STOCK EXCHANGE ANNOUNCEMENT
JPMORGAN EMERGING MARKETS INVESTMENT TRUST PLC
ANNOUNCEMENT OF FINAL RESULTS
The Directors of JPMorgan Emerging Markets Investment Trust plc announce the Company's results for the year ended 30th June 2009.
Chairman's Statement
The year to end June 2009 was probably the most dramatic period in financial markets that most of us can remember. I am therefore pleased, almost relieved, to report that we came through it in reasonable shape with the net asset value (NAV) total return down 13.3%, more or less in line with our benchmark index, the MSCI Emerging Markets Free Index in sterling terms. The share price over the year fell from 433p to 374p producing a total return to shareholders of -13.1%.
I say relieved, since at one point our NAV touched 257.1p some 45% below the figure it was on 1st July 2008 and some 53% below its peak of 549p in December 2007. In these circumstances it is difficult to find the firm ground to make good investments and indeed our stock selection has not been as good as we would have liked. However, the Manager was quickly aware of the problem and strengthened his team accordingly.
Despite such volatile markets the discount of our share price to NAV has averaged 6.2% as compared to 9.8% last year and peaked at 14.5%. The Board monitored the situation carefully against its clear discount policy but at no time did we consider it necessary to buy back shares. It is often difficult to explain the movements in the level of discount but I would hope that the discount levels that we are now seeing are to some extent a measure of how well the Company is perceived by the market. Also, turnover in the Company's shares is now on average double what it was 5 years ago, which again I believe leads to somewhat lower discounts.
Last year in my report I said that we were entering a period of massive upheaval but that I was confident that the fundamentals for continued growth in emerging markets would remain in place. Therefore in May with the market beginning to show signs of a recovery the Board took the decision to propose to shareholders a 1 for 5 issue of subscription shares. This was agreed at a general meeting on 10th June 2009 with 99.7% of votes cast in favour. On 30th June 2009 the subscription shares were priced at 39.5p, which equates to an additional 7.9p or 2.1% return per ordinary share.
As in previous years the dividend we are proposing of 3.20p per share (2008: 2.00p) is set by our policy of maximising capital growth and this is a figure which is more or less the minimum we can pay and maintain our status as an investment trust. Subject to shareholders' approval at the AGM this will be paid on 6th November 2009 to shareholders on the register at close of business on 9th October 2009.
With the failure of governance at many large financial institutions it is important for me to assure shareholders that this is a subject at the top of our agenda. We comply fully with the Financial Reporting Council Combined Code and the AIC Code of Corporate Governance. Moreover, I should add that we do not see this as a box ticking exercise but we endeavour to 'kick the tyres' and question the Manager rigorously on performance and strategy. The Board was particularly aware of the contagion of investment and operational risk during the height of the financial crisis, although we were of course fortunate in the overall strength of JPMorgan as our Manager. Going forward we are planning to work with the Manager in reviewing the way we evaluate risk to see if we can better understand the risks we clearly must run if we are to continue to deliver out performance. As in previous years we have also carried out a formal review of the Manager, the Board as a whole and separately the Board evaluated my role as Chairman. I am pleased to report that no major concerns were raised and the Board firmly believes that the reappointment of the Manager is in the best interests of the Company.
As a Board we have also tried to manage our own succession planning, and following the appointment during the year of Nigel Kenny and Percy Mistry as Directors, Val Powell and I will be retiring at the AGM. This will bring the Board numbers down to our normal level of five. It has been agreed that Alan Saunders will take over as Chairman, David Gamble will become the Senior Independent Director and that Nigel Kenny will become the Chairman of the Audit Committee. Val Powell joined our Board following the merger with F&C Emerging Markets Investment Trust in 2006 and has brought to bear his considerable City knowledge in all our discussions. I would like to thank him for his positive contributions and personal support.
