Final results for the year ended 31st July 2017

RNS Number : 5137U

JPMorgan Glb Emerging Mkts Inc Tst

24 October 2017

 

LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE ANNOUNCEMENT

JPMORGAN GLOBAL EMERGING MARKETS INCOME TRUST PLC

FINAL RESULTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31^ST JULY 2017

This announcement is made in replacement of 5082U released at 17.00 on 24 October 2017

Legal Entity Identifier: 549300OPJXU72JMCYU09

Information disclosed in accordance with DTR 4.2.2

CHAIRMAN'S STATEMENT

Performance

In the financial year to 31st July 2017 the Company generated a total return on net assets of +16.4%. The total return to shareholders was +14.4% reflecting a widening of the share price discount to net asset value from 1.5% to 3.4%. In comparison, the Company's benchmark, the MSCI Emerging Markets Index with net dividends reinvested (in sterling terms), recorded a total return of +25.7% over the reporting period. Since year-end the share price has increased to 133.9p at the time of writing.

The difference between the Company's return and that of the benchmark is due principally to the strong performance of internet and technology stocks, notably in China, which the Company does not own. These businesses pay little or no dividends and are therefore not investments that fit with the Company's income mandate. 

Revenue and Dividends

Dividend receipts rose over the year to 31st July 2017 as corporate earnings improved and emerging market currencies strengthened against sterling. Gross revenue for the year amounted to £19.9 million (2016: £17.2 million) and net revenue was £16.3 million (2016: £14.1 million). Net revenue per share for the year, calculated on the average number of shares in issue, was 5.54p (2016: 4.79p).

In the current financial year the Board paid three interim dividends of 1.0p per share and has announced the payment of a fourth interim dividend of 1.9p per share. This brings the total dividend for the year to 4.9p, unchanged from last year. After calling on some of the revenue reserve in the previous year, this year the Company's revenue reserve has increased to 4.0p per share from 3.3p per share in 2015/16. The Board continues the approach of paying four interim dividends, reflecting the support we have received from shareholders for a regular and timely income stream.

As shareholders are aware, the Company receives dividends in the currencies of developing countries and US dollars, but pays dividends in sterling. It is not the Company's policy to hedge currency risk. This policy inevitably means that the Company's asset values and cash flows will be buffeted by adverse currency movements and flattered by favourable ones. Over the past year the net impact of currency movements has been favourable.

Share Capital

During the year, the Company neither repurchased nor issued shares. The Board monitors imbalances between the supply of and demand for the Company's shares. When appropriate, the Board may resolve to issue shares, but only if the share price reflects a premium to net asset value. By the same token, the Board is prepared to buy back shares at a discount to net asset value.

A resolution to renew the authority to permit the Company to continue to repurchase shares will be proposed at the forthcoming Annual General Meeting. Resolutions renewing the authorities to issue shares from Treasury and to issue new shares at a premium to net asset value, and to disapply pre-emption rights over such issues, will also be proposed at the Annual General Meeting.

Key Performance Indicators ('KPIs')

The Board tracks a series of KPIs. Further details may be found on page 16 of the 2017 Annual Report. The Board pays particular attention to performance, income available to pay dividends, share price premium or discount, ongoing charges, the investment risk of the portfolio and governance parameters.

Gearing

The Company has two US$20 million loan facilities with National Australia Bank, due to mature in October 2020 and October 2022. As at 31st July 2017, gearing stood at 6.8% (2016: 4.7%).

Corporate Governance

In accordance with corporate governance best practice, all Directors will seek reappointment at this year's Annual General Meeting. Shareholders who wish to contact the Chairman or other members of the Board may do so through the Company Secretary or the Company's website, details of which appear below. Shareholders are assured that these communications are forwarded to the Chairman accordingly.

The Board

There were no changes to the composition of the Board during the year. I have indicated my intention to retire from the Board at the conclusion of the 2018 Annual General Meeting.  Therefore, to ensure continuity and plan for succession, the Board expects to recruit a new non-executive Director in early 2018.

Amendments to the Articles of Association

As part of the business to be proposed at the Annual General Meeting, the Board is seeking approval from shareholders for the adoption of new Articles of Association. Recent amendments to the regulations governing investment trusts removed the requirement for the articles of association of an investment company to prohibit the distribution of capital profits. The Board is conscious of the impact that issuing new Ordinary shares may have on the existing revenue reserves of the Company. Accordingly, the Board wishes to take advantage of the amended rules to allow the Company to distribute from the capital reserves so that it has the means to minimise the impact of dilution on the revenue account from the issuance of any new Ordinary Shares. The Board does not intend to change its approach to the payment of dividends by utilising this flexibility to pay dividends out of capital.

The Board is also taking the opportunity to propose some additional amendments to the Articles of Association to reflect other recent regulatory changes. These changes are further detailed on pages 23 and 24 and the Appendix on page 62 of the 2017 Annual Report.

Annual General Meeting

The Annual General Meeting will be held on Monday, 27th November 2017 at 1.00 p.m. The meeting will include a presentation from the Investment Managers on investment policy and performance. There will also be an opportunity for shareholders to meet the Board and representatives of JPMorgan after the meeting. It would be helpful if shareholders seeking answers to detailed questions put them in writing beforehand, addressed to the Company Secretary at JPMorgan Funds Limited, 60 Victoria Embankment, London EC4Y 0JP. Alternatively, questions may be submitted via the Company's website (www.jpmglobalemergingmarketsincome.co.uk). Shareholders who are unable to attend the Annual General Meeting in person are encouraged to use their proxy votes. Proxy votes may be lodged electronically, whether shares are held through CREST or in certificate form and full details are set out on the form of proxy.

