Japan Income and Growth delivers negative return despite beating the benchmark

Trading at a discount of 9.8%

The Japan Income and Growth trust outperformed its benchmark in the first half of the financial year but did not manage to prevent a negative share price total return in a "challenging" period for Japanese equities.

According to the company's half-yearly financial report ending on 30 April 2022, the Tokyo Stock Exchange Price Index (TOPIX) total return fell 7.8% over the period, while the trust's share price total return fell by 3.7%.  The trust, managed by Richard Aston at Coupland Cardiff, delivered a share price total return of 24% for the same period in 2021, while the TOPIX returned 8.8%. "Another Covid-19 lockdown to tackle the Omicron variant during the first half of our financial year further delayed the reopening of the domestic economy," said chair Harry Wells.  "Given these conditio...