Das Bild eines Finanzcharts (Symbolbild).
Freitag, 26.07.2024 02:00 von

Invesco Asia Trust Plc - Annual Financial Report

Das Bild eines Finanzcharts (Symbolbild). © deepblue4you / E+ / Getty Images

PR Newswire

LEGAL ENTITY IDENTIFIER: 549300YM9USHRKIET173

 

Invesco Asia Trust plc

Annual Financial Report Announcement for the Year Ended 30 April 2024

 

The following text is extracted from the Annual Financial Report of the Company for the year ended 30 April 2024. All page numbers below refer to the Annual Financial Report which will be made available on the Company's website.

This announcement contains regulated information.

 

Investment Objective

The Company’s objective is to provide long-term capital growth and income by investing in a diversified portfolio of Asian and Australasian companies. The Company aims to achieve growth in its net asset value (NAV) total return in excess of the Benchmark Index, the MSCI AC Asia ex Japan Index (total return, net of withholding tax, in sterling terms).

 

Financial Information and Performance Statistics

The benchmark index of the Company is the MSCI AC Asia ex Japan Index (total return, net of withholding tax, in sterling terms)

 

Total Return Statistics(1) with dividends reinvested

 

Change for the year (%) 2024 2023
Net asset value (NAV) total return(2) 2.7 1.3
Share price total return(2) 2.2 1.2
Benchmark index total return(3) 7.9 -6.0

 

Capital Statistics

At 30 April 2024 2023 change %
Net assets (£’000) 238,266 245,004 –2.8
NAV per share 361.51p 366.48p –1.4
Share price(1) 313.00p 321.00p –2.5
Benchmark index (capital)  989.35 938.42 +5.4
Discount(2) per ordinary share: (13.4)% (12.4)%  
Average discount over the year(1)(2) (11.3)% (11.6)%  
Gearing(2):      
  – gross 5.3% 5.9%  
  – net 4.5% 5.3%  
       
Revenue Statistics      
Year Ended 30 April 2024 2023 change %
Income (£’000) 7,375 7,601 –3.0
Net revenue available for ordinary shares (£’000) 5,422 5,596 –3.1
Revenue return per ordinary share 8.12p 8.37p –3.0
Dividends per share(4):      
  – first interim 7.20p 7.20p  
  – second interim 6.90p 7.60p  
Total dividends 14.10p 14.80p –4.7
Ongoing charges ratio(2) 1.03% 0.99%  

(1) Source: LSEG Data & Analytics.

(2) Alternative Performance Measure (‘APM’). See Glossary of Terms and Alternative Performance Measures on pages 78 to 80 of the financial report for details of the explanation and reconciliations of APMs.

(3)  Index returns are shown on a total return basis, with dividends reinvested net of withholding taxes.

(4)  The Company’s dividend policy aims to pay a regular six-monthly dividend calculated at 2% of the Company’s NAV on the last business day of September and February. Dividends are paid from a combination of the Company’s revenue reserves and capital reserves, as required. The Board are proposing a minor change to the dividend policy. Further details can be found in the Chairman’s Statement on page 8.

 

Chairman’s Statement

Highlights

 NAV total return performance behind benchmark over 1 year; strong relative performance over 3, 5 and 10 years.

 Asian economies are forecast to grow faster than the West yet their stockmarkets are at unusually attractive valuation levels. There is then a double discount of the share price trading at below net asset value.

 On top of this comes a 4.5% annual dividend yield based on the share price as at 30 April 2024, approximately half of which is effectively a return of capital at net asset value.

This is the first time in four years that your Company’s NAV has underperformed the benchmark index over the Company’s year to 30 April. The year saw a net asset value total return of 2.7%, behind the benchmark index’s total return of 7.9%. The share price total return was 2.2% with the discount widening a little from 12.4% at 30 April 2023 to 13.4% at 30 April 2024 and averaging 11.3% over the year. Attribution numbers show that the year’s underperformance came mainly from stock selection within China and the underweight allocation to India. Fiona Yang and Ian Hargreaves review performance in more detail in their Portfolio Managers’ Report.

