Impax Asian Regulatory News (IAEM)

IMPAX ASIAN ENVIRONMENTAL MARKETS PLC

All information is at 29 February 2012 (unless otherwise stated) and unaudited.

DATA AND PERFORMANCE

* Performance data is for undiluted NAV ex income (unaudited)

The Company is geared via a bank facility (amount drawn down since initial drawdown on 6 May 2011: US$40m)

** Total return. Source: FactSet, WM Reuters

TOP TEN HOLDINGS

PORTFOLIO ANALYSIS*

IMPAX ASIAN ENVIRONMENTAL MARKETS PLC

MANAGER'S COMMENTARY (February 2012)

Market Review

News flow and market sentiment remained positive in February, with continuing monetary loosening and a stronger than expected PMI reading in both China and India. Despite improvement of US economic figures and easing sovereign debt concerns in Europe, Asian export orientated economies, in particular South Korea and Taiwan, had rather weak export figures. Cyclical stocks continued to perform well and environmental policy momentum in Asia remained strong, but the high oil price caused concerns over increasing inflationary pressure.

Performance Summary

Continued signs of recovery in the US and Europe, accompanied by moderating inflation in both China and India, and Japan's adoption of an inflation targeting regime, all drove performance. Lee & Man (paper manufacturing, Hong Kong) performed well as management raised product prices in line with normalisation of demand. Campbell Brothers (environmental testing, Australia) rose following strong competitor results and strong performance in the Australian resources sector. Expectations of recovery in construction activity drove performance from China Liansu Group (water infrastructure, China).

The proposed April cut in German solar feed-in tariffs and a US investigation into solar equipment import tariffs weighed on sector performance, but caused minimal impact on the portfolio due to low exposure to the sub-sector. The Chinese wind market continued to be negatively impacted by weak wind resources and grid restraints. Yingde Gases (industrial gases, Hong Kong) underperformed following the placement of existing shares from pre-IPO investors, whilst news that the holding company of Woongjin Coway (water filters, South Korea) is to sell its stake in the company caused performance to fall, despite no impact at the operational level. Goodpack (transport packaging solution, Singapore) underperformed due to profit taking against low liquidity.

Policy Update

Several governments, including Spain, UK, Greece, China and Germany lowered solar feed-in tariffs following strong solar installation figures and sharply lower module prices.

In Asia, China is to tighten environmental standards on lead acid batteries as well as increasing a resource tax on six minerals including iron ore. South Korea will roll out 10 million smart meters to roughly half of all households by 2016 to improve efficiency. 

14 March 2012