Kyle Caldwell from interactive investor 7th March 2022:
At the AGM, which took place on Friday, shareholders overwhelmingly voted for the investment trust to continue (99.4%), with two-thirds of shareholders voting.
The board had recommended that shareholders vote in favour of continuing. The vote was not prompted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Instead, the company has a continuation vote every five years – with its previous vote taking place on 7 March 2017.
JPMorgan Russian Securities’ share price has been hit hard in recent weeks – down nearly 90% prior to the invasion on 24 February. At the end of January, it had £314 million in assets. Its assets have since shrunk to around £40 million.
Some investors have been attempting to ‘buy low’ and JPMorgan Russian Securities entered our top 10 most-popular investment trust table in February.
In a statement on 25 February, JPMorgan Russian Securities said that it is “working to interpret the impact of the new sanctions on the company and its portfolio. Further announcements will be made if required.”
It added: “The company’s manager continues to monitor the situation in the region closely. The company remains invested and continues to operate within its stated objective and investment policies. The board is being kept fully abreast of developments.”
Since the invasion, two of its directors have stood down – on 24 February and 1 March.
James Carthew, head of investment companies at QuotedData, criticised JPMorgan Russian Securities’ board for recommending that shareholders voted in favour of continuing.
Carthew said: “I think the main reason it passed is that shareholders hadn’t had enough time to process events in Ukraine before submitting their votes.
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