Final Results

RNS Number : 0135H

JPMorgan European Smaller Co.

02 June 2017

 

LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE ANNOUNCEMENT

JPMORGAN EUROPEAN SMALLER COMPANIES TRUST PLC

FINAL RESULTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED
31st MARCH 2017

Legal Entity Identifier: 54930049CEWDI46Y3U28

Information disclosed in accordance with DTR 4.1.3

chairman's statement

Dear Shareholder,

I am pleased to present the Company's results for the year ended 31st March 2017.

Performance

This financial year was a great one for sterling investors in European equities with the Company producing a total return on net assets of +26.7%. Bearing in mind this period covered the Brexit vote, the election of President Trump, Mr Renzi losing the Italian referendum and resigning and also the run up to French Presidential election where the National Front were doing well in the opinion polls, this is a remarkable outcome and reflects the economic recovery that is under way in Europe and the very loose monetary conditions.

The total return on net assets of +26.7% was behind the Company's benchmark index, the Euromoney Smaller European Companies (ex UK) index of +29.0%. It would have been difficult to foresee such a strong market performance as we came into the US election and the Investment Managers had positioned the portfolio somewhat defensively in the Autumn.

The medium and long term performance of your Company remains very strong with three year total return on net assets of +48.1% compared to the benchmark index of +38.4% and the five year total return on net assets of +143.1% comparing to the benchmark index of +110.6%.

The share price total return was +22.4%, a little less than that of net assets as the discount widened.

The performance attribution analysis is set out in the Investment Managers' Report below. Their report reviews the market and provides more detail on performance and the stocks and countries in which the Company is invested.

Revenue and Dividends

The Board's dividend policy is to pay out the majority of the revenue available each year. This is set against the Company's objective of maximising capital growth and the Investment Managers are therefore not constrained to deliver income in any one financial year.

Net revenue return for the year increased to £7.8 million (2016: £5.7 million), reflecting an increase in dividend receipts as well as exchange rate differences. An interim dividend of 1.2 pence per share was paid on 4th January 2017. Subject to shareholder approval at the forthcoming Annual General Meeting, a final dividend of 3.5 pence per share will be paid on 18th July 2017 to shareholders on the register as at the close of business on 16th June 2017 (ex dividend date 15th June 2017).

Discounts and Share Repurchases

The discount of the Company's share price to net asset value widened over the year from 10.8% to 13.9% at the year end and at the time of writing is 10.0%. The Board continues to monitor the level of the discount carefully and seeks to use its ability to repurchase shares to minimise the short term volatility and the absolute level of the discount. During the year the Company repurchased 160,000 shares for cancellation.

Investment Management Fees and Manager Evaluation

Following constructive discussions with the Manager a revised fee arrangement was agreed in January of this year and became effective from 1st April 2017. The investment management fee is now charged on a tiered basis at an annual rate of 1.00% of the Company's net assets on the first £400 million and a reduced rate of 0.85% on net assets above that amount.

During the year, the Management Engagement Committee undertook a formal review of the Manager, covering the investment management, company secretarial, administrative and marketing services provided to the Company. The review took into account the Manager's extremely good long term investment performance record, management processes, investment style, resources and risk control mechanisms. I am pleased to report that the Board agreed with the Committee's recommendation that the continued appointment of the Manager is very much in the interests of shareholders as a whole.

The Board

As reported in my statement in the Half Year Report, Marc van Gelder joined the Board in August last year. Marc will stand for reappointment at the Annual General Meeting and I look forward to introducing him to shareholders then. In addition, in line with the best corporate governance practice, all other Directors will offer themselves for re-appointment.

Annual General Meeting

The Company's Annual General Meeting will be held at 60 Victoria Embankment, London EC4Y 0JP on Tuesday, 11th July 2017 at 12.00 noon. The Investment Managers will make a presentation covering the past year and give their outlook for the current year. Shareholders are invited to join the Investment Managers and the Board for lunch following the Annual General Meeting when there will be an opportunity for informal questions.

