JPMorgan Emerging Markets Growth & Income: October 2026 update

• Austin Forey is an emerging markets veteran with almost four decades’ experience

• JPMorgan has a large team of analysts covering emerging markets

• The managers seek to invest in high-quality companies and hold them for the long term

How it fits in a portfolio

JPMorgan Emerging Markets Growth & Income aims to grow your investment over the long term by investing in growing businesses across a range of emerging economies such as India, China, and Brazil. While emerging markets offer lots of opportunities for investors, they're higher risk and typically more volatile than developed markets.

Given its focus on growth, the trust could complement more value-orientated Asia and emerging market investments. It could also be blended with other trusts or funds that mainly invest in developed markets as part of a globally diversified portfolio.

Investors in closed-ended funds should be aware trusts can trade at a discount or premium to net asset value (NAV).

Manager

Austin Forey is a seasoned emerging markets investor and has managed this trust since 1994. He began his career at JPMorgan in 1988 focusing on the engineering, financials, and property sectors. He served as deputy head of UK research before joining the emerging markets team in 1994.

Forey’s supported by co-manager, John Citron who was appointed in March 2021. He joined JPMorgan in 2009 and worked as a European equities analyst before joining the emerging markets team in 2017.

The duo have worked closely together for several years and also manage other funds focused on emerging markets, adopting the same core process throughout.

The managers benefit from a well-resourced team of over 100 investment professionals across nine countries, giving them eyes in most corners of the market. We think this is invaluable given the wide range of countries, cultures, and companies within their investable universe.

Process

The managers aim to perform better than their emerging market benchmark by investing in high-quality companies that can sustain earnings growth over the long term. They believe most investors underestimate the potential of companies that can grow their earnings at a steady pace over a long period of time. This could help them buy company shares at a reasonable price and hold on to them as they grow their profits, and hopefully their share prices, over the long run.

As lead manager, Forey oversees how the trust invests. He also leans on the wider team of analysts, who carry out extensive research and provide new ideas. They travel across the world to visit companies and gain insight into what's happening in different markets.

The team looks for quality companies where they can estimate earnings growth over the next five years. They consider the financial strength of a business, the quality of the management team, and the strength of corporate governance. Other factors, such as the dividends a company pays and how changes in a country's currency might impact a business, are also considered.

The trust invests in 50-70 companies out of the thousands in emerging markets. Geographically, investments in Taiwan and Korea make up nearly half of the trust. Outside of Asia, the trust invests more in Brazil than the broader market. On a sector level, the trust has most invested in technology and financials companies.

Investments are made for the long term, so changes to the trust tend to be minimal from year to year. Recent additions include leading Chinese battery manufacturer CATL, which the managers regard as a global leader in its industry. Brazilian miner Vale and Saudi Arabian bank Al Rajhi were also added. The managers sold investments in Taiwanese power supply manufacturer Voltronic and Indian online insurance brokerage PB Fintech.

The trust may use derivatives and also has the ability to borrow money to invest with the intention of increasing returns (known as gearing), both of which can increase risk. Currently the managers don’t use this facility.

In November 2025, the trust adopted an enhanced dividend policy. This commits the trust to paying out annual dividends equal to 4% of the previous year’s NAV. Few of the trust’s investments offer this level of dividend yield, so some portion of the dividend will likely be funded through capital by selling shares. Paying income from capital reduces the prospect of future capital growth.

Culture

JPMorgan is one of the world's largest asset managers. It has investment professionals based all over the world, and the team behind this trust can tap into this experience and local knowledge. There has recently been some change in the analyst team in China in order to better embed JPMorgan’s culture, but at a senior level the team has remained stable.

Forey has remained loyal to the group and spent his entire career at JPMorgan, and we think he’s dedicated to the emerging markets team. We view it positively that the managers are incentivised to focus on long-term performance.

ESG Integration

JPMorgan committed to integrate ESG (environmental, social, and governance) factors into its investment processes for active funds in 2016 and ESG is now a foundation for investment decisions across the firm. JP Morgan funds take a variety of different approaches, from quantitively scoring companies on various ESG measures to help with portfolio construction, to more qualitative analysis achieved through fundamental research and company meetings. All fund managers have access to the central Investment Stewardship team, as well as thematic research and analytics, which focus on climate change and carbon transition.

The firm has detailed voting policies which are specific to each region they invest in and account for local customs. Investment teams and investment stewardship specialists in the relevant region are responsible for implementing those policies, based on their deep knowledge and experience of the country, sector and company. A detailed fund-by-fund and company-by-company voting record is available on the JPMorgan website, although voting rationale is not provided. Fund managers also regularly engage with the companies they invest in, and there are a number of case studies on the company’s website and in its annual Investment Stewardship report.

While ESG is integrated across the firm, this trust doesn’t have a responsible mandate.

Cost

The trust's ongoing annual charge in the year to 30 June 2026 was 0.78%, which is a slight decrease from 0.79% the previous year. Investors should refer to the latest annual reports and accounts and Key Information Document for details of the risks and charging structure.

The annual charge to hold investment trusts in the HL ISA, SIPP, or Fund & Share Account is 0.35% (capped at £150 p.a. in each account) and 0.25% in the HL Lifetime ISA (capped at £45 p.a.). There are no charges from HL to hold investment trusts within the HL Junior ISA. As investment trusts trade like shares, both a buy and sell instruction will be subject to the HL share dealing charges.

Performance

The trust has delivered strong performance under Forey’s leadership. Since becoming manager in 1994, returns of 1285.4%* are ahead of the MSCI Emerging Markets benchmark, which gained 852.5%. Past performance isn’t a guide to the future.

Over the trust’s financial year to the end of June 2026, its share price rose 55.9%, compared to 48.9% for the benchmark. During this period, the trust’s NAV grew less but still rose 54.6%. This meant the discount at which the trust trades (the difference between the share price and value of the underlying assets) decreased from 8.2% to 7.7%. At the time of writing, the trust trades at a discount of 8.2%.

Technology companies were the largest contributors to performance, many of which benefited from roles in the development of artificial intelligence (AI) solutions. Leading Korean memory manufacturer SK Hynix and Taiwan’s Delta Electronics both performed strongly.

Financials was the weakest area for the trust, including India’s HDFC Bank which suffered from a number of operational issues. Indian IT service providers Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys also struggled as investors worry their business models will be disrupted by wider adoption of AI.