Where then is your Company heading over the next few years? We have of course seen a considerable bounce in emerging markets share prices over the last six months, driven by the general perception that the worst is over in the USA and Europe and by the internally generated boost from China. Therefore whilst some consolidation might be expected over the remainder of the year I remain of the belief that emerging markets will continue to grow strongly in the medium and longer term.
Finally, may I thank my fellow Directors for their support and for JPMorgan Asset Management for their professionalism in delivering outstanding performance. It has been a privilege to be Chairman for the last six years and I am confident that the Company will continue to outperform in the years ahead.
Roy Reynolds
Chairman
1st October 2009
Investment Manager's Report
What has happened?
How different the world would seem if you travelled, out of reach of news media and share price information, across some huge desert, or better, on an ocean, only putting in to port once a year on the 1st July. That day, the first one after the end of the Company's financial year, would afford the opportunity to update your financial statements and assess what had changed. Very little, might be your first response this time. It would seem a disappointing year for emerging markets, with the index down by 13.1%, and the Company's portfolio down by 13.3%, almost the same. On the other hand, since the investment manager's reports have repeatedly mentioned the improbability that the returns of 2002-2007 could be sustained, you might not be surprised. Most of all, you might wonder what all the fuss has been about.
And yet for those in the thick of it, and frankly for any customer of any financial organisation, it has been an extraordinary twelve months. Only massive state intervention preserved public confidence in financial systems, and that only by a slim margin and at the eleventh hour. For those of us versed in a decade of economic crises in the developing world, the patterns that unfolded in Western economies were not unfamiliar, though no less disconcerting for that. For those more used to the US and Europe, this was the first serious financial crisis for almost twenty years and a shocking experience.
Shareholders of the Company will be only too aware that its net asset value per share, 470p at the beginning of this financial year in July 2008, reached 257p towards the end of October 2008, with the share price touching 235p at the same time. The assets we manage fell by almost half in a period of six weeks, but over the last ten months have slowly crawled back up to a level approaching that from which we started.
The details of what happened need no repeating here; instead, it may be helpful to analyse briefly how emerging markets were affected by the crisis and what implications it has for the future.
There are perhaps three salient points to make; first, this was not an emerging market crisis, but a developed world credit problem that turned rapidly into a failure of wholesale credit markets. Emerging markets as a whole entered this crisis as net lenders to the developed world, in sharp contrast to the nineties when they relied on borrowing from developed nations to fund their growth. With relatively strong government finances and banking systems more focused on conventional domestic lending, many emerging countries experienced a sharp slowdown, particularly in external trade, but not a serious banking crisis. There have been relatively few corporate insolvencies and certainly nothing like what was seen in the Asian crisis of 1997-98. While the withdrawal of foreign investment capital meant that equity markets fell in a very similar way to the developed world (the so-called 'contagion' effect), the underlying economic fundamentals were not hugely changed and allowed a much faster recovery in share prices. Only Eastern Europe, where foreign currency debts greatly increased the vulnerability of the corporate sector, has experienced a real banking crisis and therefore a downturn more similar to those seen in previous emerging market crises.
Second, the response to the crisis in the developed world has been very different to that seen in emerging markets which experienced similar bank-led crises in recent times. While emerging markets have typically, with the encouragement of developed world agencies, dealt with crises through a combination of currency devaluation and austerity (sharp domestic recessions), such harsh medicine is intolerable and perhaps impossible in the developed world except when spread over long timeframes; in the short term great efforts have been made to prevent a contraction in the money supply. Interest rates have gone down, not up, and seem likely to remain low for some time. In the emerging world, the immediate response to this external threat to economic growth has been stimulus programmes directed at domestic investment, financed with relative ease from government funds. China has led the way in this.
So in the short term, most emerging countries are doing relatively well. Economic growth rates will remain well above those of the developed world in the next few years, though we will need to watch carefully for the risk that state-directed investment may bring about over-capacity and declining returns at some point in the future. Before that happens, the risk of an asset bubble, especially in Asia, should not be overlooked.
