Half-year Report

RNS Number : 7439S

Witan Pacific Investment Trust PLC

05 October 2017

 

WITAN PACIFIC INVESTMENT TRUST PLC

(the "Company")

HALF-YEARLY REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE SIX MONTHS ENDED 31 JULY 2017

Witan Pacific Investment Trust plc announces that its 2017 Half-Yearly Report has been published. The full report can be accessed via the Company's website at www.witanpacific.com and will be made available on the National Storage Mechanism website: http://www.morningstar.co.uk/uk/NSM. It will be circulated to shareholders shortly.

The Directors have declared an interim dividend of 2.25p per Ordinary share, which will be payable on 30 October 2017 to shareholders whose names appear on the register at the close of business on 20 October 2017 (ex-dividend 19 October 2017).

The Company also advises that its Registered Office address has changed to:

Beaufort House

51 New North Road

Exeter EX4 4EP

FINANCIAL SUMMARY

Key data

	31 July 2017	31 January 2017	% change
Net asset value ("NAV") per share	366.32p	333.87p	+9.7%
Share price	320.00p	286.00p	+11.9%
Discount	12.6%	14.3%

Cumulative performance (total return)

	6 months	1 year	3 years	5 years
NAV per share¹	10.5%	17.7%	46.5%	66.8%
Share price¹	12.8%	19.1%	46.3%	72.6%
Benchmark²	9.6%	21.6%	49.5%	83.9%

Income

	31 July 2017	31 July 2016	% change
Revenue return per share	3.46p³	3.01p	+15.0%
Interim dividend per share	2.25p	2.20p	+2.3%

Ongoing charges⁴ (6 months)

	31 July 2017	31 July 2016
Excluding performance fees	0.50%	0.53%
Including performance fees	0.50%	0.54%

¹ Source: Morningstar. The movement in the NAV per share adjusted to include the reinvestment of each dividend paid by the 

Company during the respective period's calculation.

² Source: Morningstar. The benchmark for Witan Pacific Investment Trust plc is the MSCI AC Asia Pacific Index (£).

³ The allocation of management fees between capital and revenue was amended with effect from 1 February 2017. See 

below for further details.

⁴ Recurring operating and management costs expressed as a percentage of average net assets.

LONG-TERM PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS

Total returns since inception of multi-manager structure

	Cumulative return since inception of the multi-manager structure 31/05/2005	Annualised return since inception of the multi-manager structure 31/05/2005
NAV per share¹	226.0%	10.2%
Share price¹	226.0%	10.2%
Benchmark¹	210.3%	9.8%

¹ Source: Morningstar. Total returns include dividends reinvested.

CHAIR'S STATEMENT

SUMMARY

§ NAV total return of 10.5%, compared with benchmark 9.6%

§ Share price total return of 12.8%

§ Outperformed in 8 out of the 12 financial years since becoming multi-manager in May 2005

§ Interim dividend increased by 2.3% to 2.25p

Performance

I am pleased to report that, for the six months ended 31 July 2017, Witan Pacific's NAV total return per share rose by 10.5% (capital and income combined) and the share price rose by 12.8% on a total return basis. This compares with the total return provided by the benchmark of 9.6%.

Market background

Over the six months, all the major country components of our benchmark index provided positive returns and the region as a whole outperformed both the UK and US markets. Corporate earnings growth generally improved across the region whilst political fears waned. There was significant country divergence, with China rising by 21.7% and Japan by 3.4%. Many markets, including Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea and India, hit new highs during the period. Although Sterling weakened against the Euro over the period, it strengthened against the US Dollar and Asian currencies, albeit the movements were nothing like as significant as experienced last year.

China benefited from an improved growth and earnings outlook, the MSCI decision to add China A shares to its indices and, perhaps more importantly, subsiding fears of a trade war with the US. Bilateral relations between China and South Korea appear to be on the mend with the election of President Moon Jae-in in South Korea following the impeachment of President Park and South Korea provided strong investment returns.

Japan underperformed the rest of Asia despite an improving macro-economic environment. Much of the underperformance over the six month period was due to Yen weakness rather than poor stock price performance.

