Final Results

Fidelity Japanese Values PLC 1 March 2002 FIDELITY JAPANESE VALUES PLC Preliminary Announcement of Unaudited Results For the year ended 31 December 2001 Comment from the Chairman Performance: NAV: -23.9% It has been another difficult year which makes it a difficult statement to write - particularly so following your Board's recommendation and your own approval at the Annual General Meeting last April of continuing the Company as an investment trust investing in the shares of smaller Japanese companies for a further three years. Your Directors believed - and I should iterate still do - that the prospects for corporate reform in Japan and the values of the shares of smaller companies were such that we believed that the net asset value three years hence was likely to be higher. I should say that we never thought the benefits would be immediate but after one year I am afraid that it was 23.9% lower, ending the year as 53.12p per share - although this was rather better than the two broad based indices (TSE First Section and FTSE Japan). The decline of the net asset value of 17p per share can be attributed to external factors (the performance of the market and the sterling value of the Yen): -15p per share and to internal factors (primarily the gearing): -2p per share. In other words most of the fall occurred because the economic and financial plight of Japan worsened during the course of the year, especially during the month of December when the value of the Yen fell quite significantly. And while a declining currency normally helps share prices, in this instance it merely undermined what little confidence there was with the result that the TSE Second Section Index for instance fell 4.9%, the currency fell 8.0%, making a total of 12.5% for December alone. I should remind all shareholders that, as a matter of policy, we do not hedge the currency. While there can be no comfort whatsoever in reporting such a decline in our net asset value, I would like to highlight the fact that the stock selection of our Manager made a small positive contribution to offset the other three influences on the net asset value. There were two main events which have impacted Japan and its stock markets during 2001 - the appointment of Mr Junichiro Koizumi as Prime Minister and the tragic events of the 11th of September in the USA. The new Prime Minister, who campaigned on a programme of reform, offered hope to investors in Japan's stock markets that finally the reform bull would be taken by the horns. In the event much less progress has been made than was either hoped for or even expected because of the opponents of change within the Liberal Democratic Party and elsewhere. Japan's consensual politics means that change in Japan is never going to be abrupt and maybe too much has been expected of one man. However unreasonable the expectations may have been, investors have been disappointed and markets have suffered as a consequence. Furthermore, the more essential reforms are delayed, the more difficult it is to reform and the greater the short-term hardships that go with it. The tragic events of the 11th September in the USA caused its economy, already slowing down quite quickly, to enter recession. Its markets suffered and as a consequence so did those of the rest of the world. Investors viewed these events as yet another difficulty for Japan as its trade balance, affected by falling exports, began to decline. In turn the lack of confidence in Japan's economy affected currency markets and by the end of the year the Yen was falling quite sharply. Japan's would appear to be the last market that international investors want to invest in. Board Visit to Japan: October 2001 It is I believe important that the Board of Directors visit Japan at least once a year so as to meet people and hear at first hand about the issues that are affecting the financial future of the country. We paid such a visit in October of last year and met with a number of people involved in the financial business and in running companies. We left with the view that - as we already knew - Japan was wrestling with a number of problems, the greatest of which was probably the solvency of its banking system. But we were also exposed to a number of other facets of Japan's economy and stock markets and took comfort from some very real changes that were taking place which would have short term detrimental effects but good long term consequences - including changes in accounting practices, unwinding of cross holdings between companies, improved corporate governance attitudes and better focus on profitability, including the return on shareholders' equity. We were made well aware that the short-term consequences of corporate reform included reducing staff levels and thence rising unemployment and of course an increasing number of bankruptcies as part of the process of slimming down excess productive capacity. The short term consequences of reform were not good reading - just as they weren't in the UK in the early 1980s. Gearing Policy It stands to reason that, if we expect the net asset value of your Company to rise over the three year period, we should employ a certain amount of borrowing to help improve the absolute performance of the net asset value. Once a year, during our visit to Japan, the Board of Directors sets the gearing policy for the following twelve months and this we did at the board meeting which ended our visit to Tokyo. At that time we had borrowings of £27 million and cash of £11 million and net gearing of 25% of shareholders equity. Given the prospects as we saw them, we decided to use the cash that we had to pay off one of our loans (Y 1.6bn) but otherwise to retain the net gearing we had at the time. While we keep a permanent eye on our gearing, we will only alter this policy should our borrowing covenants require us to do so. Annual General Meeting: 24 April 2002 Having had a difficult year but having some hope that the future holds for better times, I do urge shareholders, both individual and institutional, to attend the AGM. Asako Kibe will give a presentation covering the past year and what she and we believe are the prospects for the next year or so. Shareholders will have questions to ask and will wish to be assured of those better prospects. It is appropriate that shareholders should each have the benefit of hearing what others have to say, to ask and to criticise. We, the Board of Directors want to hear those comments and questions because it will help us do our job better. So please do come along and join us. At the AGM John Morrell will not be seeking re-election as a Director of the Company. He has served on the Board since the Company's inception in 1994 and his experience of investment matters in Japan and of investment trusts have been invaluable to the Board's