Despite an underperforming year, the Company’s long term performance record remains strong with outperformance over three, five and ten years as shown in the table below. The table also shows performance over four years from 30 April 2020, which is relevant to our performance conditional tender offer which will be assessed on five-year performance from 30 April 2020. In the first four years, NAV total return of 11.0% annualised is comfortably ahead of the benchmark’s 4.5%. Indeed our longer-term performance record has been recognised in the industry through us winning the Citywire Winners award at the publication’s Investment Trust Awards 2023 for best risk-adjusted performance for the Asia Pacific Equities Sector. We were also awarded the “Kepler Income & Growth Rating 2024” by Kepler Partners and an A-rating by Square Mile Investment Consulting & Research.

Shareholders will know that we believe that the discount is determined by a combination of demand for Asian equity investment vehicles, the Investment Case for Invesco Asia Trust plc and the Corporate Proposition that we offer. In order to stimulate more demand for the Company’s shares, we aim to provide a strong investment case and a strong corporate proposition at the same time.

The Investment Case

The Investment Case rests on accessing the attractions of Asian equity markets through the institutional expertise of Fiona Yang and Ian Hargreaves’ team at Invesco. The team is unchanged and remains strong. We were delighted to announce that from 1 May 2024, our Co-Portfolio Managers have swapped roles with Fiona Yang taking the lead from Ian Hargreaves, with both continuing to work very closely together on the Company’s portfolio. Ian will remain closely involved for years to come. The Directors have been impressed by Fiona’s contribution over the past five years and are pleased to support her promotion.

Their investment process can be summarised as “valuation not value” and has been very successful with institutional clients such as pension funds and sovereign wealth investors. In these times of great change, we would argue that this forward-looking active approach (as opposed to a backward-looking index tracking style) is exactly what is needed. The team have delivered very strong relative performance for shareholders over three, five and ten years, as shown in the table on the below. Like many professional consultants and shareholders we, as fully independent directors, look for talented stock pickers, a robust process and consistent outperformance in our investment manager. We believe we have all three in Fiona, Ian and the team at Invesco.

Annualised Total Return in Sterling Terms to 30 April 2024(1)(2)

  1 3 4 5 10
  year years years years years
Net Asset Value %(3) 2.7 –1.0 11.0 6.4 10.1
Benchmark % 7.9 –4.1 4.5 2.6 6.8

(1) Source: LSEG Data & Analytics.

(2) The benchmark index of the Company was changed on 1 May 2015 to the MSCI AC Asia ex Japan Index from the MSCI AC Asia Pacific ex Japan Index (both indices total return, net of withholding tax, in sterling terms). The benchmark performance used throughout this report uses the former index for periods prior to 1 May 2015.

(3) Alternative Performance Measure (‘APM’). See Glossary of Terms and Alternative Performance Measures on pages 78 to 80 of the financial report for details of the explanation and reconciliations of APMs.

The Corporate Proposition

The Company’s Corporate Proposition was first introduced in 2018. Since then the Board has continued to review and adopt measures intended to create additional demand for the Company’s shares, both from existing and new shareholders, and to reduce the discount. We have been careful to ensure that the measures chosen are in the best interests of all shareholders. The intention is that the gains from each will combine to make the Corporate Proposition as compelling as the Investment Case.

There are multiple elements to our Corporate Proposition, including:

1. Continuation Vote: Every three years the future of the Company is subject to a continuation vote. The next one is due in September 2025.

2. Enhanced dividend policy: The Board introduced an enhanced dividend policy in 2020 which aimed to pay in two instalments, in the absence of unforeseen circumstances, a regular dividend equivalent to approximately 4.0% of the Company’s NAV, calculated by reference to the Company’s NAV on the last business days of September and February. The dividend instalments are paid to shareholders in November and April. This year the first interim dividend of 7.20p was paid to shareholders on 23 November 2023 and a second interim dividend of 6.90p was paid to shareholders on 23 April 2024. This gave a total distribution of approximately 4.0% of NAV over the year and represents a 4.5% dividend yield on the closing share price on 30 April 2024.