Taiwan's double digit returns were boosted by the strong performance of the technology sector, while the Indian stock market continued to benefit from the reformist agenda of Prime Minister Modi and his party's victory in state elections was seen as affirmation of support for his far-reaching policies.

Portfolio review

Details of the portfolio's key country and sector allocations, as well as the top 20 investments, follow this Statement. There was little change in the Company's overall asset allocation despite a number of changes at the stock level.

Turning to performance at the individual stock level, Minth Group, our largest Chinese position, was a notable success over the first half of the year. There was some good performance among our Japanese investments, despite relative weakness in the Japanese market, with holdings in Pigeon (a baby product company), Misumi Group (an industrial component business) and Hoya Corp (a high-tech optical equipment and glass manufacturer) all benefitting our shareholders. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp and other Taiwanese technology companies also made a positive contribution. Notable performers in India included the Indian fund managed by Aberdeen and Bharti Infratel. Indonesia's United Tractors was one of the Company's best performing investments over the period.

Some sectors missed out on the region's widespread gains, as many of last year's winners, notably the cyclical sectors such as banking and commodities, have been under pressure for much of 2017. Many of our poorer performing stocks fit into the 'cyclical' category but, with a relatively small allocation to such assets, the impact has been minimal.

Portfolio managers

Two of our three portfolio managers outperformed the benchmark over the six month period. Matthews International Capital Management's ("Matthews") portfolio rose by 12.0% on a total return basis (net of fees). Their performance was boosted by good stock selection in Japan and some notable successes in Korea, including LG Chemical and Samsung Electronics. Their overweight position in China, which had hurt performance in the latter half of 2016, has been positive so far this year. During the period, Matthews has broadened its investment exposure to include China A shares and investments in Vietnam.

Gavekal Capital ("Gavekal") also outperformed the benchmark, despite its bond exposure which was a drag on performance. Gavekal's portfolio benefited from an overweight in India and China.

Aberdeen Asset Managers ("Aberdeen") returned 9.2%, marginally behind the index return of 9.6%. Their positive overweight position in India was counteracted by being underweight in China, and especially technology stocks.

Manager changes

Your Board reviews its portfolio managers carefully. We conducted our regular due diligence trip to visit all our portfolio managers in February. Following this trip and taking into account the expected performance of each manager over different market cycles, we decided to initiate a new manager search. We employed the services of bfinance (an investment consultant) to provide an extensive list of high quality names of prospective portfolio managers based around the world but all investing in the Asia Pacific region (including Japan). We are delighted to report that this has led to the appointment of both Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. and Dalton Investments LLC alongside Matthews and Aberdeen. The initial allocations were as follows: Matthews 40%, Aberdeen 25%, Robeco 25% and Dalton 10%. The transition took place during September 2017.

Robeco is owned by ORIX Corporation, a Tokyo-listed financial services group. The Asian equity team has been in place since 1990 and now manages nearly US$7bn out of its office in Hong Kong. Robeco adopts a long-term selective value approach with a focus on companies' future cash flows and aiming to avoid overhyped growth stocks. Whilst their portfolio may have similar geographic weightings to the benchmark, it will tend to look very different from the benchmark as it has a high active share which is the result of active bottom-up stock selection. The aim is for performance to be driven by stock selection rather than country, macro-economic or political factors.

Dalton Investments is an independent investment boutique established in Santa Monica, California in 1999 by the seasoned Asian investor James B. Rosenwald III. Dalton, which has approximately US$3.3bn under management, follows a fundamental value approach, based upon four tenets - investing in good businesses, with a significant margin of safety, where management is aligned with shareholders' interests and has a strong record of internal capital allocation. Their portfolios tend to be tilted towards smaller companies, where valuations are often lower, access to management better and market research coverage is poor, offering mispricing opportunities.

The holding in the Gavekal Asian Opportunities UCITS, which previously constituted around 10% of the Company's assets, has been sold as part of the transition process and the Board thanks Gavekal for its stewardship since 2012. During the period, Aberdeen Asset Management and Standard Life Investments announced that they were planning to merge and this merger is now complete. The newly combined business will retain a long-standing commitment to active investment management underpinned by fundamental research. The Board has reduced the size of the Aberdeen portfolio to 25% from over 40% of the total assets.

