Earnings Release • May 14, 2020
Earnings Release
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Capital and income growth from a diversified portfolio of investments in the Asia Pacific region designed to outperform the MSCI AC Asia Pacific Free Index (£).
Equities made significant gains in April as the stock market regained further ground. Witan Pacific's NAV total return was 6.7% in April, outperforming the benchmark's total return of 6.3%. The share price total return was 3.6%. The NAV total return over the first three months of the financial year to date was -6.0% while the share price total return was -4.2%.
Witan Pacific's benchmark is down 6.0% (in sterling terms) since the Company's year-end on 31 January 2020 having been down 15.7% at the low point on 23rd March. Whilst this is welcome news for investors, the recovery (as with the decline) has not been shared equally. There has been a stark contrast between those assets perceived to be insulated from the effects of the economic shutdown and those
Witan Pacific's NAV total return was 6.7% in April, outperforming the benchmark's total return of 6.3%. The share price total return was 3.6%. The NAV total return over the first three months of the financial year to date was -6.0% while the share price total return was -4.2%.*
exposed to it. Over the first three months of the current financial year, China and Taiwan are up 5% and 1% respectively while Indonesia and Australia are down over 20%. China and Taiwan have benefitted from a greater preponderance of technology companies in their indices, while Indonesia and Australia (as well India and Singapore) have been weighed down by relatively large exposure to financials and/or commodity companies, which have performed poorly in face of the economic slowdown.
Witan Pacific's Annual Results were announced on 7th May and the Annual Report can be found here. A Final Dividend of 4.60p was declared
which, when taken with the Interim Dividend of 2.55p paid earlier in the year, represents an increase of 2.1% over the previous year. The Final Dividend will be paid to shareholders on 3rd July assuming it is approved at the AGM on 30 June. Shareholders are encouraged to vote at the AGM even though Covid-19 legislation makes it unlikely that they will be able to attend in person. This is the 15th consecutive year that the annual regular dividends paid by the Company have increased. The Chair notes in her statement that "there is significant uncertainty surrounding earnings for the year ahead as companies deal with the threats posed by Covid-19. There are likely to be significant dividend cuts, which will impact on our earnings. We are, however, fortunate to enter this period of uncertainty with a sizable revenue reserve. It is likely that the Company will use some of these reserves to help supplement the Company's income in the current financial year."
Further information about the Company is available on Witan Pacific's website,
Trust statistics
| Gross assets | Share price | NAV per ordinary Share† |
Premium (Discount) |
Yield‡ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £209m | 319.00p | 341.71p | (6.6%) | 2.19% |
Source: BNP Paribas as at 30.04.20.
† NAV is inclusive of income. ‡ Based upon the total dividend for the financial year ending 31.01.19.
| Epic Code | WPC |
|---|---|
| Sector | Far East - Including Japan |
| Trust Type | Conventional |
| Launch Date | 1907 |
| Financial Year End | 31 January |
| Dividend Payment Dates | June, October |
| Last Ex Dividend Date | 17 October 2019 |
| AGM | June |
| Shares in Issue (excluding treasury) | 61,029,284 |
| Ongoing Charges‡ Including performance fee Excluding performance fee |
1.07% 1.00% |
Source: BNP Paribas as at 30.04.20. ‡Ongoing charges as disclosed in the Annual Report for the year ended 31.01.20. Information about other costs is also included in the Company's Key Information Document (KID) and disclosed in the table on page 22 of the 2020 Annual Report, both of which may be found on the Company's website.
| Ex-div date | Pay date | Type | Amount per share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17.10.2019 | 28.10.2019 | Interim 2020 | 2.55p |
| 11.06.2020 | 03.07.2020 | Final 2020 | 4.60p |
*Please remember, past performance is not a guide to future performance, and the value of shares and the income from them can rise and fall, so investors may not get back the amount originally invested. Net Asset Value ("NAV") performance is not the same as share price performance and investors may not realise returns the same as NAV performance.
| Trust | Index | Under/overweight | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Japan | 34 | 36 | |
| China/Hong Kong | 31 | 29 | |
| South Korea | 9 | 7 | |
| Taiwan | 7 | 8 | |
| Australia | 6 | 9 | |
| India | 4 | 5 | |
| Singapore | 4 | 2 | |
| The Philippines | 1 | 1 | |
| Other | 4 | 3 |
Country breakdown excluding cash. Total may not sum to 100% due to rounding. Source: BNP Paribas as at 30.04.20.
| Samsung Electronics | 3.6 |
|---|---|
| Taiwan Semiconductor | 3.6 |
| Tencent | 2.9 |
| AIA Group | 1.5 |
| Hoya | 1.4 |
| Minth Group | 1.3 |
| Anritsu Corporation | 1.3 |
| China Resources Land | 1.2 |
| Misumi Group | 1.2 |
| Ntt Docomo | 1.1 |
| Sun Art Retail Group | 1.1 |
| LG Chemical | 1.1 |
| Shin-Etsu Chemical | 1.0 |
| Ping An Insurance | 1.0 |
| Pigeon Corporation | 1.0 |
| Seven & I Holdings | 1.0 |
| Keppel DC REIT | 0.9 |
| Shin Zu Shing | 0.9 |
| Shenzhou International | 0.9 |
| China Merchants Bank | 0.9 |
| Top 10 Holdings | 19.1 |
| Top 20 Holdings | 28.9 |
| On a look through basis across managers, excluding open-ended funds. |
Source: BNP Paribas as at 30.04.20.
