JPMorgan Asia Growth & Income (JAGI) outperformed in the six months to 31 March with a 7.1% investment return beating the 5.2% advance in the MSCI Asia ex Japan index. Shareholders in the 4.6%-yielder did even better with a 12% return as the shares’ discount to net asset value narrowed from 8.7% to 4.8%. The half-year performance was led by AI chip suppliers Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix which leaves the £411m Asia Pacific equity income trust run by Pauline Ng and Robert Lloyd at JP Morgan Asset Management ahead of the benchmark over three, five and 10 years.
Richard Williams, senior analyst at QuotedData, said: “While JAGI delivered another period of benchmark outperformance, war in the Middle East towards the end of the reporting period highlighted the vulnerability of many Asian economies to external energy shocks. The portfolio managers view the conflict as short-term volatility rather than a threat to the long-term structural drivers underpinning Asian equity markets, with demand for advanced semiconductors and AI-related technologies remaining robust and improving corporate governance helping to offset broader market uncertainty.”
Worldwide Healthcare Trust (WWH) enjoyed a good recovery in the year to 31 March with a 10% investment return beating the 1.8% gain in the MSCI World Healthcare index. Shareholders enjoyed a 13.1% return as the share price discount narrowed from 12.4% to 10%. This was a turnaround from the previous year when the £1.3bn trust fell 10.3% against a 12.4 rise in the benchmark. The performance reflected fund managers Sven Borho and Trevor Polischuk lifting their allocation to larger health stocks by 10% in the second half of the financial year while cutting medtech companies by 11%.
QuotedData’s Richard Williams said: “WWH’s willingness to maintain a substantial overweight position in biotechnology was ultimately rewarded as policy uncertainty around US drug pricing eased and merger activity accelerated – with M&A proving particularly successful, a biotech M&A basket generated a 55.9% return. Healthcare valuations continue to appear attractive and ongoing patent expiries among large pharmaceutical companies should continue to support robust M&A activity, which should be positive for WWH going forward.”
Finsbury Growth & Income (FGT) has called a general meeting on 6 July for shareholders to renew its share buyback authority just six months after its 2026 AGM. FGT has bought back £96.8m of shares since then, using 72% of the annual limit as Nick Train’s UK equity income trust remains out of favour although the buybacks have kept the discount at a relatively low 7% considering the slump caused by volatility in its software and data stocks.
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