Capital at risk
Japan Core Growth
Japan offers the obvious to the unexpected. From global auto makers to leading manufacturers, premium Asian brands and emerging digital disruptors.
The Japan Core Growth Strategy looks beneath the surface and beyond the headlines to capture these opportunities, with the benefit of a clear risk-controlled framework to deliver greater consistency of returns.
Japanese Equities: our philosophy
Investment manager Donald Farquharson introduces Japanese Equities, reflecting on the exciting opportunities ahead.
Searching for Japan’s finest
Japan Core Growth embraces a distinctly long-term approach to deliver attract returns within a risk-controlled framework. We aim to outperform the Topix benchmark by 1.5 per cent per annum (gross of fees) over rolling five-year periods.
Our portfolio contains 60-80 holdings. We seek to take advantage of market inefficiencies by investing across different types of growth company, which given our time horizon allows us to take advantage of their idiosyncratic growth opportunities. We find these companies through bottom-up research, holding on for the long term with the aim of capturing the full benefits of compounded growth.
Patient pursuit of opportunities
Our high-conviction portfolio is constructed from the bottom up, based on long-term earnings growth potential.
We aim to capture growth in all forms – from secular opportunities in emerging digital disruptors to the enduring growth of stalwart franchises to special situations of corporate reform. We prioritise businesses with sustainable competitive advantages, strong balance sheets, and proven management teams that can deliver consistent growth.
The patience and insight with which we pursue this broad base of potential is a product of our pedigree. Having launched specialist mandates in the 1980s, we’re one of the few who have been doing this for over 40 years.
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Strategy portfolio holdings
A list of the top 10 holdings that the representative portfolio invests in.
All figures up to: 30 April 2026
| # | Holding | % of total assets |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | SoftBank Group | 5.4% |
| 2 | Sumitomo Mitsui Trust | 4.6% |
| 3 | SBI Holdings | 4.4% |
| 4 | Tokio Marine Holdings Inc | 3.9% |
| 5 | FANUC | 3.7% |
| 6 | Murata Manufacturing | 3.6% |
| 7 | Itochu Corp. | 3.4% |
| 8 | MS&AD Insurance | 3.4% |
| 9 | Sumitomo Metal Mining | 2.6% |
| 10 | DMG Mori | 2.2% |
Sector
As at: 30 April 2026
# | Sector | Fund % | Index % * | Difference % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Financials | 23.2 | 16.7 | 6.6 |
| 2 | Industrials | 22.6 | 27.6 | -5.0 |
| 3 | Consumer Staples | 10.0 | 4.8 | 5.2 |
| 4 | Communication Services | 9.9 | 6.3 | 3.6 |
| 5 | Information Technology | 9.9 | 14.4 | -4.5 |
| 6 | Consumer Discretionary | 8.0 | 14.5 | -6.5 |
| 7 | Health Care | 6.8 | 5.5 | 1.3 |
| 8 | Materials | 5.0 | 5.8 | -0.8 |
| 9 | Real Estate | 2.5 | 2.0 | 0.5 |
| 10 | Cash | 2.0 | 0.0 | 2.0 |
Total | 100.0 | 97.6 |
Please note
The information contained on this page is intended as a guide only and should not be relied upon when making investment decisions. All holdings information is unaudited. Source Baillie Gifford & Co. Please note that totals may not add due to rounding.
Invest in this strategy
You can invest in this strategy through the following fund(s).
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Insights
Key articles, videos and podcasts relating to the strategy:
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Insights
Japan Core Growth: centring stock-picking
How a risk-controlled approach seeks to capture the long-term potential of Japanese companies.
SMC: Stock Story
Sarah Clark explores how SMC powers automation with precision pneumatics with engineering excellence.
Engagement and activism in Japan
Japan’s governance has had its ups and downs, but accelerating corporate reform is unlocking real investor value.
Actual investing revisited
In this keynote paper Partner Stuart Dunbar reaffirms the importance of active management to healthy capitalism.
Healthy returns: Japan’s assault on old-age disease
Japanese medical firms are making advances that could help fight cancer and Alzheimer’s.
Rakuten: rewiring Japan’s digital economy
Conglomerates can be clunky, but not so Rakuten. Matthew Brett and Colossus on how it is connecting the dots. Capital at risk.
Our best ideas in Japan
Thomas Patchett unwraps Softbank, Rakuten and Eisai, three companies driving new opportunities in Japan.
