James returned to London in 1999 where he managed a number of Japanese large cap products for what became Deutsche Asset Management. As well as various Japanese long only mandates, James has developed the Equilibria Japan long/short strategy at this time. James now has over 35 years’ experience investing in Japan and speaks fluent Japanese. He holds a BA from Oxford University.
Tom Grew
Portfolio Manager
Tom started his career in management consulting before moving to Eikoh Research Investment Management (ERIM) in 2018, an independent asset management company led by James Pulsford established as a result of the spin out of the Japanese Equity Team from Deutsche Asset Management. At ERIM, he worked on the long-only and hedge funds management. Tom holds a BA from Cambridge University and has completed the CFA syllabus.
Statistics & Commentary
Performance
The performance data shown represents past performance. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results. Current performance may be lower or higher than the performance data quoted. The investment return and the principal value of an investment will fluctuate so that an investor's shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost.
Portfolio Characteristics
Top 10 Position Details
Investment Manager's Commentary
as of 27/02/2026Market Review and Outlook
The Topix rose by 10.47% in February with the emphatic election win by the new Takaichi led LDP providing strong support for the market alongside continued excitement from investors around the AI theme and its winners. This markedly strong performance was not in line with other major global stock markets which performed solidly but not spectacularly. On the 8th of February the results of the Lower House election came in and gave the LDP 316 out of 465 seats, a more than two-thirds supermajority meaning that Takaichi’s government has the legislative strength to pass laws without blockage and to override the Upper House on key bills. This landslide win was stronger than the market and commentators expected and resulted in a powerful rally in the Topix the following week of a further +3.2% on top of the rally in anticipation of some degree of victory for Takaichi. There is now a strong mandate from the Japanese public for Takaichi to pursue her pro-growth and reform agendas that investors expect to support many areas of the economy including especially technology and defence. The other major factor propelling the Japanese stock market, and indeed the KOSPI in Korea, over the month was the AI theme which continued its rally upon further announcements of CAPEX by hyperscalers, strong earnings and forecasts by several semiconductor names in the sector, especially those geared to memory and various releases by the major LLM players. The last of these had a distinctly negative impact on software stocks and similar as fears grew about their ability to withstand competition from AI models. In currency markets, the Yen ended the month broadly flat at Y/$156 after strengthening in the wake of the election results before retracing in the second half of the month. JGBs strengthened slightly in the second half of the month with the yield on the 10 year dropping from 2.24% to 2.11%. The leading sectors of the market were the economically sensitive areas most geared to Takaichi’s agenda and the AI theme including Real Estate, Materials, Technology Hardware & Equipment and Capital Goods with sectors hit by AI fears including Software & Services, Media & Entertainment and Commercial & Professional services the worst performers.
The domestic economic data in Japan in February continued to show positive and steady readings with the Core CPI ex-Fresh Food readings for both the National and Tokyo indicators showing a very modest step down from prior months, in line with consensus expectations. The leading consumer sentiment index continued its steady run of improvement from 37.6 in January to 39.7 in February and the consumer confidence indices showed similar rises. The business conditions indices showed some improvement with both the Services and manufacturing PMIs rising to 53.8 and 53.0 respectively with the outlook also better; the Economy Watchers Survey showed an improvement in outlook to 50.6 and the JFC Small Business Forecast improved to +4.5% from +1%. The majority of Japanese corporates reported Q3 numbers in February and overall Topix EPS forecasts have been upped from around 6.8% to 7.4% for this fiscal year with analyst estimates for FY26 also modestly upgraded.
We view the LDP’s impressive election win as positive both for the country and the Japanese stock market; cementing her position as a clear and decisive policy-maker will allow Takaichi and her new administration free rein to enact their pro-growth agenda. We expect strong support for the technology sector, steady increases in defence spending and measures to address the cost of living crisis, for example through the temporary consumption tax cut on food. We expect the government to work alongside the BOJ as they continue on their steady path of monetary policy normalisation through 2026 and 2027. While fiscal policy will be stimulatory we expect it to remain within prudent macroeconomic limits; Japan’s recently announced 2026 budget aimed for the first primary surplus for 28 years with the exchequer helped by strong tax revenue growth. With regard to the AI cycle, we continue to take a measured approach and retain modest exposure through the fund’s various chip and component names whilst also adding to software positions in the wake of the recent sell off. On the last day of February, the US and Israel carried out air strikes against the Iranian regime. This has escalated in the last few days with Iran retaliating and attacking neighbouring countries. It is unclear how this situation will play out but key to financial markets is the potential for tankers to pass oil, LNG and petrochemicals through the Strait of Hormuz through which around 20% of the world’s oil and 30% of its LNG flows. The fund has no direct exposure to oil or global logistics and exposure to companies where oil derivatives represent a substantial component of input costs is very limited. The most obvious potential impact of sustained higher oil prices on portfolio constituents is in higher transport costs, especially for those companies in the manufacturing sector. We believe the quality of stocks held in the fund is high and expect these companies to be in a strong position to pass on price increases where necessary due to their strengths and competitive positions. The fund remains balanced between economically sensitive and defensive companies, each of which has been picked through our bottom up research process. In recent months the fund has very slightly tilted more towards higher ROE, higher growth stocks.
Fund
The fund rose by +10.55% (JPY share class) in February, outperforming Topix (dividends reinvested) by +0.08%.