Third, the long term dynamic at work in emerging markets remains largely unchanged. Protectionism and closed markets still represent the greatest threat to the development of emerging economies and their companies; but it is very hard to envisage a complete unpicking of the world of integrated production, distribution and consumption that binds the developed world and the developing world together. We expect long term trends in economic development to continue along relatively well-mapped lines. The same challenges remain, but for investors like ourselves, interested above all in compounding effects sustained over long periods, where else would one rather be working to invest capital?
What did we do?
We changed some 20% of the portfolio this year. Investors should understand that we do not start each year with a budget for transaction volumes; nor do we go looking for reasons to change the portfolio, because one cannot take a long term approach by making changes every day. So instead we prefer that decisions present themselves to us when the returns on offer seem wholly disproportionate; every investment decision comes down to a judgement about the return on today's price that the market is offering us in the future and the risks that we assume to get that return.
Over the last year the pricing of some of those risks has been subject to huge fluctuations. In the second half of 2008, the economic crisis created extreme uncertainty and fear, so liquidity (which meant keeping your options open, having the freedom to change your mind and move your money easily) became very highly priced: investors would accept close to zero returns (very low interest rates) in exchange for immediate liquidity with a reliable counterparty (e.g. US government treasury bills). Conversely, very low prices were assigned to illiquid assets, including the shares of small companies, and therefore high prospective returns were offered to those able to hold them.
At the level of individual companies, markets' attitudes to liquidity were expressed through a big divergence in valuations. On the one hand, companies with the financial freedom to act and make decisions, able to fund their operations internally, with little or no debt, outperformed significantly as markets fell. Businesses which lacked this financial freedom, or worse, had significant debts that needed to be either refinanced or repaid, found themselves in the opposite position.
Because banks could no longer be relied on to roll over debt facilities, some companies found themselves facing insolvency because of a lack of liquidity and their share prices were marked down sharply, in some cases assuming imminent bankruptcy. In the year that has passed the investment opportunity lay in avoiding such stocks at all costs in the first half of the year; but from March onwards the pricing of risk returned towards a normal level and the stocks which had performed worst during the sell-off saw their shares prices rebound most strongly.
Our investment decisions during the year can be most easily understood against this simple background. Broadly speaking, we made four kinds of decisions, all of which relate to the pricing of risk during the year; we sold several investments, especially in the real estate sector, which we believed presented a very real risk of permanent loss of value. This could be through outright insolvency - though in fact this outcome has been averted in almost all cases - but could also be through the requirement to recapitalise the business, which effectively obliges shareholders to pay twice over for the same thing. Over the last few months these have looked like poor decisions, though one should take into account the use we made of the proceeds too.
We added to businesses which were being penalised by the market for the same issues of financial risk, but where in our view the risks could be easily resolved by the passage of time and would then be revalued upwards. Most but not all of these purchases were in the financial sector itself; we added to the portfolio's investments in financial services in India, China, Mexico, Russia and elsewhere. Thirdly, we reduced or sold outright other stocks where the potential for future returns appeared to be diminishing as businesses mature and slow down. And fourth, we increased or introduced new investments that we regard as long term holdings for the portfolio. These tend to have the following characteristics; we expect them to generate good returns on capital in the future; they have an opportunity to reinvest their profits which are large enough to permit many years of growth ahead of them; they have strong competitive positions. Stocks like this usually trade at valuations which reflect their qualities, but in the crisis there were opportunities to buy them when this was not the case.
The results of our policy this year have been mixed and we struggled to match the benchmark return. Analysis shows that our stock selection was somewhat disappointing, especially in a couple of markets. Perhaps not surprisingly, given the severity of market falls, cash was a positive contributor to relative returns. By spending much of the cash after markets had fallen, we managed to avoid handing back most of this positive effect as markets recovered. Overall, however, we found this a challenging year. As we continue into the current year, we have two clear priorities: to take adequate risk and to refresh the portfolio to ensure that our ideas produce the best pay-off for shareholders.