If you have any detailed or technical questions, it would be helpful if you could raise them in advance with the Company Secretary at 60 Victoria Embankment, London EC4Y 0JP or via the 'Ask a Question' link on the Company's website. Shareholders who are unable to attend the Annual General Meeting are encouraged to use their proxy votes.

Outlook

After a year of considerable uncertainty about how political developments will effect the European union, the recent success of centre party leaders at both the French and Dutch elections and some optimistic opinion polls on the outcome for a successful election of Chancellor Merkel and Mr Renzi hopefully point to a more cohesive political outlook for Europe going forward.

This, coupled with a global economic recovery gathering more traction and the maintenance of very low interest rates should bode well for European markets over the forthcoming year. However, in the short term markets have risen strongly and could consolidate.

Carolan Dobson

Chairman

2nd June 2017

Investment managers' report

Investment Scope and Process

The objective of the Company is to achieve capital growth from a portfolio of quoted smaller companies in Europe, excluding the United Kingdom. The investment universe is defined at the time of purchase by the countries and market capitalisation range of the constituents of the benchmark index, the Euromoney Smaller European Companies (ex UK) Index. At the end of March 2017 the index consisted of 1,000 companies with a market value of between £22 million and £4.4 billion across 14 countries. This universe of potential investments is screened using a proprietary multi-factor model. We apply fundamental analysis to the results of this screening.

The investment process is driven by bottom-up stock selection with a focus on identifying market leading growth companies with a catalyst for outperformance. Stock position sizing is determined by investment conviction and trading liquidity. Investments are sold when there is a fundamental deterioration in business prospects or the market capitalisation has significantly outgrown the benchmark index.  The Board has set a liquidity range of between 20% cash and 20% gearing within which the Managers may operate. The policy is not to hedge the currency exposure of the portfolio's assets.

 

Market Review

The 2017 financial year was regularly punctuated by fears of political upheaval. Optimism from the European Central Bank's ('ECB') easing measures in March continued into early June until markets took fright at the potential negative consequences of the UK's decision to leave the European Union ('Brexit'). Fortunately these proved unfounded, as were later fears surrounding President Trump's election as US president in December and the then Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's loss of the Italian constitutional referendum in December. With economic indicators suggesting that, for the first time since the financial crisis, we had a synchronised global economic recovery, and with central banks remaining very accommodating, markets rose sharply towards the financial year end.

In the 12 months to March 2017, the MSCI Europe (ex UK) Index rose by 28.4% and the Company's benchmark index rose by 29.0%.

Portfolio Performance

Over the financial year the net asset value of the Company rose by 26.7%, however, a cautious stock selection stance due to political uncertainties resulted in the net asset value of the Company underperforming its benchmark by 2.3%. Stocks which disappointed included Dutch exchange-traded products liquidity provider, Flow Traders, due to concerns around market share losses, Dutch bedroom furnishings retailer, Beter Bed, as it continued to lack traction in the German market due to an unattractive product portfolio, and Dutch trust and corporate services provider, Intertrust, due to further poor organic growth. Top contributers to performance included Swedish cosmetics retailer, Oriflame, as a result of continued strong growth in Emerging Markets including China, French furniture retailer, Maisons Du Monde, due to strong operational execution of its omnichannel strategy since its IPO in May 2016, and French recreational vehicle manufacturer, Trigano, as it continued to gain market share.

Portfolio Positioning

Due to improving results of many industrial companies, we increased the cyclical tilt of the portfolio through the financial year, as evidenced by the higher exposure to the Industrial Engineering sector. For example, we added companies such as Italian high pressure pumps producer, Interpump, and Swedish industrial products manufacturer Trelleborg. Additionally, as a result of the stabilisation of commodity prices we purchased companies such as Norwegian oil services provider, Subsea 7, and Danish cement and mining machinery manufacturer, FLSmidth. Following the correction in bond yields we increased our exposure to the financial sector through companies such as Norwegian branchless digital bank, Skandiabanken, and Italian asset manager, Finecobank. Finally, due to recovering global luxury goods end markets we added Salvatore Ferragamo in Italy and Hugo Boss in Germany.

