11th Jul 2016 14:10
LONDON (Alliance News) - Aberdeen New Dawn Investment Trust PLC on Monday said it underperformed its benchmark in its financial year, though it said its performance had been "more encouraging" in the final quarter of the year, and the Asia Pacific region continues to "offer good prospects".
The trust, which is tasked with generating capital growth through equity investments in the Asia Pacific countries excluding Japan, said the benchmark MSCI AC Asia Pacific excluding Japan Index fell by 12.2%, while the net asset value of the company fell by 15.4%, with both being on a total return basis.
The company said its performance in the three months to April 30 "was more encouraging" with a net asset value total return of 11.2% compared to a return of 7.0% for the index.
Aberdeen New Dawn said it was offering a dividend of 3.90p per share for the full year, up from 3.80p per share a year earlier.
"Asian equity markets experienced significant volatility during the year under review. This had a particular impact at the start of the calendar year when global financial markets sold off as investors sought safe haven assets," said Chairman David Shearer.
"In China, persistent worries about the economy led to it being the worst performing market during the period. This was coupled with a collapse in the global oil prices due to significant oversupply. As a result, energy and resources stocks fell sharply," Shearer added, also pointing to the "impact from the divergence in global monetary policy with central banks adopting differing policy responses".
"The Asian Pacific region continues to offer good prospects for long term growth as economies remain underpinned by a young population, growing private wealth and increasing domestic consumer demand. This coupled with the fact that Asian equities are trading at undemanding valuations will create investment opportunities," the chairman said.
However, Shearer added that "global markets are expected to remain volatile for some time due to both macroeconomic factors and geopolitical uncertainty with elections in the US and the impact of the result in the EU Referendum in the UK".
Shares in Aberdeen New Dawn were up 1.6% at 176.00 pence on Monday afternoon.
By Hannah Boland; [email protected]; @Hannaheboland
Copyright 2016 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
ABD.L