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Schroder Oriental Income Fund Ltd on Monday said its net asset value total return for the first half of its financial year was positive, beating its benchmark.
For the six months that ended on February 28, NAV total return was a positive 0.9%, while the fund's reference index, the MSCI Pacific ex Japan index, lost 7.9% in the same period.
The Asia Pacific-focused investor noted: ‘In the 18 month period from September 1, 2020 to February 28, the company's total NAV return outperformed that of the index by over 18%.’
Net asset value was 277.30p per share on February 28, down 1.3% from 280.94p on August 31 and down 1.6% from 281.78p a year ago.
Pretax profit in the recent half-year fell to £8.3 million from £132.7 million in the same period last year. This was due to a small loss on investments at fair value compared to a big gain a year before.
‘Having used a very small amount of our revenue reserves to grow our dividend through the Covid crisis, the improved confidence of many of our portfolio companies in Asia has seen dividend receipts grow nicely during the period,’ said Chair Paul Meader. ‘This, in turn, should enable us to grow the dividend that we pay to you.’
Schroder Oriental will pay first, second and third interim dividends of 1.90p per share, unchanged from a year before. For 2021, it also paid a fourth interim dividend of 4.80p, which was up 4.3% from 4.60p in 2020.
Meader added: ‘Despite these global headwinds, Asia and the Asian income strategy of the company in particular look well-placed. The manager continues to identify attractive opportunities in companies across the region, especially outside of China, and it is important to remember that the approach is one of bottom-up stock picking: picking well managed companies with growing earnings and structural advantages.’
Schroder Oriental shares were up 0.5% at 265.93 pence each on Monday morning in London.
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