Japan: opportunities in automation
Japan's automation revolution and its global leadership in robotics.
Japan: opportunities in healthcare
Japan’s innovation medical breakthroughs are combatting ageing.
Japan: opportunities in quality brands
Behind the success of Japan’s leading quality brands and what opportunities they present.
Japan: opportunities in entertainment
Japan's media giants: Sony and Nintendo's timeless influence.
Japanese changemakers shaping the future
The firms taking advantage of four transformational opportunities.
Japan: the next opportunity
Explore Japan's market evolution, digitalization, and investment opportunities in unique growth themes.
China through a Japanese lens
Japanese tech dominance is under increasing pressure in China from domestic challengers.
Stock story: SoftBank
Matthew Brett discusses SoftBank and considers Japan’s exciting technological future.
Why growth, why now?
Tough times play to the partnership’s strengths: analysing what enables us to adapt and thrive amid rapid change.
Japan’s new growth opportunities
Seeking the entrepreneurial firms that could sustain the country’s rally.
Japanese Equities
Investment manager, Donald Farquharson, discusses the Baillie Gifford approach to Japanese Equities.
Japan’s place in the chip market
The Japanese semiconductor companies set to benefit from the rise of 5G and electric cars.
The evolution of Japan Income Growth.
Fund Manager Karen See and Investment Specialist Thomas Patchett explore Japan’s evolving opportunity set.
Dominators vs disrupters - the future of industrial robotics
The big four incumbents in robotics are gearing up for a challenge. In a reshaping global industry, they are readying themselves for the march of the cobots.
Japanese changemakers shaping the future
Japan Core Growth: centring stock-picking
How a risk-controlled approach seeks to capture the long-term potential of Japanese companies.SMC: Stock Story
Sarah Clark explores how SMC powers automation with precision pneumatics with engineering excellence.Engagement and activism in Japan
Japan’s governance has had its ups and downs, but accelerating corporate reform is unlocking real investor value.Actual investing revisited
In this keynote paper Partner Stuart Dunbar reaffirms the importance of active management to healthy capitalism.Healthy returns: Japan’s assault on old-age disease
Japanese medical firms are making advances that could help fight cancer and Alzheimer’s.Rakuten: rewiring Japan’s digital economy
Conglomerates can be clunky, but not so Rakuten. Matthew Brett and Colossus on how it is connecting the dots. Capital at risk.Our best ideas in Japan
Thomas Patchett unwraps Softbank, Rakuten and Eisai, three companies driving new opportunities in Japan.Japan: opportunities in automation
Japan's automation revolution and its global leadership in robotics.Japan: opportunities in healthcare
Japan’s innovation medical breakthroughs are combatting ageing.Japan: opportunities in quality brands
Behind the success of Japan’s leading quality brands and what opportunities they present.Japan: opportunities in entertainment
Japan's media giants: Sony and Nintendo's timeless influence.Japanese changemakers shaping the future
The firms taking advantage of four transformational opportunities.Japan: the next opportunity
Explore Japan's market evolution, digitalization, and investment opportunities in unique growth themes.China through a Japanese lens
Japanese tech dominance is under increasing pressure in China from domestic challengers.Stock story: SoftBank
Matthew Brett discusses SoftBank and considers Japan’s exciting technological future.Why growth, why now?
Tough times play to the partnership’s strengths: analysing what enables us to adapt and thrive amid rapid change.Japan’s new growth opportunities
Seeking the entrepreneurial firms that could sustain the country’s rally.Japanese Equities
Investment manager, Donald Farquharson, discusses the Baillie Gifford approach to Japanese Equities.Japan’s place in the chip market
The Japanese semiconductor companies set to benefit from the rise of 5G and electric cars.The evolution of Japan Income Growth.
Fund Manager Karen See and Investment Specialist Thomas Patchett explore Japan’s evolving opportunity set.Dominators vs disrupters - the future of industrial robotics
The big four incumbents in robotics are gearing up for a challenge. In a reshaping global industry, they are readying themselves for the march of the cobots.
Invest in this strategy
You can invest in this strategy through the following fund(s).
Explore further
Curious to learn more about our products and what we can offer you? Please get in touch.
How to invest in this strategy
You can invest in this strategy through the following fund(s).
Explore further
Curious to learn more about our products and what we can offer you? Please get in touch.