| Consumer Goods | 21.4 |
|---|---|
| Financials | 16.2 |
| Industrials | 15.3 |
| Technology | 14.1 |
| Consumer Services | 8.0 |
| Health Care | 6.1 |
| Other | 11.6 |
| Open Ended Funds | 3.6 |
| Cash | 3.7 |
Source: BNP Paribas as at 30.04.20.
| 3m | 6m | 1yr | 3yrs | 5yrs | 10yrs | Financial YTD | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Share Price (Total Return) | -4.2 | -5.8 | -0.9 | 8.8 | 30.6 | 100.8 | -4.2 |
| Net Asset Value (Total Return) | -6.0 | -7.3 | -5.4 | 2.4 | 24.4 | 74.6 | -6.0 |
| Benchmark‡ (Total Return) | -6.0 | -5.9 | -3.0 | 10.8 | 34.8 | 87.7 | -6.0 |
| Relative NAV Performance | 0.0 | -1.4 | -2.4 | -8.4 | -10.4 | -13.1 | 0.0 |
| Q1 2015 Q1 2016 |
Q1 2016 Q1 2017 |
Q1 2017 Q1 2018 |
Q1 2018 Q1 2019 |
Q1 2019 Q1 2020 |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Share Price (Total Return) | -10.1 | 33.2 | 6.6 | 4.1 | -3.2 |
| Net Asset Value (Total Return) | -5.0 | 31.2 | 5.5 | -0.1 | -10.5 |
| Benchmark‡ (Total Return) | -6.4 | 34.6 | 7.5 | 2.4 | -7.3 |
| Relative NAV Performance | 1.4 | -3.3 | -2.1 | -2.5 | -3.2 |
Relative numbers may not add up due to rounding
† Source: Morningstar, total return includes the notional reinvestment of dividends.
‡The benchmark for the Witan Pacific Investment Trust plc is the MSCI AC Asia Pacific Free Index (£). Source: MSCI, for more information please go to www.witanpacific.com/legal-information.
*Please remember, past performance is not a guide to future performance, and the value of shares and the income from them can rise and fall, so investors may not get back the amount originally invested.
Aberdeen Asset Managers Limited ("Aberdeen"), which has delegated management of the Company's assets to Aberdeen Asset Management Asia Limited, was established in Asia in 1992 and, as at 31 December 2019, was managing £47.3bn of assets in Asia. The Asian equity team, made up of over 40 fund managers in the region, is headed up by Flavia Cheong. The team follow a fundamental investment style emphasising the identification of good quality companies on reasonable valuations relative to their growth potential.
Dalton Investments LLC ("Dalton") is an independent investment boutique established in Santa Monica, California in 1999. Dalton manages US\$3.4bn (as at 31 December 2019) in strategies focused on Asian, global and emerging market equities. The firm is independently owned by its founders, each of whom has over 30 years of investment experience.
Matthews International Capital Management LLC ("Matthews Asia") is an independent, privately owned firm, and the largest dedicated Asia investment specialist in the United States. Matthews believes in the long-term growth of Asia and employs a bottom-up, fundamental investment philosophy with a focus on longterm investment performance. As at 31 December 2019, Matthews Asia had US\$27.3bn in assets under management.
Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. ("Robeco") is a pure-play international asset manager founded in 1929 with headquarters in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and 17 offices worldwide. A global leader in sustainable investing since 1995, its unique integration of sustainable as well as fundamental and quantitative research enables the company to offer investors an extensive selection of active investment strategies, for a broad range of asset classes. As at 31 December 2019, Robeco had EUR 173 billion in assets under management, of which EUR 149 billion is committed to ESG integration.
Witan Pacific's shares can be traded through any UK stockbroker and most share dealing services, including online platforms that offer investment trusts.
A growing number of platforms offer investment trusts directly to investors including Hargreaves Lansdown, Barclays Stockbrokers, Halifax Share Dealing Limited, Interactive Investors and AJ Bell Youinvest.
Advisers who wish to purchase Witan Pacific shares for their clients can do so via a stockbroker or via a growing number of dedicated platforms. These include Ascentric, Nucleus, Seven Investment Management and Transact.
A broader view of the entire Asia Pacific region
More information available via the company website
www.witanpacific.com
Please read the most recent Witan Pacific Key Information Document (KID) before placing an investment in Witan Pacific Investment Trust, which is available on the website www.witanpacific.com.
Chair
ANDREW ROBSON
SUSAN PLATTS‑MARTIN
Audit Committee Chairman
DERMOT MCMEEKIN Senior Independent Director, Nomination & Remuneration Committee Chairman
This marketing communication is provided for informational purposes only and should not be construed as constituting an offer or a solicitation to buy or sell interests or investments in Witan Pacific Investment Trust plc. Any reference to individual securities does not constitute a recommendation to purchase, sell or hold the investment.
Please remember that past performance is not a guide to future performance. Witan Pacific Investment Trust is an equity investment. The value of an investment and the income from it can fall as well as rise as a result of currency and market fluctuations and you may not get back the amount originally invested. The share price may trade above and below the NAV per share representing either a premium or discount to the share price respectively.
This marketing communication is issued and approved by Witan Investment Services Limited. Witan Investment Services Limited is registered in England no. 5272533 of 14 Queen Anne's Gate, London, SW1H 9AA. Witan Investment Services Limited provides investment products and services and is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Calls may be recorded for our mutual protection and to improve customer service.
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