Scottish Oriental Smaller Companies has released its results for the year ended 31 August 2016. The fund’s NAV total return was 31.5%, while the MSCI AC Asia ex Japan Index rose by 33.0% on the same basis. The share price increased in total return terms by 27.3% as the discount widened. Revenue return per share was 9.50p compared to 15.58p last year. This fall is because of a special dividend paid last year by Asia Satellite Telecom which added 6.08p to revenue. They are proposing an unchanged dividend of 11.5p. The shortfall will be taken from the revenue reserve.
They say most of the return resulted from the pound’s depreciation against Asian currencies. The company underperformed its benchmark index with the biggest detractor from its relative performance being a low exposure to the Korean market, which performed strongly, as well as poor performance from its two Korean holdings, Amorepacific Group and Hana Tour Service.
SST : Scottish Oriental Smaller Companies has problems in Korea