 Following feedback from shareholders, the Board will be making a minor change to the dividend policy. The Company will aim to pay in two instalments, in the absence of unforeseen circumstances, a regular dividend equivalent to approximately 4.0% of the Company’s NAV on the last business day of September. The dividends will continue to be paid to shareholders in November and April. The change will take effect from 1 May 2024. Please note that the policy of paying out approximately 4.0% of NAV means that dividend payments will not necessarily increase every year. This distribution policy as a whole is put to shareholders at each AGM.

3. Performance Conditional Tender: We introduced a performance conditional tender offer in 2020 through which the Board has undertaken to effect a tender offer for up to 25.0% of the Company’s issued share capital at a discount of 2.0% to the prevailing NAV per share (after deduction of tender costs) in the event that the Company’s NAV cum-income total return performance over the five year period to 30 April 2025 fails to exceed the Company’s comparator index, the MSCI AC Asia ex Japan Index (net of withholding tax, total return in sterling terms) by 0.5% per annum over the five years on a cumulative basis. Shareholders already have the opportunity to vote on the continuation of the Company every three years, but the Board believes that also providing shareholders with the option to tender a proportion of their shares for a cash price close to NAV, if the Company underperforms, constitutes a pragmatic and attractive initiative, particularly if the shares were to be trading at a material discount at the time.

4. Minimising Ongoing Charges and Fees: Fair and accurate cost disclosure for investment trust companies has been making headlines over the past year. As a Board we believe that all costs and charges should be clearly disclosed but also that it is important to remember that these costs are the ordinary costs of doing business and that they are already deducted from the net asset value by which we judge performance net of these costs against our index benchmark.

 The Board is responsible for managing the level of charges to shareholders. Our intention is to seek to reduce gradually the level of ongoing charges over time. The main component of the ongoing charge of 1.03% p.a. in 2024 is the investment management fee paid to Invesco. The investment management fee is 0.75% on assets up to £250 million reducing to 0.65% on net assets over this amount. Other components within the ongoing charges calculation include company secretarial (£119,000), external auditor (£70,000), directors’ fees (£143,000), custody fees and miscellaneous others (£360,000). Outside the ongoing charges calculation are the costs of gearing and transaction charges (the incidental costs of buying and selling shares within the portfolio) which taken together amounted to £800,000 over the year. All of these costs have always been included within the net asset value calculation.

5.  Buyback Authority: The Board has a stated average discount target of less than 10% of NAV calculated on a cum-income basis (formerly ex-income) over the Company’s financial year, although the Directors are cognisant of the fact that the Company’s share rating at any particular time will reflect a combination of various factors, a number of which are beyond the Board’s control. Share buybacks will occur where and when we consider (in conjunction with our broker) that such buybacks will be effective, taking into account market factors and the discounts of comparable funds. As previously flagged, we are more likely to buy back shares when performance is behind the index. During the financial year we have bought back 945,000 shares into Treasury at a total cost of £2,915,000, representing 1.26% of the starting number of shares in issue and which has been accretive to NAV by 0.16%. Discounts across the whole investment trust sector, not just Asian trusts, remain elevated and we shall continue to be proactive in our efforts to reduce ours.

6. Environmental, Social and Governance Matters (ESG): The Board recognises the importance of ESG considerations in delivering value to shareholders and our approach and that of the Manager is explained in detail later in this report. We continue to monitor closely developments in this space. We have asked the Manager to highlight examples of holdings in companies where improved ESG initiatives that have increased the fair value of companies and an update on the number of portfolio companies committing to net zero alignment (‘NZA’). The Manager has sufficient expertise to assess the risks and opportunities which may result from accelerating ESG-driven change. Their Global ESG function, based in Henley, inputs into the research process and provides a formal ESG oversight process including meetings with the Portfolio Managers and analysts to review the portfolio formally from an ESG perspective. The Manager is a signatory to the Financial Reporting Council’s Stewardship Code and is an active member of the UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association. In addition, the Manager scored four out of five stars for its Investment & Stewardship Policy under new scoring methodology produced by United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (‘PRI’). This followed five consecutive years of achieving an A+ rating for responsible investment (Strategy & Governance) under the previous methodology. The Manager received an AA ESG rating from MSCI and as a signatory and discloser to the Carbon Disclosure Project, the Manager supports enhanced, market-wide environmental disclosure and reports annually on its climate change management and performance, including comprehensive emissions accounting.