What happens next?
The typical evolution of a market recovery divides into several phases and we do not expect this one to be different. First, fear slowly abates and valuation rises towards previous norms. Second, valuations do not stop but go on to look expensive. Third, corporate profits come out ahead of expectations and valuations in fact turn out to be normal after all. Fourth, valuations rise again and the market really does become over-valued. Fifth, company profits begin to undershoot expectations but nobody cares, such is the momentum in share prices and the fear of being left behind. Sixth, reality strikes and it is all over. The markets we invest in are not all identically placed, but most of them are in the second phase and some are moving into the third; the first phase of the normalisation of valuations has been largely completed in the space of a few months.
If this gives a broad market context for our future decisions, it is worth repeating that individual companies are really what interest us the most. Given the convergence of valuations that we have seen, differentiated profit performance seems likely to be a very significant factor in determining stock performance in the next few years. Accordingly, our research effort continues to look above all for companies which can persistently create value for shareholders, especially by reinvesting and growing their businesses. We particularly like companies able to grow their share of a market that is itself growing.
Although this tends to focus the mind on Asia above all, where general economic growth rates are highest, the reality of what we do is much more specific than that. Accordingly, the relevance of broad generalisations about markets and sectors is limited; we can be (and are) as interested in a supermarket retailer in China as in a micro-lender in Latin America; one of the best investment opportunities we came across in the last twelve months was in Russia. For all the many ways that exist of talking about, measuring, categorising and appraising the practice of investment, we strive to keep it as simple as possible; we look for businesses where we can be confident that they will be worth a lot more in the future than they are in the present, and we try to combine them in a diversified portfolio. To do this, we will keep deploying the abilities of our people, aiming to produce good returns for this portfolio, in the same way that we have in the past.
Austin Forey
Investment Manager
1st October 2009
Principal Risks
With the assistance of the Manager, the Board has drawn up a risk matrix, which identifies the key risks to the Company. These key risks fall broadly under the following categories:
• Investment Underperformance: An inappropriate investment strategy, for example asset allocation, the level of gearing or the degree of portfolio risk, could lead to underperformance against the Company's benchmark index and peer companies, resulting in the Company's shares trading on a wider discount. The Board manages these risks by diversification of investments and through a set of investment restrictions and guidelines which are monitored and reported on by the Manager. JPMorgan Asset Management (UK) Limited ('JPMAM') provides the Directors with timely and accurate management information, including performance data and attribution analyses, revenue estimates, liquidity reports and shareholder analyses. The Board monitors the implementation and results of the investment process with the Investment Manager, who attends all Board meetings, and reviews data which show statistical measures of the Company's risk profile.
• Political and Economic: Administrative risks, such as the imposition of restrictions on the free movement of capital.
• Loss of Investment Team or Investment Manager: A sudden departure of the investment manager or several members of the investment management team could result in a short-term deterioration in investment performance. The Manager takes steps to reduce the likelihood of such an event by ensuring appropriate succession planning and the adoption of a team based approach, as well as special efforts to retain key personnel.
• Discount: A disproportionate widening of the discount relative to the Company's peers could result in loss of value for shareholders. The Board regularly discusses discount policy and has set parameters for the Manager and the Company's broker to follow.
• Change of Corporate Control of the Manager: The Board holds regular meetings with senior representatives of JPMAM in order to obtain assurance that the Manager continues to demonstrate a high degree of commitment to its investment trusts business through the provision of significant resources.