To fund these purchases we reduced our exposure to companies with more defensive business models including German biotech equipment manufacturer, Sartorius AG, and Italian pharmaceutical company, Recordati, as outperformance lead to the market capitalisations of both becoming too large to hold in the portfolio. We also sold Norwegian fish farmers, Bakkafrost and Salmar, as the global demand/supply dynamics for salmon appeared to be worsening. The Italian premium notebook provider, Moleskine, was sold following a bid for the company by the Belgium company, D'Ieteren. We remained underweight real estate due to rising bond yields and pharmaceuticals due to unattractive valuations.

The biggest shift at the country level was the reduction in the substantial overweight exposure to the Netherlands by selling underperforming companies; Flow Traders, Beter Bed and Intertrust. Attractive new investment opportunities were identified in Italy including the pharmaceutical and food packaging machinery manufacturer, IMA, and the kitchen appliances manufacturer, De'Longhi. Our largest underweight country exposure continued to be in Spain where we continue to find valuations unattractive and are concerned by Spanish companies generally high exposure to Brazil, which remains one of the few weak economies in the world.

The level of gearing rose from 2.6% cash at the start of the period to 5.3% geared by the end of the period. We added gearing as the global economic outlook brightened through the year and this was a positive contributor to returns.

Outlook

Fears of an impending populist uprising in Continental Europe have so far proven unfounded as the Dutch and French voted overwhelmingly for centrist parties. Moreover, more recent opinion polls in Germany now expect Chancellor Merkel to win a fourth term. Mr Renzi, the newly elected Secretary of the centrist Italian Democratic Party, is also leading in the polls after several months of trailing the populist Five Star Movement party. Our overweight exposure to Italy and France reflect our expectation of benign political outcomes.

The synchronised global economic recovery is gaining traction, central banks remain supportive and we are seeing earnings growth in Europe accelerating for the first time in a number of years. Such a benign scenario is reflected in our overweight positions in sectors such as Industrial Engineering and Automobiles and Parts.

While we are fundamentally positive for the rest of the year, short term our enthusiasm is tempered by the more than 20% rise in markets since the November lows, with barely a pause for breath. With this in mind and given our high cyclical exposure we thought it prudent to reduce the gearing after the year end with a view to redeploying it at a later stage, should the opportunity arise.

Jim Campbell*

Francesco Conte

Edward Greaves

Investment Managers

2nd June 2017

*As announced on 21st March 2017 Mr Campbell is currently on personal leave.

Principal Risks

The Directors confirm that they have carried out a robust assessment of the principal risks facing the Company, including those that would threaten its business model, future performance, solvency or liquidity.

With the assistance of the Manager, the Board has drawn up a risk matrix, which identifies the key risks to the Company. In assessing the risks and how they can be mitigated, the Board has given particular attention to those risks that might threaten the viability of the Company. These key risks fall broadly under the following categories:

• Investment Underperformance and Strategy: An inappropriate investment strategy, for example excessive concentration of investments, asset allocation, the level of gearing or the degree of portfolio risk, may lead to underperformance against the Company's benchmark index and peer companies, which may result in the Company's shares trading on a wider discount.

   The Board manages these risks by diversification of investments through its investment restrictions and guidelines which are monitored and reported on by the Manager. JPMF 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 Managers, who attend all Board meetings, and reviews data which show statistical measures of the Company's risk profile. The Board sets strategic guidelines for gearing as well as investments. Once those are agreed, decisions on levels of gearing are delegated to the Investment Managers, whose decisions are subject to challenge by the Board. The Board holds a separate meeting devoted to strategy each year.

• Market and Currency: Market risk arises from uncertainty about the future prices of the Company's investments. It represents the potential loss that the Company might suffer through holding investments in the face of negative market movements. The Board considers asset allocation, stock selection and levels of gearing on a regular basis and has set investment restrictions and guidelines which are monitored and reported on by JPMF. The Board monitors the implementation and results of the investment process with the Manager. The majority of the Company's assets, liabilities and income are denominated in Euros rather than in the Company's functional currency of sterling (in which it reports). As a result, movements in the Euro:sterling exchange rate may affect the sterling value of those items. Therefore, there is an inherent risk from these exchange rate movements. The fair value or future cash flows of a financial instrument held by the Company may fluctuate because of changes in market prices. This market risk comprises three elements - currency risk, interest rate risk and other price risk. Information to enable an evaluation of the nature and extent of these three elements of market risk is given in note 21(a) on pages 57 to 60 of the Annual Report, together with details of how the Board manages these risks.