These changes are designed to enhance the potential for outperformance by accentuating the emphasis on active portfolio management and stock selection, to provide shareholders with exposure to a broad set of opportunities across the region. Although the managers each have mandates covering the entire Asia Pacific region, the revised mix is expected to increase portfolio exposure to smaller capitalisation or lesser-known companies whose growth prospects have more chance of being underestimated by the market. The Board believes these changes will strengthen the multi-manager strategy employed to deliver outperformance for investors over time whilst evening out the peaks and troughs arising from single manager performance.

Outlook

Asian equities have underperformed their Western (particularly their US) counterparts over recent years. One of the key reasons for this is a lack of growth in corporate earnings across the region despite a more buoyant economic environment than enjoyed by many Western nations. Earnings growth finally appears to be picking up and this, when aligned with a broadening and improving outlook for global GDP growth, should provide a positive environment for investors. As ever, geopolitical events can cause short-term uncertainty and the events in North Korea are likely to impact sentiment in the region for as long as this sabre-rattling continues.

Share repurchases

We have continued to buy back shares when the discount at which they stand is at an anomalous and substantial level and bought back 1,624,554 shares over the period, which has added approximately £900,000 (1.4p per share) of value for shareholders.

The Board

Sarah Bates retired as a Director and Chair of the Board at the AGM in June. We thank Sarah for her wise counsel over the years; her input will be missed and we wish her well in the future. The Board is delighted to welcome Chris Ralph. Chris was appointed to the Board following the AGM. His appointment resulted from a search led by external consultants. Chris has over 30 years' experience in the financial services sector including over 15 years' experience of investment manager selection and monitoring.

Dividend

The Board aims to increase the annual dividend per share in real terms over the long term. I am pleased to report that annual dividends have increased consistently for over 12 years. One of the benefits of the investment trust structure is the ability to retain income in some years to pay out to shareholders in leaner years. Witan Pacific has a healthy revenue reserve amounting to 17.81p per share. The Board proposes to pay an interim dividend of 2.25p per share.

Susan Platts-Martin

Chair

4 October 2017

Company Secretary contact details:

Capita Company Secretarial Services Limited

Beaufort House, 51 New North Road

Exeter EX4 4EP

email: [e-mail]

PORTFOLIO INFORMATION

Manager performance for the half year ended 31 July 2017 and from appointment to 31 July 2017

				Performance		Annualised performance²
	Appointment	Managed assets¹		Manager	Benchmark	Manager	Benchmark
	date	£m	%	%	%	%	%
Aberdeen	31 May 2005	98.5	42.8	+9.2	+9.6	+11.7	+9.8
Matthews	30 April 2012	108.8	47.3	+12.0	+9.6	+14.4	+12.1
Gavekal³	24 April 2012	22.7	9.9	+11.2	+9.6	+11.3	+12.3

¹ Excluding cash balances held centrally by Witan Pacific.

² Since appointment.

³ Returns are adjusted for 1.5% annual management fee charged within the UCITS OEIC, of which 0.75% is rebated to the Company directly outside the fund.

Source: BNP Paribas. All performance figures are disclosed on a pre-fee basis.

The Company's equity portfolio by sector analysis as at 31 July 2017

Sector	Portfolio %¹	Benchmark %²
Consumer Discretionary	12	13
Consumer Staples	13	6
Energy	2	3
Financials	19	22
Healthcare	4	5
Industrials	12	12
Information Technology	11	20
Materials	7	7
Real Estate	6	5
Telecom Services	5	5
Utilities	1	2
Other	8	-

¹ Source: BNP Paribas.

² Source: MSCI.

Geographical allocation

Country	Portfolio at 31 July 2017¹	Benchmark at 31 July 2017²
Australia	3%	12%
China/Hong Kong	29%	21%
India	9%	5%
Indonesia	4%	1%
Japan	27%	40%
Malaysia	-	1%
Philippines	2%	1%
Singapore	9%	2%
South Korea	10%	9%
Taiwan	3%	7%
Thailand	2%	1%
Vietnam	2%	-
	100%	100%

¹ Source: BNP Paribas.

² Source: MSCI.