 The Board reviews at each board meeting the Manager’s assessment of ESG considerations on individual stock decisions, and various indicators of overall ESG progress. We do not expect every indicator to travel in the favoured direction in every period: the portfolio will change as will the measurements. Some factors will have their priorities reassessed over time, for example products with a military use may have been negatively assessed in the past but when reconsidering the social factor of security in the light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, will now be assessed more favourably. Despite this, we should be able to see progress for many indicators over longer time periods. Some examples: in the year to 30 April 2024, the Manager engaged with 54 of the 58 portfolio holdings, voting against resolutions for 29 of them. The Manager met a total of 322 companies over the year, engaging with ESG issues on 199 of them. A year ago, the Company held 23 companies that had not yet set a net zero target date. Now that number has risen to 24. Finally, where data is available, the number of women on investee company boards has been increasing.

7. Access to Invesco Expertise: Invesco Asia Trust plc is the only vehicle available to UK retail investors who wish to access the track record of Fiona and Ian. They manage it with a high degree of commonality to their institutional portfolios and also add the best smaller company opportunities. Ian is Invesco’s lead portfolio manager of Asian accounts for institutional investors and as at 30 June 2024 manages over £5 billion of institutional assets with Fiona, a key member of the team and a rising star in our opinion.

8. Engaging more individual shareholders: We are encouraged that an increasing proportion of our shareholders are individuals, with the proportion of investors who hold shares of Invesco Asia Trust plc via investment platforms once again increasing. The Board aims to engage more directly with individual investors. Working closely with the Manager, we continue to raise the profile of the Company through new direct investor information, commentary and events, which will provide access to the thoughts and views of Fiona and Ian, their team and the Directors. These activities complement the ongoing engagement with a broad range of professional investors. Please visit our homepage www.invesco.co.uk/invescoasia where you can also find presentations, read updates or register to receive printed copies of the Half-Yearly and Annual Financial Reports. You can also see third party research (by Edison Group and Kepler Partners) and monthly factsheets on the Company’s website. Shareholders can also contact us by email at investmenttrusts@invesco.com.

9. Meeting the Directors and Managers: One of the main attractions of owning an investment trust over a unit trust or OEIC is that all shareholders have the opportunity of meeting the Directors and the Managers every year at the AGM. This year’s meeting will be held in person at Invesco’s London office at 12pm on 12 September 2024. As well as the Company’s formal business, there will be a presentation, the opportunity to ask questions of Fiona, who will be joining the meeting remotely, Ian and the Directors and then to chat informally with all of us afterwards over lunch. Shareholders may bring a guest to these meetings. For me this is one of the highlights of being Chairman, and I look forward to meeting as many of you as possible. For those unable to make it in person, we will record a special version of the presentation and post it onto our website after the AGM. Shareholders wishing to lodge questions in advance of the AGM should do so by email to the Company Secretary at investmenttrusts@invesco.com or, by letter, to 43-45 Portman Square, London W1H 6LY.

10. Gearing: The Company intends to use gearing (or borrowings) actively to take advantage of its closed-end structure. At the year end the Company had net gearing of 4.5% having started the year at 5.3%.

11. Directors’ Shareholdings: Institutional investors often follow and ask for information on Directors’ holdings of shares in the Company. These are shown in the Directors’ Remuneration Report in the Annual Financial Report and we are required to notify any changes to the stock market by regulatory announcement. Additionally, our Portfolio Managers, Fiona and Ian are both shareholders in the Company and we can confirm that their remuneration by the Manager is partly determined by the performance of the Company.

Update

In view of increases in audit fees, the Company recently completed a tender process and has appointed Ernst & Young LLP (‘EY’) to the role of external auditor for the financial year ending 30 April 2025. Further details of the process can be found in the Audit Committee report on page 44.

Since 30 April 2024, the NAV total return has been -0.2%, underperforming the index return of 2.3%. The share price has returned 2.9% with the discount narrowing to 10.8%.