• Accounting, Legal and Regulatory: In order to qualify as an investment trust, the Company must comply with Section 1158 of the Corporation Tax Act 2010 ('Section 1158'). Details of the Company's approval are given under 'Business of the Company' on page 16 of the Annual Report. Were the Company to breach Section 1158, it may lose investment trust status and, as a consequence, gains within the Company's portfolio would be subject to capital gains tax. The Section 1158 qualification criteria are continually monitored by JPMF 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, the Market Abuse Regulations ('MAR'), Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules ('DTRs') and, as an investment trust, the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive ('AIFMD'). 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 or DTRs could result in the Company's shares being suspended from listing which in turn would breach Section 1158. Failure of the Manager to comply with the AIFMD could lead to the Manager losing its status as an Alternative Investment Fund Manager ('AIFM') and the Company would then need to change its AIFM. The Board relies on the services of its Company Secretary, the Manager and its professional advisers to ensure compliance with the Companies Act, the UKLA Listing Rules, MAR, DTRs and AIFMD. 

• 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 Statement in the Annual Report.

• Operational: Loss of key staff by the Manager, such as the Investment Managers, could affect the performance of the Company. Disruption to, or failure of, the Manager's accounting, dealing or payments systems or the Depositary or Custodian's records may prevent accurate reporting and monitoring of the Company's financial position. Under the terms of its agreement, the Depositary has strict liability for the loss or misappropriation of assets held in custody. See note 21 of the Annual Report for further details on the responsibilities of the Depositary. Details of how the Board monitors the services provided by JPMF and its associates and the key elements designed to provide effective risk management and internal controls are included within the Risk Management and Internal Controls section of the Corporate Governance Statement in the Annual Report.

• Cyber Crime: The threat of cyber attack, in all its guises, is regarded as at least as important as more traditional physical threats to business continuity and security. The Board has received the cyber security policies for its key third party service providers and JPMF has assured Directors that the Company benefits directly or indirectly from all elements of JPMorgan's Cyber Security programme. The information technology controls around the physical security of JPMorgan's data centres, security of its networks and security of its trading applications are tested and reported on every six months against the AAF Standard.

• Financial: The financial risks arising from the Company's financial instruments include market price risk, interest rate risk, liquidity risk and credit risk. Further details are disclosed in note 21 of the Annual Report

statement of directors' responsibilities

The Directors are responsible for preparing the Annual Report and Accounts in accordance with applicable law and regulations.

Company law requires the Directors to prepare financial statements for each financial year. Under that law, the Directors have elected to prepare the financial statements in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice (United Kingdom Accounting Standards and applicable law). Under company law the Directors must not approve the financial statements unless they are satisfied that, taken as a whole, the Annual Report and Accounts are fair, balanced and understandable, provide the information necessary for shareholders to assess the Company's position and performance, business model and strategy and that they give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the Company and of the total return or loss of the Company for that period. In order to provide these confirmations, and in preparing these financial statements, the Directors are required to:

• select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;

• make judgements and accounting estimates that are reasonable and prudent;

• state whether applicable UK Accounting Standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and

• prepare the financial statements on a going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the Company will continue in business

and the Directors confirm that they have done so.

The Directors are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the Company's transactions and disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the Company and to enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the Company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

The financial statements are published on the www.jpmeuropeansmallercompanies.co.uk website, which is maintained by the Company's Manager. The maintenance and integrity of the website maintained by the Manager is, so far as it relates to the Company, the responsibility of the Manager. The work carried out by the Auditors does not involve consideration of the maintenance and integrity of this website and, accordingly, the Auditors accept no responsibility for any changes that have occurred to the financial statements since they were initially presented on the website. The financial statements are prepared in accordance with UK legislation, which may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.

