Aberforth Smaller Companies (ASL) is one of relatively few options for value investing in the UK small cap space. While value was out of favour for many years prior to the pandemic, since then it has staged a comeback and ASL has performed strongly as a result (see Performance). While ASL has outperformed its benchmark and sector in 2022 year to date, this has been in a falling market. Perhaps as a result of general risk aversion, the Discount has widened to 16%.