18th Jun 2018 13:46
LONDON (Alliance News) - JPMorgan Russian Securities PLC said Monday it performed ahead of its benchmark index in its most recent half-year but its discount to net asset value widened as a result of sanctions and persisting political tensions.
The Russia-focused investor also recorded a 2.2% NAV increase on a total return basis during the period, twice the 1.1% increase of its RTS index benchmark.
However, its share-price discount to NAV was 15.6%, widened from 14.5% at the end of its most recent financial year. The company said this widening discount was unsurprising given increasing economic sanctions against Russia and ongoing political tensions "between Russia and many other major nations" - the US in particular.
The investment company instigated a share buy-back programme to stabilise and narrow its share discount in its last half year.
JPMorgan Russian's NAV per share was 581.5 pence on April, up from 574.7p on October 31 and 570.2p on April 30, 2017. The stock was quoted at 502.00p on Monday afternoon, down 0.8% on the day.
The company said it will declare its interim dividend in September 2018 and that it "is likely to represent the large majority of the total annual dividend, with a significantly smaller final dividend".
JPMorgan Russian said it had been a "difficult six months" for Russian investors but that, following recent elections, "the domestic political outlook is stable".
"We continue to believe that Russian equity valuations are supportive for investors who are willing to accept the current level of country risk," the company said.
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