13th Feb 2020 11:50
(Alliance News) - AVI Japan Opportunity Trust PLC said Thursday it outperformed its benchmark in the period from its launch to the end of 2019, driven by strong contributions from certain stocks.
For the period from October 23, 2018, to December 31, 2019, the investment trust reported a net asset value total return of 14.3%, compared to 7.9% returned by the MSCI Japan Small Cap Total Return index in the same period.
Net asset value per share as at the end of December was 112.00 pence, up from 101.70 at the end of June.
AVI Japan's share price as at December 31 was 114.25p, reflecting a 2.0% premium to net asset value.
Shares in AVI Japan Opportunity Trust were down 0.5% on the day Thursday at 117.15 pence, having improved further since the year-end.
The trust said its overall performance was driven by a strong performance from stocks within its portfolio, with its top three contributors adding 8.7% to returns, while the worst three detractors took away 1.1%.
The main contributors were semiconductor manufacturer NuFlare, buoyed by a takeover offer from Toshiba Corp; internet firm Digital Garage and elevator manufacturer Fujitec due to an appealing business model.
AVI Japan proposed a final dividend of 0.9 pence per share for the period.
"The performance of our portfolio since launch has been highly satisfactory so at the risk of sounding overly guarded, it is still worth injecting a word of caution: it is early days and any company's true accomplishments can only be measured across the medium to long-term," said Chair Norman Crighton.
"Change in Japan is arduous (as it is in any culture) and the timing of inflection points, together with the consequent outsized returns, is difficult to predict. However, it is our conviction that change - meaningful change - is in the wind in Japan," Crighton added.
By Dayo Laniyan; [email protected]
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