Interim Management Statement

RNS Number : 3343M

Scottish Oriental Smlr Co Tst PLC

15 July 2014

 

The Scottish Oriental Smaller Companies Trust PLC

Interim Management Statement

For the Four Month Period from 1 March 2014 to 30 June 2014

Investment Objective

Scottish Oriental aims to achieve long term capital growth by investing in smaller Asian quoted companies with market capitalisations under US$1,500m, or the equivalent thereof, at the time of first investment.  Asia is deemed to include the Indian subcontinent but excludes Japan and Australasia.

Performance Summary#

	As at  30 June  2014	As at 28 February 2014	Movement
Net asset value per share	844.42p	785.09p	7.6%
Share price	822.00p	750.00p	9.6%
Discount to NAV	2.66%	4.47%	-
Shares in issue	31,643,650	31,643,650	-
Shareholders' funds	£267.2m	£248.4m	7.6%
Market capitalisation	£260.1m	£237.3m	9.6%

# The information provided above is based on unaudited, capital only figures.

Period Review and Material Events

Scottish Oriental's net asset value (NAV) rose by 7.6% over the period compared to a rise of 6.2% in the MSCI AC Asia ex Japan Index and a rise of 4.3% in the MSCI AC Asia ex Japan Small Cap Index.

The Trust's outperformance relative to the MSCI AC Asia ex Japan Index was largely attributed to the Trust's overweight position in India with 8 out of the top 10 contributory companies over the period being Indian names. This is mostly because of the optimism from the investment community with the May election win of the pro-business Narendra Modi to prime minister. Consumer staples companies were also positively impacted by expectations of increased spending as incomes per capita continue to rise in developing Asian countries.

On 21 March 2014 the Company announced that Wee-Li Hee would return from maternity leave in May, and reassume her position as co-manager of Scottish Oriental from 1 July 2014 and on 24 April 2014 the Company announced the appointment of Ernst & Young LLP as its auditor with immediate effect.

Additional Information

Up to date NAV and share price information is available from the Company's website www.scottishoriental.co.uk.

For further information please contact Fraser Wood at First State Investments in by telephone [phone]) or email ([e-mail]).

 

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