TOP TWENTY INVESTMENTS

as at 31 July 2017

This period	Last period1	Company		Country	% of total investments		Value £'000
1	(1)	Gavekal Asian Opportunities UCITS		Asia Pacific	9.8		22,735
2	(2)	Aberdeen Global Indian Equity UCITS		India	4.2		9,674
3	(3)	Samsung Electronics		South Korea	3.0		6,887
4	(7)	Japan Tobacco		Japan	2.4		5,482
5	(5)	HSBC		China/Hong Kong	2.3		5,378
6	(4)	Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing		Taiwan	2.2		5,194
7	(9)	Minth Group		China/Hong Kong	2.0		4,610
8	(18)	Aberdeen Global China A Equity UCITS		China/Hong Kong	1.8		4,256
9	(11)	United Overseas Bank		Singapore	1.6		3,677
10	(6)	Seven & I Holdings		Japan	1.5		3,517
11	(19)	LG Chemical		South Korea	1.4		3,332
12	(10)	China Mobile		China/Hong Kong	1.4		3,173
13	(13)	Shenzhou International		China/Hong Kong	1.3		3,082
14	(-)	Ping An Insurance		China/Hong Kong	1.3		3,082
15	(-)	Keyence Corporation		Japan	1.3		3,011
16	(-)	Hoya Corp		Japan	1.3		2,977
17	(-)	Fanuc Corp		Japan	1.3		2,974
18	(17)	Shin-Etsu Chemical		Japan	1.3		2,907
19	(8)	AIA Group		China/Hong Kong	1.2		2,897
20	(-)	Hyundai Mobis		South Korea	1.2		2,875
Totals					43.8	101,720

¹ The figures in brackets denote their position within the top 20 at the previous year end.

The value of the twenty largest holdings represents 43.8% (31 January 2017: 47.0%) of the Company's total investments. The full portfolio listing is published monthly (with a three-month lag) on the Company's website.

 

REGULATORY DISCLOSURES

Related party transactions disclosures

During the period to 31 July 2017, related party transactions included dividends paid to Directors in respect of their shareholdings in the Company. Details of Directors' shareholdings and remuneration may be found in the Directors' Remuneration Report on pages 45 to 48 of the Company's Annual Report for the year ended 31 January 2017. The report is available on the Company's website at www.witanpacific.com.

There have been no other related party transactions.

Principal risks and uncertainties

The Directors have considered the principal risks and uncertainties affecting the Company's position. The principal risks faced by the Company for the remaining six months of the financial year include financial risks relating to markets, liquidity and credit. Market risk includes market price risk, currency risk and interest rate risk. Other risk categories include those relating to business strategy, market conditions, investment performance, reduction in income, operational failures and tax or regulatory breaches. These risks and the way in which they are managed are described in more detail in the Annual Report for the year ended 31 January 2017 in the corporate review and in the notes to the financial statements.

The risks faced by the Company have not changed significantly over the first six months of 2017 and are not expected to change materially in the remaining six months. The report is available on the Company's website at www.witanpacific.com.

Going concern

The financial statements continue to be prepared on a going concern basis. The approach used for the Annual Report is applied, including proper consideration of financial and cash flow forecasts and it is believed that the Company has adequate financial resources to continue to operate for the foreseeable future.

CONDENSED STATEMENT OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME

for the half year ended 31 July 2017

		(Unaudited) Half year ended 31 July 2017			(Unaudited) Half year ended 31 July 2016			(Audited) Year ended 31 January 2017
		Revenue  return	Capital  return	Total	Revenue  return	Capital  return	Total		Revenue  return	Capital  return	Total
	Notes	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000		£'000	£'000	£'000
Gains on investments held at fair value through profit or loss		-	20,210	20,210	-	36,307	36,307		-	48,841	48,841
Exchange losses		-	(174)	(174)	-	(87)	(87)		-	(142)	(142)
Investment income	2	3,013	-	3,013	3,052	-	3,052		5,004	-	5,004
Management fees	3	(178)	(535)	(713)	(476)	-	(476)		(994)	-	(994)
Performance fees	3	-	-	-	-	(7)	(7)		-	-	-
Other expenses		(433)	(26)	(459)	(364)	(20)	(384)		(754)	(43)	(797)
Net return before finance charges and taxation		2,402	19,475	21,877	2,212	36,193	38,405		3,256	48,656	51,912
Finance charges		(1)	-	(1)	-	-	-		-	-	-
Net return on ordinary activities before taxation		2,401	19,475	21,876	2,212	36,193	38,405		3,256	48,656	51,912
Taxation on ordinary activities		(195)	(4)	(199)	(243)	-	(243)		(376)	-	(376)
Net return on ordinary activities after taxation		2,206	19,471	21,677	1,969	36,193	38,162		2,880	48,656	51,536
Return per Ordinary share - pence	5	3.46	30.51	33.97	3.01	55.27	58.28		4.41	74.50	78.91