Outlook

First thoughts writing this outlook are that not much has changed over the last six months. Trade friction between the US and China remains, with the US Presidential election adding noise and uncertainty. China has taken further steps to stabilise its residential property sector, where overdevelopment has led to a loss of consumer confidence and also some bank instability. Asian technology companies such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing and Samsung Electronics have performed well on the coattails of the “Magnificent Seven” tech stocks that have led the US stockmarket rally. India’s economy has continued to grow without so far threatening the high rating of its stockmarket. Domestic consumer spending growth is healthy across Asia; for example 4.8% in China, 5.7% in India, 5.1% in Indonesia and 2.2% in Taiwan (Morgan Stanley 2024 forecasts). And with overall forecast 2024 economic growth rates including 4.8% in China, 6.8% in India, 2.7% in South Korea, 5.1% in Indonesia, 3.7% in Taiwan and 2.2% in Singapore comparing favourably with the US at 2.2% and the Eurozone at 1.3%, there continues to be grounds for optimism.

On top of this, Asian stock market valuations are cheap relative to the world and cheap relative to their own history. Experience proves that this would normally be a good time to invest. There may be no obvious immediate catalyst for a sudden recovery but as a long-term investor in Invesco Asia Trust plc we would argue that you are paid to wait, especially as you currently benefit from the double discount of the share price relative to the net asset value. On top of this comes a 4.5% annual dividend yield based on the share price as at 30 April 2024, approximately half of which is effectively a return of capital at net asset value.

 

Neil Rogan

Chairman

25 July 2024

 

Portfolio Managers’ Report Q&A

Q How has the Company performed in the year under review?

A The Company’s net asset value grew by 2.7% (total return, in sterling terms) over the twelve months to 30 April 2024, which compares to the benchmark MSCI AC Asia ex Japan Index return of 7.9%.

The year began with a degree of optimism surrounding the prospects for Asian markets as China’s economy reopened post-Covid. However, the strength of China’s recovery has disappointed while markets have also had to contend with shifting expectations around the trajectory of US interest rates. Against this backdrop, the portfolio has benefitted from the positive impact of our stock selection in markets such as South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Thailand, with enthusiasm for AI having generated strong returns for chip stocks in particular. This has helped offset the impact of stock selection in China, where consumer-related stocks that rallied strongly in the prior period gave back some of that outperformance. Looking at markets more broadly, performance over the last twelve months has been mixed (as can be seen from the chart below), and it is frustrating to report that the impact of being underweight India and overweight markets such as China, Hong Kong and Indonesia has also counted against us.

What gives us grounds for optimism is that the degree of divergence we have seen in terms of performance and valuation between the best and worst performing markets is extreme. This is the kind of backdrop that usually presents us with great opportunities. Conditions can change, sometimes rapidly, and although recent performance has disappointed, we are increasingly confident in the prospects for the portfolio over our investment time horizon.

Q What have been the biggest detractors?

A Chinese consumer stocks were amongst the best performers in the prior reporting period, amidst optimism surrounding post-Covid reopening. However, some of those gains have been reversed as the strength of China’s recovery has disappointed. China Meidong Auto was the biggest single detractor, with weak demand and increased competition from the electric vehicle (‘EV’) segment being headwinds for the luxury auto dealership, although business operations appear to be faring better than feared. Beijing Capital International Airport has struggled as international routes have been slow to re-start, especially from the US, while restaurant operator Jiumaojiu faces pricing pressures in a slower-than-expected recovery. Ming Yang Smart Energy has also faced competitive pressures, leading to concern over the wind turbine manufacturers decision to move into wind farm development, a more capital-intensive business – a development that prompted us to sell. Exposure to life insurers Ping An Insurance and AIA also detracted, as did auto parts manufacturer MINTH.

Elsewhere, LG Chemical felt the effect of slowing EV sales as government subsidies have been reduced in several key markets. Indonesia’s economy has also been going through a softer patch of growth, which negatively impacted cement manufacturer Semen Indonesia and auto conglomerate Astra International.

Q And contributors?

