Aberdeen Emerging Markets Investment Co Ltd - closed-end investment company - Outperforms benchmark in financial year ended October 31, posting a net asset value total return per share of 8.9% compared to the 8.2% return of its benchmark, the MSCI Emerging Markets Net Total Return Index in sterling terms. NAV per share as at October 31 was 698.29 pence, up from 663.28p the year before.
Chair Mark Hadsley-Chaplin notes that: "Fund selection contributed strongly to the outperformance during the year, with notable contributions from certain funds invested in China and South Korea. The same was also true in Eastern Europe. However, within these regions, the portfolio's underweight exposure to China and Taiwan, and overweight exposure to Russia and Columbia, detracted from an asset allocation point of view."
Increases dividend per share to 22.00p from 21.00p the prior year.
In terms of outlook, the chair says: "On the whole, emerging markets have been less impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic than most commentators feared at the outset, and there is evidence to suggest that emerging market economies will recover faster than developed markets and emerge less indebted. The recent weakening of the US dollar provides a welcome tailwind for emerging market currencies, which should result in more interest from investors in emerging markets in the years ahead than they have received in the recent past.
"The board continues to believe that the company's approach of investing through a portfolio of specialist funds, often at a discount to NAV, provides an attractive means for investors to benefit from these positive short term developments as well as capturing the longer term opportunities presented by this diverse asset class."
Current stock price: 750.00p
Year-to-date change: up 6.8%
By Anna Farley; annafarley@alliancenews.com
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