Under applicable law and regulations the Directors are also responsible for preparing a Directors' Report, Strategic Report, Statement of Corporate Governance and Directors' Remuneration Report that comply with that law and those regulations.

Each of the Directors, whose names and functions are listed on pages 21 and 22 of the Annual Report confirm that, to the best of their knowledge:

• the financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice (United Kingdom Accounting Standards and applicable law), give a true and fair view of the assets, liabilities, financial position and return or loss of the Company; and

• the Strategic Report 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 it faces.

The Board confirms that it is satisfied that the Annual Report and Accounts taken as a whole are fair, balanced and understandable and provide the information necessary for shareholders to assess the strategy and business model of the Company.

The Board also confirms that it is satisfied that the Strategic Report and Directors' Report include 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 the Company faces.

For and on behalf of the Board

Carolan Dobson

Chairman

2nd June 2017

statement of comprehensive income

for the year ended 31st March 2017

	2017			2016
	Revenue	Capital	Total	Revenue	Capital	Total
	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000
Gains on investments held at fair value through profit or loss	-	127,358	127,358	-	69,936	69,936
Net foreign currency gains/(losses)	-	164	164	-	(1,191)	(1,191)
Income from investments	10,587	-	10,587	8,357	-	8,357
Interest receivable and similar income1	67	-	67	91	-	91
Gross return	10,654	127,522	138,176	8,448	68,745	77,193
Management fee	(1,622)	(3,785)	(5,407)	(1,345)	(3,139)	(4,484)
Other administrative expenses1	(779)	-	(779)	(792)	-	(792)
Net return on ordinary activities before finance costs and taxation	8,253	123,737	131,990	6,311	65,606	71,917
Finance costs	(218)	(508)	(726)	(240)	(560)	(800)
Net return on ordinary activities before taxation	8,035	123,229	131,264	6,071	65,046	71,117
Taxation	(228)	-	(228)	(339)	-	(339)
Net return on ordinary activities after taxation	7,807	123,229	131,036	5,732	65,046	70,778
Return per share (note 3)	4.88p	76.97p	81.85p	3.58p	40.62p	44.20p

1      Negative interest income from the liquidity fund was included within expenses in the prior year, this has been reclassified under income in the current year, with retrospective amendment to the comparative.

Statement of Changes in equity

for the year ended 31st March 2017

	Called up		Capital
	share	Share	redemption	Capital	Revenue
	capital	premium	reserve	reserves	reserve1	Total
	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000
At 31st March 2015	8,008	1,312	7,628	406,499	6,280	429,727
Net return on ordinary activities	-	-	-	65,046	5,732	70,778
Dividends paid in the year	-	-	-	-	(5,125)	(5,125)
At 31st March 2016	8,008	1,312	7,628	471,545	6,887	495,380
Repurchase and cancellation of the Company's own shares	(8)	-	8	(447)	-	(447)
Net return on ordinary activities	-	-	-	123,229	7,807	131,036
Dividends paid in the year	-	-	-	-	(5,123)	(5,123)
At 31st March 2017	8,000	1,312	7,636	594,327	9,571	620,846

1    This reserve forms the distributable reserve of the Company and may be used to fund distribution of profits to investors via dividend payments.

statement of financial position

at 31st March 2017

	2017	2016
	£'000	£'000
Fixed assets
Investments held at fair value through profit or loss	653,619	482,590
Current assets
Derivative financial instruments	-	1
Debtors	8,293	2,889
Cash and cash equivalents	24,285	53,392
	32,578	56,282
Current liabilities
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year	(65,351)	(43,492)
Net current (liabilities)/assets	(32,773)	12,790
Total assets less current liabilities	620,846	495,380
Net assets	620,846	495,380
Capital and reserves
Called up share capital	8,000	8,008
Share premium	1,312	1,312
Capital redemption reserve	7,636	7,628
Capital reserves	594,327	471,545
Revenue reserve	9,571	6,887
Total equity shareholders' funds	620,846	495,380
Net asset value per share (note 4)	388.1p	309.3p