All revenue and capital items in the above statement derive from continuing operations. The total columns of this statement represent the Income Statement of the Company. The revenue return and capital return columns are supplementary to this and are prepared under guidance published by the Association of Investment Companies.

The Company had no other comprehensive income, recognised gains or losses other than those disclosed in this statement.

There is no material difference between the net return on ordinary activities before taxation and the net return for the financial periods stated above and their historical costs equivalents.

CONDENSED STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN EQUITY

at 31 July 2017

	Called-up	Share	Capital
	share	premium	redemption	Capital	Revenue
	capital	account	reserve	reserves	reserve	Total
	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000
Half year ended 31 July 2017 (unaudited)
At 31 January 2017	16,486	5	41,085	148,762	10,697	217,035
Net return on ordinary activities after taxation	-	-	-	19,471	2,206	21,677
Dividends paid in respect of year ended 31 January 2017	-	-	-	-	(1,618)	(1,618)
Purchase of own shares	-	-	-	(4,917)	-	(4,917)
At 31 July 2017	16,486	5	41,085	163,316	11,285	232,177
Half year ended 31 July 2016 (unaudited)
At 31 January 2016	16,486	5	41,085	101,926	10,886	170,388
Net return on ordinary activities after taxation	-	-	-	36,193	1,969	38,162
Dividends paid in respect of year ended 31 January 2016	-	-	-	-	(1,636)	(1,636)
Purchase of own shares	-	-	-	(1,147)	-	(1,147)
At 31 July 2016	16,486	5	41,085	136,972	11,219	205,767
Year ended 31 January 2017 (audited)
At 31 January 2016	16,486	5	41,085	101,926	10,886	170,388
Net return on ordinary activities after taxation	-	-	-	48,656	2,880	51,536
Purchase of own shares	-	-	-	(1,820)	-	(1,820)
Dividends paid in respect of year ended 31 January 2016	-	-	-	-	(1,636)	(1,636)
Dividends paid in respect of year ended 31 January 2017	-	-	-	-	(1,433)	(1,433)
At 31 January 2017	16,486	5	41,085	148,762	10,697	217,035

CONDENSED BALANCE SHEET

at 31 July 2017

		(Unaudited)	(Unaudited)	(Audited)
		31 July	31 July	31 January
		2017	2016	2017
	Notes	£'000	£'000	£'000
Fixed assets
Investments held at fair value through profit or loss		228,117	201,502	210,745
Current assets
Debtors		1,276	464	1,813
Cash at bank and in hand		5,232	5,107	5,983
		6,508	5,571	7,796
Creditors
Amounts falling due within one year		(2,448)	(1,299)	(1,506)
		(2,448)	(1,299)	(1,506)
Net current assets		4,060	4,272	6,290
Total assets less current liabilities		232,177	205,774	217,035
Provisions for liabilities and charges	6	-	(7)	-
Net assets		232,177	205,767	217,035
Capital and reserves
Called-up share capital	7	16,486	16,486	16,486
Share premium account		5	5	5
Capital redemption reserve		41,085	41,085	41,085
Capital reserves		163,316	136,972	148,762
Revenue reserve		11,285	11,219	10,697
Total shareholders' funds		232,177	205,767	217,035
Net asset value per Ordinary share - pence	8	366.32	315.40	333.87

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

for the half year ended 31 July 2017

1 Accounting policies

a) Basis of preparation

The condensed financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Financial Reporting Standard 104 (Interim Financial Reporting) and with the Statement of Recommended Practice for 'Financial Statements of Investment Trust Companies and Venture Capital Trusts'. They have also been prepared on a going concern basis and on the assumption that approval as an investment trust will continue to be granted.