deliberations. Thank you John for all your help. Prospects After two very difficult years and given the extreme pessimism that exists about Japan's economy and its financial markets, it may sound like an exercise in wishful thinking to promote the idea that investment in Japan generally and in the shares of your Company could prove rewarding. And indeed to state the bear case, which is so frequently trotted out in the world's financial press, there may be worse to come before it gets better. The Japanese government's finances are very stretched with its national debt at a very high level; it is finding it difficult to increase tax revenues because of rising unemployment and of the poor state of corporate profits. The banking system has become dysfunctional because it is ceasing to be of much use in promoting economic recovery. Japan is in many respects financially strong and, so far, that has prevented the precipitation of the crisis that would force greater change to happen. It has the largest gold and foreign exchange reserves of any country in the world, it owns a significant proportion of US Treasury Bills in issue, it has a large trade surplus, its consumers (unlike most others in the world) save a large proportion of their income and effectively own most of their government's debt (the average household in Japan is reported to have liquid savings of c$100,000). Part of Japan may have serious financial problems but the other part is financially robust. We have long maintained that the real change that is taking place in Japan's economy is at the grass roots level - company by company. Some of that change involves bankruptcies, some genuine improvements in efficiency. We believe that, providing there is not a continuing bear market which drags down the price of pretty well all shares, then there are enough opportunities amongst Japan's c3,000 or so quoted companies for us to pick a portfolio of winners which should prove profitable to our shareholders. Alex Hammond-Chambers 28 February 2002 Dividend: The Company is not proposing to pay a dividend. Enquiries: Barbara Powley Fidelity Investments International 01737 836883 FIDELITY JAPANESE VALUES PLC Statement of Total Return (incorporating the revenue account1) of the Company - unaudited For the year ended 31 December 2001 2001 2000 revenue capital total revenue capital total notes £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 Losses on investments - (17,823) (17,823) - (110,348) (110,348) Income - dividends 735 - 735 790 - 790 - interest 17 - 17 20 - 20 Investment management fee (894) - (894) (1,607) - (1,607) Other expenses (436) - (436) (426) - (426) Exchange losses - (290) (290) - (384) (384) Repurchase of warrants - - - - (76) (76) Net loss before finance costs (578) (18,113) (18,691) (1,223) (110,808) (112,031) and taxation Exchange gains on loans - 2,013 2,013 - 1,206 1,206 Interest payable (564) - (564) (758) - (758) Loss on ordinary activities (1,142) (16,100) (17,242) (1,981) (109,782) (111,763) before tax Tax on ordinary activities (109) - (109) (119) - (119) Loss on ordinary activities (1,251) (16,100) (17,351) (2,100) (109,782) (111,882) after tax for the year attributable to equity shareholders Loss per ordinary share 2 Basic (1.22p) (15.70p) (16.92p) (2.01p) (104.98p) (106.99p) 1 The revenue column on this statement represents the profit and loss account of the Company. 2 Return per ordinary share are based on the net revenue loss on ordinary activities after taxation of £1,251,000 (2000: loss £2,100,000), and the capital depreciation in the year of £16,100,000 (2000: depreciation of £109,782,000) and on 102,561,395 ordinary shares (2000: 104,577,344), being the weighted average number of ordinary shares in issue during the year. As the basic and fully-diluted returns, calculated according to the provisions of FRS 14, are identical, the fully-diluted return has not been disclosed. Since the effect of the warrants outstanding on the first day of the accounting period is not dilutive, they have not been included in the calculation of the fully-diluted return. All revenue and capital items in the above statement derive from continuing operations. No operations were acquired or discontinued in the year. FIDELITY JAPANESE VALUES PLC Balance Sheet - unaudited as at 31 December 2001 2001 2000 £'000 £'000 Fixed assets Investments 69,570 93,602 Current assets Debtors 61 293 Cash at bank 1,480 7,368 1,541 7,661 Creditors - amounts falling due within one (8,368) (10,147) year Net current liabilities (6,827) (2,486) Total assets less current liabilities 62,743 91,116 Creditors - amounts falling due after more (8,823) (18,563) than one year Total net assets 53,920 72,553 Capital and reserves Called up share capital 25,376 25,980 Capital redemption reserve 955 350 Share premium account 40 37 Other reserves Other reserves 61,839 63,125 Warrant exercise reserve 2 - Warrant reserve 10,198 10,200 Capital reserve - realised 790 16,564 Capital reserve - unrealised (37,270) (36,944) Revenue reserve (8,010) (6,759) Total equity shareholders' funds 53,920 72,553 Net asset value per ordinary share: Basic 53.12p 69.81p FIDELITY JAPANESE VALUES PLC Cash Flow Statement - unaudited For the year ended 31 December 2001 2001 2000 £'000 £'000 Operating activities Investment income received 633 677 Deposit interest received 17 20 Investment management fee paid (971) (1,929) Directors' fees paid (55) (47) Other cash payments (364) (200) Net cash outflow from operating activities (740) (1,479) Returns on investments and servicing of finance Interest paid (608) (761) Net cash outflow from returns on investments and servicing of finance (608) (761) Taxation UK income tax recovered - 1 Tax recovered - 1 Financial Investment Purchase of investments (31,837) (83,557) Exchange gains 99 127 Disposal of investments 38,030 88,172 Net cash inflow from financial investment 6,292 4,742 Net cash inflow before financing 4,944 2,503 Financing Repurchase of ordinary shares (1,286) (1,519) Repurchase of warrants - (376) Exercise of warrants 4 49 3.38% fixed rate unsecured loan repaid (9,183) - 1.05% fixed rate unsecured loan drawn down 9,106 - 1.05% fixed rate unsecured loan repaid (9,084) - Net cash outflow from financing (10,443) (1,846) (Decrease)/Increase in cash (5,499) 657 The above statements have been prepared on the basis of the accounting policies as set out in the recently published set of annual financial statements. The figures for the year to 31.12.00 have been extracted from the accounts for the year ended 31.12.00 which have been delivered to the Registrar of Companies and on which the Auditors gave an unqualified report. The annual report and accounts will be posted to shareholders as soon as is practicable. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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