"Those obvious geographies are so boring, why invest there?" said Rippingall (pictured right). She added that Taiwan and Indonesia offer better value, and more interesting investment ideas.
The manager takes a bottom-up approach to investing, but says Indonesia has caught her attention because it is experiencing a modern retail revolution, which is providing solid companies in which to invest. Specifically, Rippingall points to Ace Hardware Indonesia, which she describes as the country's B&Q equivalent.
She also likes Taiwan, saying it has been overlooked. While the domestic economy there suffered as manufacturing moved to China, she says trade relationships are opening up between the two countries, and the prospects for domestic economy are growing again.
Taiwanese stocks aren't well covered, she says, but some of them are providing dividend yields of six per cent.
Performance vs sector over 5-yrs
Source: Financial Express Analytics
Over five years the company has outperformed its IT Asia Pacific Excluding Japan sector by around 30 per cent, while taking on just two per cent more risk than the sector. The fund's Alpha is very high at 9.25 per cent, which shows that the manager herself is adding a lot of value with her investment decisions and not just relying on the market for performance. That Alpha can be compared to a fairly low Beta of 0.74, meaning the fund can mitigate risk in a downwards moving market.
The fund is also a top-three performer for its sector over a one and three year period, showing that its high returns are sustainable.
A £1,000 investment into the fund five years ago would by now have more than doubled, and is today worth £2,422.48. The ten year view is even more impressive; £1,000 invested a decade ago would have increased by 565 per cent, and would now be worth £6,657.
Rippingall's trust is one of First State Investment's most core products, and forms part of the group's very well regarded Asia Pacific line up. First State is also home to Trustnet Alpha Managers Martin Lau and Angus Tulloch, and Rippingall says they all collude to come up with the best investment ideas for their respective investment vehicles.
Scottish Oriental Smaller Companies has returned more to investors than any other company in its sector over a five year period, but remains cheap compared to some of its peers in the Asia Pacific Ex Japan sector. The trust is trading at a discount of nine per cent, on 26 August 2010.
Going forwards, the manager says it is harder to find interesting ideas in the region than it was a year ago, and that the high growth rate the area has experienced is starting to level out. However, she says the Asian economy is in a good position, and there are still ways to make money.
Analysts and brokers personally invest into this trust, and the manager is positive on the outlook for the region, and even more so on the prospects for small caps.
"Asian smaller companies offer attractive price earnings ratios, dividend yields, and price to book ratios," she said.