Schroder AsiaPacific Fund Underperforms Benchmark In First Half

(Alliance News) - Schroder AsiaPacific Fund PLC on Monday said its performance deteriorated in the first half of its current financial year due to coronavirus.

The investment company said its NAV and share price produced total returns of negative 11% and negative 9.4%, respectively, compared to a total return of negative 9.3% for the benchmark.

The company's NAV per share declined to 430.11 pence as at March 31 from 492.96p recorded on the same day a year prior.

Schroder AsiaPacific Fund explained that, in March, markets dropped very sharply due to concerns about the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. This created a period of uncertainty in the market and volatility in the share price.

The share price discount to NAV narrowed slightly to 10.3% as at March 31 from 11.4% at the end of September 2019.

Schroder AsiaPacific Fund shares were trading 2.5% higher in London on Monday at 413.25p each.

"Your company has faced a number of different challenges over its life, and Covid-19 is the biggest. In recent months, most of the portfolio holdings have faced severe dislocation in both their operations and demand for their products, and few have much visibility on when they will return to normal," said Chair Nicholas Smith.

By Evelina Grecenko; evelinagrecenko@alliancenews.com

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Schroder AsiaPacific Fund