• Accounting, Legal and Regulatory: In order to qualify as an investment trust, the Company must comply with Section 842 of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988 ('Section 842'). Details of the Company's approval are given under 'Business of the Company' above. Were the Company to breach Section 842, it might lose investment trust status and, as a consequence, gains within the Company's portfolio would be subject to Capital Gains Tax. The Section 842 qualification criteria are continually monitored by JPMAM and the results reported to the Board each month. The Company must also comply with the provisions of the Companies Act 2006 and, since its shares are listed on the London Stock Exchange, the UKLA Listing Rules. A breach of the Companies Act could result in the Company and/or the Directors being fined or the subject of criminal proceedings. Breach of the UKLA Listing Rules could result in the Company's shares being suspended from listing which in turn would breach Section 842. The Board relies on the services of its Company Secretary, JPMAM, and its professional advisers to ensure compliance with the Companies Act and the UKLA Listing Rules.
• Corporate Governance and Shareholder Relations: Details of the Company's compliance with Corporate Governance best practice, including information on relations with shareholders, are set out in the Corporate Governance section of the annual report.
• Operational: Disruption to, or failure of, JPMAM's accounting, dealing or payments systems or the custodian's records could prevent accurate reporting and monitoring of the Company's financial position. Details of how the Board monitors the services provided by JPMAM and its associates and the key elements designed to provide effective internal control are included within the Internal Control section of the Corporate Governance report.
• Financial: The financial risks faced by the Company include market price risk, interest rate risk and credit risk. Further details are disclosed in note 22 of the annual report.
Related Parties Transactions
During the financial year, no transactions with related parties have taken place which have materially affected the financial position or the performance of the Company during the year.
Directors' Responsibilities
The Directors each confirm to the best of their knowledge that:
a) the financial statements have been prepared in accordance with applicable UK accounting standards, and give a true and fair view of the assets, liabilities, financial position and profit or loss of the Company; and
b) the Annual Report, to be published shortly, includes a fair review of the development and performance
of the business and the position of the Company, together with a description of the principal risks and uncertainties that they face.
For and on behalf of the Board
Roy Reynolds
Income Statement
for the year ended 30th June 2009
|
|
|
2009 |
|
|
2008 |
|
|
|
Revenue |
Capital |
Total |
Revenue |
Capital |
Total |
|
|
£'000 |
£'000 |
£'000 |
£'000 |
£'000 |
£'000 |
(Losses)/gains on investments held at fair |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
value through profit or loss |
|
- |
(73,264) |
(73,264) |
- |
8,491 |
8,491 |
Net foreign currency losses |
|
- |
(316) |
(316) |
- |
(516) |
(516) |
Income from investments |
|
11,033 |
- |
11,033 |
9,356 |
- |
9,356 |
Other interest receivable and |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
similar income |
|
311 |
- |
311 |
100 |
- |
100 |
Gross return/(loss) |
|
11,344 |
(73,580) |
(62,236) |
9,456 |
7,975 |
17,431 |
Management fee |
|
(4,106) |
- |
(4,106) |
(5,394) |
- |
(5,394) |
Performance fee written back |
|
- |
- |
- |
- |
1,020 |
1,020 |
VAT recoverable |
|
38 |
(42) |
(4) |
811 |
292 |
1,103 |
Other administrative expenses |
|
(962) |
- |
(962) |
(1,016) |
- |
(1,016) |
Net return/(loss) on ordinary activities |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
before finance costs and taxation |
|
6,314 |
(73,622) |
(67,308) |
3,857 |
9,287 |
13,144 |
Finance costs |
|
- |
- |
- |
(129) |
- |
(129) |
Net return/(loss) on ordinary activities |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
before taxation |
|
6,314 |
(73,622) |
(67,308) |
3,728 |
9,287 |
13,015 |
Taxation |
|
(1,426) |
922 |
(504) |
(870) |
533 |
(337) |
Net return/(loss) on ordinary activities |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
after taxation |
|
4,888 |
(72,700) |
(67,812) |
2,858 |
9,820 |
12,678 |
Return/(loss) per share (note 3) |
|
4.43p |
(65.91)p |
(61.48)p |
2.59p |
8.90p |
11.49p |
Dividends proposed in respect of the financial year ended 30th June 2009 total 3.2p per share (2008: 2.0p per share) costing £3,530,000 (2008: £2,206,000).