A Shriram Transport Finance was the biggest single contributor, as India’s leading lender for buyers of second-hand commercial vehicles, it continued to deliver strong earnings growth and improved margins, with evidence of its extensive branch network being used to good effect with growth in cross-selling products. Aurobindo Pharma has also added significant value on the back of an improvement in generics pricing in the US (their largest market) and strong execution in their injectables business, but we have taken profits and sold, with the stock appearing fully valued, in our view.

Tech stocks with exposure to the AI server supply-chain have been strong contributors, with the likes of South Korean chip manufacturer SK Hynix, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (‘TSMC’) and Chroma ATE in Taiwan all making strong gains. More broadly speaking, stock selection in South Korea has added value, with some excitement over the unveiling of a ‘Corporate Value-Up’ programme, intended to drive improvements in shareholder returns and corporate governance. Samsung Fire & Marine is already setting a good example in this regard, with the insurer’s strong operating performance being matched by a more progressive dividend policy. Hyundai Motor also advanced with sales in the US, Europe and India complementing increased distribution of higher margin vehicles.

Other notable contributions came from South-East Asian gaming and e-commerce company Sea and Anglo American, after the mining group received a takeover bid from BHP. We have also started to see selected Chinese companies, like Tencent Music Entertainment and the digital freight platform Full Truck Alliance, being well rewarded for demonstrating an ability to grow.

Q Are you able to find any pockets of value in India?

A India appears to be in a macro sweet spot, with a bull market supported by a strong capital expenditure cycle and robust domestic demand. Our Indian holdings have generally performed very well, but we have now sold outperformers like Aurobindo Pharma, Larsen & Toubro and Mahindra & Mahindra, with valuations appearing increasingly full, implying long term growth rates we struggle to justify.

The challenge has been to find new ideas that appear undervalued, with the market trading at 4.0x Price-to-book ratio (‘P/B’), a level last breached nearly two decades ago (see chart above), at a time when other Asian markets attracted a similar premium. As the increased underweight position in India suggests, we have been finding more attractive opportunities elsewhere.

That said, we still have some exposure and have been adding to HDFC Bank, which has recently merged with its parent, a bumpier journey than the market expected. Looking through the near-term issues, we have no concerns on their ability to integrate the two businesses and have been happy to add at trough valuations. We have also introduced: Delhivery, which is India’s largest third-party logistics company, making it well positioned to benefit from growth in e-commerce; and Power Grid of India, the nation’s central transmission utility, a company with what we consider to be stable, long-term growth potential and an attractive dividend yield.

Q Has your positioning in Hong Kong/China changed, are green shoots emerging?

A The portfolio continues to have a small overweight position in China and Hong Kong. Market sentiment for much of the year has been weak, reflecting concerns over escalating geopolitical tensions, poor consumer confidence and a troubled property market. We witnessed a degree of capitulation towards the end of 2023, with indiscriminate markets weakness suggesting little hope for a recovery and a feeling that the policy response was underwhelming. Our view has not changed, with a belief that coordinated measures have been put in place to support the economy, with valuations still deeply discounted, and equities likely to prove sensitive to signs of improvement in the fundamentals, which we have started to see.

Against a challenging backdrop, we have been thoroughly reviewing the portfolio, seeking to upgrade on quality where possible. As already discussed, we sold wind turbine manufacturer Ming Yang Smart Energy given a change in strategy that compromised our original investment thesis. We also sold China BlueChemical and Will Semiconductor, which have performed well in a weak market, and looked to consolidate the portfolio, exiting some smaller holdings. In turn, we have sought to introduce or add to stocks that offered what we consider to be better quality, stable growth potential at discounted valuations. Names introduced include digital freight platform Full Truck Alliance, baijiu distiller Wuliangye, China Resources Beer and Tencent Music Entertainment.

Meanwhile, markets have rebounded nicely from their January lows. Geopolitical tensions linger, but we have seen signs of stabilisation in the economy and policy support measures that signal a more determined attempt to support the property market.

Q What are your thoughts on AI developments and related opportunities?

A There has been a bit of a buying frenzy around any company in NVIDIA’s supply chain, given how they have raised their guidance on AI-related chip growth, with their new AI chips being multiple times more powerful than the previous generation, enabling the launch of awe-inspiring AI applications such as Sora from OpenAI.

