Hugh Young to be named manager of Aberdeen Asian Smaller (which will also change its name) – Aberdeen Asian Smaller Companies reports that, over the year to 31 July 2018, its net asset value rose by 4.6% in sterling total return terms, underperforming its benchmark by 2%. The underperformance happened in the first half of the year. Some ground was made up in the second half, with the company outperforming the MSCI Asia Pacific ex Japan Small Cap Index by 6.9%. The board is recommending a final dividend of 13.0p per share, an increase of 8.3% from 2017 and a maintained special dividend of 4.0p per share.
The board have reviewed the structure and investment objective of the fund and are making some proposals:
- Hugh Young will become the named fund manager and will be responsible for the day to day investment decisions;
- the number of investments in the portfolio will shrink from circa 80 to 60 with 30 core holdings, to provide a sharper concentration;
- the name of the company has been changed to Aberdeen Standard Asia Focus Plc;
- the dividend policy will remain the same;
- the management fee will be reduced to 0.96% from 1% and, from 1 November 2018, will be based on market capitalisation rather than NAV;
- the appointment of two highly experienced new directors, to “bring fresh thinking to our deliberations“
Information on the company’s AGM is available here
AAS : Hugh Young to be named manager of Aberdeen Asian Smaller