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Interim Management Statement

19th Nov 2012 09:39

RNS Number : 4270R
Ashmore Global Opportunities Ltd
19 November 2012
 



NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN OR INTO THE UNITED STATES, CANADA, AUSTRALIA OR JAPAN OR ANY OTHER JURISDICTION WHERE TO DO SO WOULD CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OF THE RELEVANT LAWS OF SUCH JURISDICTION

 

ASHMORE GLOBAL OPPORTUNITIES LIMITED (the "AGOL")

a Guernsey incorporated and registered limited liability closed-ended investment company with a Premium Listing of its US Dollar and Sterling share classes on the Official List.

 

Interim Management Statement

19 November 2012

 

Investment Objective

 

Ashmore Global Opportunities Limited ("AGOL") is a closed ended investment company incorporated and registered in Guernsey and listed on the London Stock Exchange. AGOL's investment objective is to deploy capital in a diversified portfolio of global emerging market strategies which will be actively managed with a view to maximising total returns. This will be achieved by investing across investment themes, including external debt, local currency, special situations (incorporating distressed debt and private equity), corporate debt and equity with a principal focus on special situations. This interim management statement relates to the period 1 July 2012 to 31 September 2012.

 

Performance Summary

 

Share Class

3 Month

Year to date

1 Year

GBP

2.06%

-3.96%

-5.74%

USD

2.21%

-3.49%

-5.57%

Returns are NAV to NAV, net of fees and include reinvestment of dividends paid. Returns are to 30 September 2012. Data is provided for information purposes only. Shares in AGOL do not necessarily trade at a price equal to the prevailing NAV per Share, which may be at a discount or premium.

 

The NAV of AGOL as at 30 September was $502.10m

 

Portfolio Overview

 

The third quarter was heavily dominated by policy action by developed world central banks which helped spur positive asset price performance. Fundamentals however, remained pretty much unchanged; that is Europe continues to struggle with growth whilst the Emerging Markets, despite experiencing some contraction generally appear robust. Data from the US would suggest that economic conditions there are getting better although headwinds do exist most notably the impeding fiscal cliff. Whilst developed world central banks turned to the printing presses in Q3 to stimulate their economies, Emerging Markets central banks have cut interest rates and in some cases embarked on infrastructure spending, thus laying the foundations for long term economic prosperity.

 

NAV performance over the period was driven by a mixture of mark to market price movements as well revaluations by third party valuation agents. As reported in previous monthly fund updates, Digicable's intended merger with Reliance Communications failed to materialise for regulatory reasons. In Q4 2011, the Indian government mandated digitisation of the Indian cable TV in several phases over a 3 year period. This left Digicable in a difficult position with 8 million subscribers, but with massive up-front capital costs to subsidise digital set-top boxes for them, in order to achieve the mandated timetable for digitisation. As per the Reliance plans we had been working on consolidation in this fragmented industry and we have now exited our position in this company to Sahara, an Indian business group. Increased competition in the telecoms space has led to ECI announcing a restructure of its business. The third party valuation agent marked the asset down over the period which reflected much of the restructuring activities, in addition to industry comparables. AEI and Sweta were marked up over the period. AEI successfully disposed of its non-core assets , while Sweta benefitted from higher prices and revenues on its Central Park II development. Bangkok Land, EMTEK and MCX saw strong share price performance over the quarter. Bangkok Land announced a strong set of results for the period ending 30 June 2012 where net quarter profit increased almost 6-fold primarily due to the result of higher sales of real estate as well as exhibition and convention revenue compared to last year.