All revenue and capital items in the above statement derive from continuing operations. No operations were acquired or discontinued in the year.
The 'Total' column of this statement is the Profit and Loss Account of the Company, and the 'Revenue' and 'Capital' columns represent supplementary information prepared under guidance issued by the Association of Investment Companies. The Total column represents all the information that is required to be disclosed in a Statement of Total Recognised Gains and Losses ('STRGL'). For this reason a STRGL has not been presented.
Reconciliation of Movements in Shareholders' Funds
|
Called up |
|
Capital |
|
|
|
|
|
share |
Share |
redemption |
Other |
Capital |
Revenue |
|
|
capital |
premium |
reserve |
reserve |
reserves |
reserve |
Total |
|
£'000 |
£'000 |
£'000 |
£'000 |
£'000 |
£'000 |
£'000 |
At 30th June 2007 |
27,575 |
71,052 |
1,665 |
69,939 |
335,042 |
2,685 |
507,958 |
Net return on ordinary activities |
- |
- |
- |
- |
9,820 |
2,858 |
12,678 |
Dividends appropriated in the year |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
(2,206) |
(2,206) |
At 30th June 2008 |
27,575 |
71,052 |
1,665 |
69,939 |
344,862 |
3,337 |
518,430 |
Bonus issue of Subscription shares |
221 |
(221) |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
Subscription shares' issue costs |
- |
(252) |
- |
- |
- |
- |
(252) |
Net (loss)/return on ordinary activities |
- |
- |
- |
- |
(72,700) |
4,888 |
(67,812) |
Dividends appropriated in the year |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
(2,206) |
(2,206) |
At 30th June 2009 |
27,796 |
70,579 |
1,665 |
69,939 |
272,162 |
6,019 |
448,160 |
Balance Sheet
At 30th June 2009
|
|
2009 |
2008 |
|
|
£'000 |
£'000 |
Fixed assets |
|
|
|
Investments held at fair value through profit or loss |
|
444,352 |
494,109 |
Investment in liquidity fund held at fair value through profit or loss |
|
496 |
23,793 |
Total investments |
|
444,848 |
517,902 |
Current assets |
|
|
|
Debtors |
|
10,064 |
2,392 |
Cash and short term deposits |
|
364 |
7 |
Derivative financial instrument: forward currency contract at |
|
|
|
fair value through profit or loss |
|
- |
2 |
|
|
10,428 |
2,401 |
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year |
|
(7,116) |
(1,873) |
Net current assets |
|
3,312 |
528 |
Total assets less current liabilities |
|
448,160 |
518,430 |
Provisions for liabilities and charges |
|
- |
- |
Total net assets |
|
448,160 |
518,430 |
Capital and reserves |
|
|
|
Called up share capital |
|
27,796 |
27,575 |
Share premium |
|
70,579 |
71,052 |
Capital redemption reserve |
|
1,665 |
1,665 |
Other reserve |
|
69,939 |
69,939 |
Capital reserves |
|
272,162 |
344,862 |
Revenue reserve |
|
6,019 |
3,337 |
Shareholders' funds |
|
448,160 |
518,430 |
Net asset value per share (note 4) |
|
406.3p |
470.0p |
Cash Flow Statement
for the year ended 30th June 2009
|
|
2009 |
2008 |
|
|
£'000 |
£'000 |
Net cash inflow/(outflow) from operating activities |
|
6,017 |
(1,351) |
Returns on investments and servicing of finance |
|
|
|
Interest paid |
|
- |
(129) |
Net cash outflow from returns on investments and servicing |
|
|
|
of finance |
|
- |
(129) |
Taxation |
|
|
|
Taxation recovered |
|
6 |
3 |
Capital expenditure and financial investment |
|
|
|
Purchases of investments |
|
(96,628) |
(189,032) |
Sales of investments |
|
93,582 |
192,335 |
Other capital charges |
|
(65) |
(20) |
Net cash (outflow)/inflow from capital expenditure and financial |
|
|
|
investment |
|
(3,111) |
3,283 |
Dividends paid |
|
(2,206) |
(2,206) |
Net cash inflow/(outflow) before financing |
|
706 |
(400) |
Financing |
|
|
|
Subscription shares' issue costs |
|
(42) |
- |
Net cash outflow from financing |
|
(42) |
- |
Increase/(decrease) in cash in the year |
|
664 |
(400) |
Notes to Accounts
1. Accounting policies
The accounts are prepared in accordance with the Companies Act 2006, United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice ('UK GAAP') and with the Statement of Recommended Practice 'Financial Statements of Investment Trust Companies' (the 'SORP') issued by the AIC in January 2009. All of the Company's operations are of a continuing nature.