 

statement of cash flows

for the year ended 31st March 2017

	2017	2016
	£'000	£'000
Net cash outflow from operations before dividends and interest	(2,990)	(2,552)
Dividends received	8,177	6,497
Interest paid on cash and cash equivalents1	(8)	(17)
Overseas tax recovered	800	249
Interest paid	(688)	(769)
Net cash inflow from operating activities	5,291	3,408
Purchases of investments and derivatives	(848,845)	(881,746)
Sales of investments and derivatives	802,734	933,115
Settlement of foreign currency contracts	97	(62)
Net cash (outflow)/inflow from investing activities	(46,014)	51,307
Dividends paid	(5,123)	(5,125)
Repurchase and cancellation of the Company's own shares	(447)	-
Drawdown of bank loans	60,190	28,622
Repayment of bank loans	(43,017)	(36,142)
Net cash inflow/(outflow) from financing activities	11,603	(12,645)
(Decrease)/increase in cash and cash equivalents	(29,120)	42,070
Cash and cash equivalents at start of year	53,392	11,292
Exchange movements	13	30
Cash and cash equivalents at end of year	24,285	53,392
(Decrease)/increase in cash and cash equivalents	(29,120)	42,070
Cash and cash equivalents consist of:
Cash and short term deposits	265	6,248
Cash held in JPMorgan Euro Liquidity Fund	24,020	47,144
Total	24,285	53,392

1      Negative interest income from the liquidity fund was included within expenses in the prior year, this has been reclassified under income in the current year, with retrospective amendment to the comparative.

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

for the year ended 31st March 2017

1.     Accounting policies

(a)   Basis of accounting

The financial statements are prepared under the historical cost convention, modified to include fixed asset investments at fair value, and in accordance with the Companies Act 2006, United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice ('UK GAAP'), including FRS 102 'The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland' and with the Statement of Recommended Practice 'Financial Statements of Investment Trust Companies and Venture Capital Trusts' (the 'SORP') issued by the Association of Investment Companies in November 2014, updated in January 2017.

All of the Company's operations are of a continuing nature.

The financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis.

The policies applied in these financial statements are consistent with those applied in the preceding year.

2.     Dividends

(a)   Dividends paid and proposed

		2017	2016
		£'000	£'000
	Dividends paid
	2016 final dividend of 2.0p (2015: 2.0p) per share	3,203	3,203
	2017 interim dividend of 1.2p (2016: 1.2p) per share	1,920	1,922
	Total dividends paid in the year	5,123	5,125
	Dividend proposed
	2017 final dividend of 3.5p (2016: 2.0p) per share	5,600	3,203

All dividends paid and declared in the period have been funded from the revenue reserve.

The final dividend has been proposed in respect of the year ended 31st March 2017 and 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 financial statements for the year ending 31st March 2018.

3.     Return per share

		2017	2016
		£'000	£'000
	Revenue return	7,807	5,732
	Capital return	123,229	65,046
	Total return	131,036	70,778
	Weighted average number of shares in issue during the year	160,090,789	160,147,885
	Revenue return per share	4.88p	3.58p
	Capital return per share	76.97p	40.62p
	Total return per share	81.85p	44.20p

4.     Net asset value per share

		2017	2016
	Net assets (£'000)	620,846	495,380
	Number of shares in issue	159,987,885	160,147,885
	Net asset value per share	388.1p	309.3p

JPMORGAN FUNDS LIMITED

2nd June 2017

For further information:

Jonathan Latter,

JPMorgan Funds Limited

ENDS

A copy of the annual report will shortly be submitted to the National Storage Mechanism and will be available for inspection at www.morningstar.co.uk/uk/NSM

The annual report will also shortly be available on the Company's website at www.jpmeuropeansmallercompanies.co.uk where up to date information on the Company, including daily NAV and share prices, factsheets and portfolio information can also be found.

JPMORGAN FUNDS LIMITED

 

END

 

 

FR UUORRBKANRAR