 

Top 10 underlying investments as at 30 September 2012

 

Investment Name

Holding

Country

Business Description

Website Link

ETH Bioenergia

13.39%

Brazil

Renewable energy equipment company for production of ethanol & electricity from sugar cane.

www.eth.com

EMTEK

9.35%

Indonesia

Listed Indonesian telecom, information technology & multimedia company.

www.emtek.co.id

AEI

8.90%

Cayman

Owns and operates essential energy infrastructure businesses in emerging markets.

www.aeienergy.com

Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX)

5.54%

India

Nationwide electronic commodity futures exchange trading in over 40 commodities.

www.mcxindia.com

Alphaland

5.27%

Philippines

Real estate development company focussing on underdeveloped sites.

www.alphaland.com.ph

Bangkok Land

5.27%

Thailand

Listed property developer in Metro Bangkok

www.bangkokland.co.th

Star Energy

5.19%

Indonesia

Oil & gas exploration & production and Geothermal energy production

www.starenergy.co.id

Jasper Investments

4.43%

Singapore

Listed company investing in Asian growth enterprises, but primarily oil services.

www.jasperinvests.com

Pacnet Int'l Ltd.

4.23%

Singapore

Asia's leading independent telecommunications infrastructure and service provider.

www.pacnet.com

GEMS/UTILECO

3.14%

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabian integrated industrial services and waste management platform

http://www.gems-ksa.com / http://www.utileco.com/

Total:

64.71%

 

Recent company events

 

ETH Bioenergia

ETHB's began its 2012/13 harvest season in April, with all 9 mills in operation for the first time. Weather problems continued into the current harvest season, with a delayed start to harvest and above-average rainfall in April reducing production at the outset of the season. Production has picked up, however, and ETHB still expects to crush close to 20 million tons of sugarcane this season. Industry-wide production is expected to edge up this coming harvest season, after two seasons of weather-related production shortages. Despite a benign supply/demand dynamic, domestic ethanol prices have been stagnant for the past 9 months, capped by regulated gasoline prices which are widely expected to be raised later this year.

 

EMTEK

The turnaround of Indosiar continues with per minute ad rates increasing from cross selling across SCTV and EMTEK and increased industry pricing power. A new programming line-up combining high quality foreign and in-house productions has protected ratings - the combined operations were No 1 for April and May and 2 for June

 

AEI

AEI continued to execute on its plan comprised of i) non-core asset sales, ii) development of existing greenfield projects and iii) concentration on core Latin American power generation business. Sales of the 3 largest non-core assets, Huatong, GTB/TBG and Trakya, were all signed during the quarter. Gross proceeds of over $500 million are expected to be received as these sales close in early Q3, and will be subject to certain escrows and applicable fees and taxes. Net proceeds will be used to fund existing Greenfield projects, with any excess to be distributed to shareholders. Greenfield projects continue to progress, although the Jaguar project in Guatemala is experiencing delays as the EPC contractor is experiencing delays in getting visas for its workers to enter Guatemala. AEI is working with the EPC contractor and with visa authorities to remediate. Performing assets performed above budget through April; however, scheduled maintenance at San Felipe uncovered major maintenance items that were not anticipated. EBITDA impact of the San Felipe maintenance is expected to be $6-8 million.

 

Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX)

MCX became the 3rd largest commodity futures exchange globally in terms of contracts traded in CY11. MCX reported strong growth and performance in FY12, revenue increased by 41%; transaction revenue grew by 45%, net profit growth of 71% and EBITDA margins expanded to 70% (60% in FY11). Mr Shreekant Javalgekar took charge as the MD & CEO on the completion of the tenure of Mr Lamon Rutten, who will continue on the board of MCX as a Non-Executive Director. Prior to his appointment, Mr Javalgekar was the Director - Finance & Investor Relations at Financial Technologies, the promoter and largest shareholder of MCX.

 

Alphaland

All the main construction projects (Balescin Resort, Makati Place Residential and City Club and the Alphaland Tower) continue to come in at or ahead of budget and time. Sales and marketing efforts for all the projects are underway with good progress to date and we expect them to accelerate as the projects are finished and newly hired sales staff become productive.

 

 

 

Enquiries:

Ashmore Investment Management Limited

Robert Hegt

Tel: +44 (0) 203 077 6147

 

 Northern Trust International Fund Administration Services (Guernsey) Limited

Andrew Maiden

Tel: +44 (0) 1481 745 368

 

This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
 
END
 
 
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