The accounts have been prepared on a going concern basis under the historical cost convention, as modified by the revaluation of investments and derivative financial instruments at fair value.
2. Dividends
|
2009 |
2008 |
|
£'000 |
£'000 |
Dividends paid and proposed |
|
|
Dividends paid |
|
|
2008 Final dividend of 2.0p (2007: 2.0p) |
2,206 |
2,206 |
Total dividends paid in the year |
2,206 |
2,206 |
Dividends proposed |
|
|
Final dividend proposed of 3.2p (2008: 2.0p) |
3,530 |
2,206 |
Total dividends proposed |
3,530 |
2,206 |
The final dividend proposed in respect of the year ended 30th June 2009 is subject to approval at the forthcoming Annual General Meeting. In accordance with the accounting policy of the Company, this dividend will be reflected in the accounts for the year ending 30th June 2010.
3. Return/(loss) per share
The revenue return per share is based on the earnings attributable to the Ordinary shares of £4,888,000 (2008: £2,858,000) and on the weighted average number of shares in issue during the year of 110,303,742 (2008: 110,303,742).
The capital return per share is based on the capital loss attributable to the Ordinary shares of £72,700,000 (2008: £9,820,000 gain) and on the weighted average number of shares in issue during the year of 110,303,742 (2008: 110,303,742).
The total return per share is based on the total loss attributable to the Ordinary shares of £67,812,000 (2008: £12,678,000 gain) and on the weighted average number of shares in issue during the year of 110,303,742 (2008: 110,303,742).
4. Net asset value per share
Net asset value per share is based on funds attributable to shareholders of £448,160,000 (2008: £518,430,000) and on 110,303,742 (2008: 110,303,742) shares in issue at the year end.
5. Status of preliminary announcement
2008 Financial Information
The figures and financial information for 2008 are extracted from the published Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 30 June 2008 and do not constitute the statutory accounts for that year. The Annual Report and Accounts has been delivered to the Registrar of Companies and included the Report of the Independent Auditors which was unqualified and did not contain a statement under either section 237(2) or section 237(3) of the Companies Act 1985.
2009 Financial Information
The figures and financial information for 2009 are extracted from the Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 30 June 2009 and do not constitute the statutory accounts for the year. The Annual Report and Financial Statements includes the Report of the Independent Auditors which is unqualified and does not contain a statement under either section 498(2) or section 498(3) of the Companies Act 2006. The Annual Report and Accounts will be delivered to the Register of Companies in due course.
JPMORGAN ASSET MANAGEMENT (UK) LIMITED
Please note that up to date information on the Company, including daily NAV and share prices, factsheets and portfolio information can be found at www.jpmemergingmarkets.co.uk
For further information please contact:
Jonathan Latter
For and on behalf of
JPMorgan Asset Management (UK) Limited, Secretary 020 7742 6000
1st October 2009