The interim financial statements have been prepared using the same accounting policies as the preceding annual financial statements.

As an investment fund, the Company has the option, which it has taken, not to present a cash flow statement. A cash flow statement is not required when an investment fund meets all the following conditions: substantially all of the entity's investments are highly liquid and are carried at market value; and where a Statement of Changes in Equity is provided.

(b) Valuation of investments

All investments have been designated upon initial recognition as fair value through profit or loss. This is done because all investments are considered to form part of a group of financial assets which is evaluated on a fair value basis, in accordance with the Company's documented investment strategy, and information about the grouping is provided internally on that basis.

Investments are recognised and de-recognised at trade date where a purchase or sale is under a contract whose terms require delivery within the timeframe established by the market concerned, and are measured initially at fair value. Subsequent to initial recognition, investments are valued at fair value through profit or loss.

Listed investments have been designated by the Board as held at fair value through profit or loss and accordingly are valued at fair value, deemed to be bid market prices for quoted investments. Investments included in Level 2 in the Fair Value Hierarchy disclosures in note 9 consist of unlisted reportable funds within the portfolio, Gavekal Asian Opportunities UCITS, Aberdeen Global Indian Equity UCITS and Aberdeen Global China A Equity UCITS. These are priced daily using their net asset value, which is the fair value.

Changes in the fair value of investments held at fair value through profit or loss and gains and losses on disposal are recognised in the Income Statement as "Gains or losses on investments held at fair value through profit or loss". Also included within this caption are transaction costs in relation to the purchase or sale of investments, including the difference between the purchase price of an investment and its bid price at the date of purchase. All purchases and sales are accounted for on a trade date basis.

2 Income

	(Unaudited)	(Unaudited)	(Audited)
	Half year	Half year	Year
	ended	ended	ended
	31 July	31 July	31 January
	2017	2016	2017
	£'000	£'000	£'000
Income from investments held at fair value through profit or loss:
Overseas dividends	2,669	2,782	4,564
UK dividends	255	166	209
Scrip dividends	89	103	230
Other income:
Bank interest	-	1	1
Total income	3,013	3,052	5,004

3 Transactions with the managers

On 27 May 2005, the Company appointed Witan Investment Services Limited as Executive Manager and Aberdeen Asset Managers Limited and Nomura Asset Management U.K. Limited as portfolio managers. In April 2012, the Company appointed Matthews International Capital Management LLC and Gavekal Capital Limited to replace Nomura. Each Management Agreement can be terminated at one month's notice in writing. For the half year to 31 July 2017, each portfolio manager was entitled to a base management fee, at rates between 0.20% and 0.75% per annum, calculated according to the value of the assets under their management.

One portfolio manager is also entitled to a performance fee based on relative outperformance against the MSCI AC Asia Pacific Index (sterling adjusted total return). The performance fee is calculated according to investment performance over a three-year rolling period and is payable at a rate of 15% of the calculated outperformance relative to the benchmark (subject to a cap).

Any provisions included in the Income Statement at 31 July 2017, are calculated on the actual performance of the portfolio manager relative to the benchmark index. The provision assumes that both the benchmark index remains unchanged and that the portfolio manager's assets under management perform in line with the benchmark index to 31 May 2018, being the date the next performance period ends. In addition, provisions are made, where necessary, for the performance periods ending 31 May 2019 and 31 May 2020, on the assumption that the portfolio manager performs in line with the benchmark to each period end. The total of these provisions amounts to £nil (31 July 2016: £7,000 and 31 January 2017: £nil).

	(Unaudited)	(Unaudited)	(Audited)
	Half year	Half year	Year
	ended	ended	ended
	31 July	31 July	31 January
	2017	2016	2017
	£'000	£'000	£'000
Management fees
Charged to the revenue account:
Management fee*	199	547	1,150
Management fee rebates†	(21)	(71)	(156)
	178	476	994
Charged to the capital account:
Management fee*	597	-	-
Management fee rebates†	(62)	-	-
	535	-	-
Total management fees	713	476	994
Performance fees charged to the capital account	-	7	-

* The management fee stated above includes fees paid to Witan Investment Services Limited of £144,000 (six months to 31 July 2016: £115,000 and full year to 31 January 2017: £250,000).

