BMO Global Smaller Companies Trust (BGSC) offers its investors a balanced and well-resourced approach to global smaller company investing. Under the management of Peter Ewins, the strategy invests in a manner that has not only helped the trust outperform its benchmark over the long term, but has done so in a risk-conscious way. The investment process (outlined in the Portfolio section) does not follow any single approach to valuation and analysis, but rather leverages the broader smaller companies team at BMO, which consists of both analysts and small-cap fund managers. Each potential investment, which can be identified by any member, is debated by the wider team. It is through this wider group discourse that the portfolio is constructed. Peter also makes use of externally managed collective investments for Japan and the emerging markets, such as open- and closed-ended funds, leveraging members of BMO’s multi-asset and multi-manager teams to aid in identifying external managers. As discussed in the Performance section, BGSC has generated a NAV return of 196.6% over ten years versus the benchmark’s return of 158%, and in doing so has fulfilled its primary objective. The trust is also one of The AIC’s ‘dividend heroes’, having consistently grown its dividend each year for the last 50 years, and currently yields 1.9%. The board operates an active approach to share buybacks, and BGSC has historically traded at a premium. However, BGSC now trades at an 9.0% discount, which Peter believes to be partly a result of the recent broader small-cap sell-off in combination with lower retail demand for the shares.