Stock selection was the key driver of positive relative performance, while sector allocation detracted. The fund benefitted from underweight positions in Media & Entertainment, Telecommunication Services, and Transportation, and overweight positions in Technology Hardware & Equipment and Materials. This was offset by overweight exposures to Software & Services, Commercial & Professional Services, Health Care Equipment & Services, and underweight positions in Capital Goods and Insurance. Earlier this month, Anthropic released Claude Opus 4.6, which analyses corporate data and regulatory documents, alongside its no-code automation tool Claude Cowork. This intensified concerns that AI agents could quickly replace existing IT services and the resulting negative sentiment weighed on several holdings largely explaining market dispersion and the drag from sector allocation. At the stock level, sports shoe specialist Asics rose after full-year results, guidance, and monthly sales trends reinforced conviction in its strong earnings growth outlook. Industrial conglomerate Kawasaki Heavy Industries rallied after revising forecasts for the defence geared Aerospace and Energy Solution & Marine Engineering segments. The fund also benefitted from AI-geared holdings including semiconductor cleaning equipment maker Screen Holdings, electronic materials supplier Resonac, and optical fibre cable and component manufacturer Fujikura. Medical data company JMDC rose on solid results and a partnership announcement with Fujitsu. In contrast, technology conglomerate Fujifilm underperformed as investors discounted uncertainty around the profit trajectory of its capital-intensive CDMO business. Peptide platform PeptiDream fell as the company forecasts did not incorporate out-licensing of a key muscle-wasting prevention treatment due to timing uncertainty. Payment processing company GMO Payment Gateway and industrial conglomerate Hitachi also underperformed despite solid results amid the “AI disruption risk” earlier in the month.
During February we bought shares in Panasonic, where we find valuations attractive and believe the benefits of restructuring efforts and strength in AI-driven data centre battery backup units outweigh the risks at the automobile batteries division and software subsidiary Blue Yonder. We sold our position in Nintendo due to concerns over rising memory prices impacting hardware and uncertainty over future software-driven success. We purchased a position in Recruit which we believe to be one of Japan’s best run companies. Their core Indeed platform for recruitment has substantially outperformed a weak US job market for two years through growth in value-added services to SME clients and we expect momentum to continue, supported by its vast network and unique employee and employer data. With very strong cashflow characteristics and high likelihood of further buybacks, the post sell-off risk-reward looks attractive. We also added a position in system integrator Nomura Research Institute (NRI) post sell off as we think AI replacement concerns are overblown. Japanese corporates’ in-house IT literacy remains below American peers, and project-based system upgrades involve complex workflows that are hard to automate. NRI’s shared online services widely adopted by financial institutions are highly regulated, complex, and required to operate 24/7, providing strong defensibility against AI replacement risk and we think NRI’s selection as Anthropic’s certified reseller in Japan and their expanding partnership appears complementary rather than disruptive. In defence, we switched from Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) where we think the next government defence budget focus areas should relatively benefit MHI.
Facts & Documents
Facts
Fund Domicile: Luxembourg
Fund Type: UCITS SICAV
Fund Launch: 12 June 2014
Base Currency: JPY
Depositary, Administrator, Transfert Agent: BNP Paribas SA
Dealing: Each day with 1-day notice
Cut-off time: 12 pm CET
Management Company: Alma Capital Investment Management (LU)
Investment Manager: Alma Capital Investment Management (LU)
Fund Managers: James Pulsford, Tom Grew
Countries where the fund is registered:
Luxembourg, Austria, Germany, France, UK, Italy, Switzerland, Singapore, Belgium, Ireland, Spain
Sustainability-related disclosures:
Environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) criteria have been integrated in the investment decision-making process. An ESG analysis is conducted for all target companies. This is done prior to any investment, but also on an ongoing basis. In cases where the ESG analysis process flags material sustainability risks for a particular investment, the Investment Manager will not consider making the investment, and will look to divest when such material sustainability risks arise for a particular investment. No index has been designated as a reference benchmark for this sub-fund. Further information can be found in the prospectus of the sub-fund. The extent to which the above-mentioned characteristics are met will be included in the annual report of the fund, as from the first report issued after 1 January 2022.
Identifiers:
Institutional USD Hedged Capitalisation share class
ISIN: LU1013117160
Ticker: AEJIUHA LX
Launch: 12 Jun 2014
Institutional GBP Hedged Capitalisation share class
ISIN: LU1013116949
Ticker: AEJIGHA LX
Launch: 12 Jun 2014
Institutional EUR Hedged Capitalisation share class
ISIN: LU1013116782
Ticker: AEJIEHA LX
Launch: 10 Dec 2014
Institutional JPY Capitalisation share class
ISIN: LU1013116519
Ticker: AEJPIJA LX
Launch: 10 Dec 2014
Institutional GBP Unhedged Capitalisation share class
ISIN: LU1152097108
Ticker: AEKJEGC LX
Launch: 17 Feb 2015
Institutional EUR Unhedged Distribution share class
ISIN: LU1870374920
Ticker: AEJLIED LX
Launch: 8 Mar 2019
Institutional EUR Unhedged Capitalisation share class
ISIN: LU1870374508
Ticker: AEJLIEC LX
Launch: 4 Feb 2019
Retail Clean JPY Capitalisation share class
ISIN: LU1744752707
Ticker: AEJRCJC LX
Launch: 28 Apr 2022
Retail JPY Capitalisation share class
ISIN: LU1013117327
Ticker: AEJPRJA LX
Launch: 28 Apr 2022
Documents
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