^† This figure relates to a rebate of management fees associated with the Gavekal Asian Opportunities UCITS.

With effect from 1 February 2017, management fees are charged 75% / 25% to the capital account and the revenue account respectively.

The allocation percentages approximate to the split of historic returns between capital and income, and reflect the Board's expectation of the long-term split of returns in compliance with the Statement of Recommended Practice for 'Financial Statements of Investment Trust Companies and Venture Capital Trusts'. Performance fees continue to be charged wholly to the capital account.

4 Dividends per Ordinary share

An interim dividend of 2.25p per Ordinary share (2016: 2.20p) will be paid on 30 October 2017 to shareholders on the register on 20 October 2017.

5 Return per Ordinary share

The total return per Ordinary share is based on the net gain attributable to the Ordinary shares of £21,677,000 (half year ended 31 July 2016: £38,162,000; year ended 31 January 2017: £51,536,000) and on 63,819,054 Ordinary shares (half year ended 31 July 2016: 65,484,870; year ended 31 January 2017: 65,308,210) being the weighted average number of shares in issue during the period.

	(Unaudited)	(Unaudited)	(Audited)
	Half year	Half year	Year
	ended	ended	ended
	31 July	31 July	31 January
	2017	2016	2017
Revenue return (£'000)	2,206	1,969	2,880
Capital return (£'000)	19,471	36,193	48,656
Total return (£'000)	21,677	38,162	51,536
Weighted average number of Ordinary shares in issue during the period	63,819,054	65,484,870	65,308,210
Revenue return per Ordinary share - pence	3.46	3.01	4.41
Capital return per Ordinary share - pence	30.51	55.27	74.50
Total return per Ordinary share - pence	33.97	58.28	78.91

6 Provisions for liabilities and charges

This represents the estimated performance fees payable for the three-year performance fee periods ending 31 May 2018, 31 May 2019 and 31 May 2020. This accrual is based on actual performance to 31 July 2017 and the assumption that the portfolio manager performs in line with the benchmark from 31 July 2017 to the end of each fee period. Changes in the level of accrual for future performance periods could arise for one of the three principal reasons: a change in the degree of relative performance, the time elapsed (since this would increase the proportion of the rolling three-year performance period to which the performance calculation would be applied) or the termination of the portfolio manager's contract.

7 Share capital

During the half year ended 31 July 2017, 1,624,554 Ordinary shares were repurchased and held in treasury, at a total cost of £4,917,000 (six months ended 31 July 2016: 478,331 Ordinary shares were repurchased and held in treasury at a total cost of £1,147,000; year ended 31 January 2017: 713,979 Ordinary shares were purchased to be held in treasury at a cost of £1,820,000).

As at 31 July 2017 there were 65,944,000 Ordinary shares of 25p in issue, of which 2,563,511 were held in treasury. Subsequent to 31 July 2017, a further 46,672 Ordinary shares were repurchased and held in treasury, at a total cost of £149,000. As at 2 October 2017, there were 65,944,000 Ordinary shares of 25p in issue of which 2,610,183 were held in treasury.

8 Net asset value per Ordinary share

Net asset value per Ordinary share is based on 63,380,489 Ordinary shares of 25p each in issue as at 31 July 2017 excluding shares held in treasury (31 July 2016: 65,240,691 and 31 January 2017: 65,005,043).

9 Fair value hierarchy

FRS 102 requires an entity to classify fair value measurements using a fair value hierarchy that reflects the significance of the inputs in making the measurements. The fair value hierarchy shall have the following classifications:

·      Level 1: unadjusted quoted prices in an active market for identical assets or liabilities that the entity can access at the measurement date.

·      Level 2: inputs other than quoted prices included within Level 1 that are observable (ie developed using market data) for the asset or liability, either directly or indirectly.

·      Level 3: inputs are unobservable (ie for which market data is unavailable) for the asset or liability.