What we have noticed is that AI enthusiasm has started to move into nascent or niche adopters and beneficiaries. For example, MediaTek, which is a portfolio holding, announced the launch of a new mobile chip in November 2023 which facilitates the use of generative AI on smartphones. This is part of a trend known as ‘edge-AI’ with other high-end Android smartphones having adopted the chip.

For the tech companies we hold, the current contribution to earnings from new AI components or devices is negligible, but the market has been placing higher multiples on these new earnings with the expectation of significant, structural growth from these products in future years. While these AI beneficiaries are clearly in-favour, arguably the biggest and most important change in their fundamentals has been an improvement in the cycle for legacy semiconductors that go into everyday PCs, smartphones and servers, with inventory being drawn down and shipments starting to grow, which is helping drive earnings and margin improvement. We do not need to place high multiples on AI-related earnings to justify double-digit expected returns for these stocks.

Q Are you convinced by South Korea’s ‘Corporate Value-Up’ programme?

A It is great to see politicians and regulators co-ordinating on measures to help narrow the ‘Korea discount’, but this is not a new trend. Initiatives introduced in 2014 promised similar improvement, since when we have identified signs of gradual improvement in corporate governance, particularly in the growth of dividends from South Korean companies.

The recent measures target companies trading on a low P/B, suggesting management should be accountable for improving governance, that boards should measure P/B and return-on-equity (‘ROE’) and actively explain to investors why they are underperforming. Publishing these metrics and creating premium indices of companies succeeding on that basis (tracked by ETFs) follows the approach taken in Japan, where the strategy has enjoyed success and continues to build momentum.

Other reasons for optimism include: the support of South Korea’s National Pension Service, the world’s third-largest pension fund; and retail share ownership that continues to climb. There has also been recognition that the tax system has been hindering stock market development and is in need of reform, albeit that the election result in April 2024 makes progressive reform less likely.

Lastly, we should add that our overweight position in South Korea reflects the strength of the bottom-up opportunities that we can find, rather than any top-down view or belief in ‘Value-Up’ being a catalyst. That said, we expect more announcements in the coming months, and that South Korean corporates will start making more of an effort to improve appearances when it comes to dividend pay-outs and balance sheets.

Q Are there any other significant portfolio changes to report?

A We have introduced two Singapore listed internet companies, both of which have market leading positions in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (‘ASEAN’) markets they focus on: Sea, the region’s largest e-commerce company that also owns a gaming studio; and Grab, which is focussed on ride hailing and food delivery. Both had seen big de-ratings with bearish consensus narratives, but have compelling long-term fundamentals, strong balance sheets and underappreciated hidden value.

Overall exposure to financials has increased as we introduced KB Financial in South Korea and added to ASEAN financials such as Singapore-listed United Overseas Bank (‘UOB’), PT Bank Negara Indonesia Persero and Thai lender Kasikornbank. We also introduced Telkom Indonesia, with recent share price weakness on competition concerns being overdone, in our view.

Werbung

Mehr Nachrichten zum Fonds kostenlos abonnieren

E-Mail-Adresse
Benachrichtigungen von ARIVA.DE
(Mit der Bestellung akzeptierst du die Datenschutzhinweise)

Hinweis: ARIVA.DE veröffentlicht in dieser Rubrik Analysen, Kolumnen und Nachrichten aus verschiedenen Quellen. Die ARIVA.DE AG ist nicht verantwortlich für Inhalte, die erkennbar von Dritten in den „News“-Bereich dieser Webseite eingestellt worden sind, und macht sich diese nicht zu Eigen. Diese Inhalte sind insbesondere durch eine entsprechende „von“-Kennzeichnung unterhalb der Artikelüberschrift und/oder durch den Link „Um den vollständigen Artikel zu lesen, klicken Sie bitte hier.“ erkennbar; verantwortlich für diese Inhalte ist allein der genannte Dritte.


Andere Nutzer interessierten sich auch für folgende News

ARIVA.DE Redaktion Thumbnail
26.07.24 - ARIVA.DE Redaktion