The financial assets and liabilities measured at fair value in the Balance Sheet are grouped into the fair value hierarchy at the reporting date as follows:

		Level 1	Level 2	Level 3	Total
	Note	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000
As at 31 July 2017
Financial assets and financial liabilities at fair value through profit or loss
Equity investments	(a)	191,452	36,665	-	228,117
Net fair value		191,452	36,665	-	228,117

		Level 1	Level 2	Level 3	Total
	Note	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000
As at 31 January 2017
Financial assets and financial liabilities at fair value through profit or loss
Equity investments	(a)	178,438	32,307	-	210,745
Net fair value		178,438	32,307	-	210,745

The valuation techniques used by the Company are explained in the accounting policies in note 1(b).

There were no transfers during the year between Level 1 and Level 2.

(a) Quoted equities and preference shares

The fair value of the Company's investments in quoted equities and preference shares has been determined by reference to their quoted bid prices at the reporting date. Quoted equities and preference shares included in Fair Value Level 1 are actively traded on recognised stock exchanges.

Investments classified as Level 2 are Gavekal Asian Opportunities UCITS, Aberdeen Global Indian Equity UCITS and Aberdeen Global China A Equity UCITS.

10 Results

The results for the half years ended 31 July 2017 and 31 July 2016, which are unaudited and were not reviewed by the Auditors, constitute non-statutory accounts within the meaning of Section 435 of the Companies Act 2006. The latest published accounts which have been delivered to the Registrar of Companies are for the year ended 31 January 2017, the report of the Auditors thereon was unqualified and did not contain a statement under Section 498(2) or (3) of the Companies Act 2006. The comparative figures for the year ended 31 January 2017 have been extracted from those accounts.

RESPONSIBILITY STATEMENT OF THE DIRECTORS

in respect of the Half Year Report for the six months ended 31 July 2017

The Directors confirm, to the best of their knowledge, that this condensed set of financial statements has been prepared in accordance with Financial Reporting Standard 104 (Interim Financial Reporting) and gives a true and fair view of the assets, liabilities, financial position and profit or loss of the Company, and the interim management report (which comprises the Chair's statement, portfolio information and regulatory disclosures) includes a fair review of the information required by Rules 4.2.7 R and 4.2.8 R of the Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules of the United Kingdom Financial Conduct Authority.

The names and functions of the Directors of Witan Pacific Investment Trust plc are as listed below.

This Half Year Report was approved by the Board on 4 October 2017 and the above responsibility statement was signed on its behalf by:

Susan Platts-Martin

Chair

4 October 2017

DIRECTORS

Susan Platts-Martin - Chair

Dermot McMeekin - Senior Independent Director and Chairman of the Nomination and Remuneration Committee

Christopher Ralph - Independent Director

Andrew Robson - Independent Director and Chairman of the Audit Committee

Diane Seymour-Williams - Independent Director

All the Directors are members of both the Audit Committee and of the Nomination and Remuneration Committee.

Footnote

Source MSCI. The MSCI information may only be used by you as an individual for your own use, and as a corporate organisation for your internal use and it may not be reproduced or redisseminated in any form and may not be used as a basis for or a component of any financial instruments or products or indices. None of the MSCI information is intended to constitute investment advice or a recommendation to make (or refrain from making) any kind of investment decision and may not be relied on as such. Historical data and analysis should not be taken as an indication or guarantee of any future performance analysis, forecast or prediction. The MSCI information is provided on an "as is" basis and the user of this information assumes the entire risk of any use made of this information. MSCI, each of its affiliates and each other person involved in or related to compiling, computing or creating any MSCI information (collectively, the "MSCI Parties") expressly disclaims all warranties (including, without limitation, any warranties of originality, accuracy, completeness, timeliness, non-infringement, merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose) with respect to this information. Without limiting any of the foregoing, in no event shall any MSCI Party have any liability for any direct, indirect, special, incidental, punitive, consequential (including, without limitation, lost profits) or any other damages. (www.msci.com)

The content of the Company's web-pages and the content of any website or pages which may be accessed through hyperlinks on the Company's web-pages or this announcement is neither incorporated into nor forms part of the above announcement.

 

END

 

 

IR BLBDGISGBGRS