Outlook

The Investment Managers' report points to an improving outlook for the Company. That prospect could be derailed at any time for geopolitical reasons beyond the Manager's control. Looking, however, at the risks that the Manager can control, I want to comment briefly on just three areas: the valuation discipline, corporate engagement and investment costs.

The Company's strategy is grounded in the discipline of investing in businesses that pay dividends out of sustainable cash flows and where the shares are not overvalued. This may be thought of as "grinding out" returns: not especially exciting but a time-tested means of generating high quality and durable returns.

Corporate governance and conduct are inconsistent in these markets. Even though standards are improving, these risks require careful management. The Managers therefore actively engage with companies to evaluate standards of conduct, governance and, in particular, attitudes to minority shareholders. This brings to the Company an additional layer of defensive protection in a notoriously volatile asset class.

Finally, it can be expensive to transact in these markets. The Board and the Manager scrutinise the impact of investment and trading costs on performance. In this context, as of 1st January 2018 when the EU directive 'Market in Financial Instruments Directive II' comes into force, the Manager will absorb external research costs. This will reduce the Company's trading costs and therefore assist performance at the margin. While the amounts involved are not material, the Board welcomes this decision by the Manager.

Andrew Hutton

Chairman                                                                                                                                24th October 2017

INVESTMENT MANAGERS' REPORT

Performance review

In the 12 months to 31st July 2017, the Company's return to shareholders (including dividends) was 14.4%, while on a net asset value basis, the return was 16.4%. Although the Company underperformed its benchmark, the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, which returned 25.7% (on a total return (net) basis, in sterling terms), we are encouraged by the fundamentals of the portfolio, which delivered solid double digit returns and, we think, bode well for future performance.

The most important issue from a relative performance perspective has been the very strong performance of technology, and more specifically Chinese internet stocks, with large stocks such as Alibaba and Tencent rising 88% and 68% respectively over the year (in GBP). As these stocks have little or zero yield, and considering our income mandate, we do not have exposure to this area of the market and as such, we are not surprised this has proven a headwind to relative performance given the narrow market leadership we currently see.

Importantly, we do not think that the long-term tailwind from dividend investing has gone away, and we retain our conviction in the benefits of the 'quality-value' and governance points for the yield style. A brief look back at the recent history of investing in emerging markets can help put this current period into perspective. Since December 2000, high-yield stocks within the emerging markets have provided a tailwind to performance.  This aligns with our long-term expectations based on our approach of investing in dividend-paying companies in emerging markets. However, when judged over a more contemporary timeframe, yield investing in emerging markets has been more difficult. We can trace this back to 2012, since when yield stocks in emerging markets have significantly underperformed the standard universe by 3.5% per annum

Looking at our China holdings, the negative impact of the performance from internet stocks has been somewhat mitigated by our exposure to A-share names such as Midea and Fuyao Glass Industry Group, which were top stock-level contributors over the period. We continue to feel that the A-share market, and in particular, consumer-focused companies, offer some interesting, long-term opportunities.

Korea remains a longstanding structural underweight for the Trust, based on its generally weak corporate governance environment and low payout ratios. Our limited exposure to the country weighed on performance as the market rallied on expectations of a stable government and expansionary fiscal policy from the new leadership of President Moon.

Certain select markets did provide positive contribution to returns for the portfolio (with for example strong performance from our holdings in Chile, Hungary and Turkey), but these were not enough to drive overall positive relative performance compared to the benchmark.

Dividends

The Company's approach, which is to invest in a diversified portfolio of relatively high-yielding stocks to receive dividends from across sectors and countries, remains unchanged. We remain positive about the dividend generation from our stocks. Last year, the portfolio had faced pressure in terms of its dividend receipts, but this year saw an improvement (as shown in the revenue numbers on page 39 of the 2017 Annual Report), as the earnings cycle in emerging markets has improved, with our positions benefiting as well. As discussed in the Chairman's Report, for this year, the improvement in underlying revenue has been used to build up the revenue reserve for the Company, as well as to maintain the overall dividend it pays.

PERFORMANCE ATTRIBUTION
for the year ended 31ST JULY 2017
	%	%
Contributions to total returns
Return on MSCI Emerging Markets Index (in sterling terms)		25.7
Investment Manager contribution		-8.0
Portfolio total return		17.7
Management fee/other expenses	-1.3
Return on net assets		16.4
Impact of change in premium/discount		-2.0
Return to shareholders		14.4

Source: JPMAM/Morningstar. All figures are on a total return basis.

Performance attribution analyses how the Company achieved its recorded performance relative to its benchmark.

 Portfolio changes

We continue to find many stocks that look attractive to us from a dividend perspective despite it been a challenging time from a relative performance viewpoint for yield investors in emerging markets. Over the past year, our turnover in the Company could be described as "natural rotation" within the yield universe: buying or adding to positions where yield looks attractive and where opportunities have increased, and generally selling those stocks where valuations have become more stretched. Total turnover has continued to be modest, in line with our desire to invest for the long term.

A good example of this kind of 'natural rotation' during the year was the reduction of our position in Samsung Electronics (Korea, IT) and new purchase of Sberbank (Russia, financials). We had previously purchased a stake in Samsung in 2015 when it became clearer that there would be a meaningful improvement in shareholder return policy. This has come through and the stock has performed well, participating in the technology sector rally discussed earlier. Meanwhile, Sberbank had been lagging the market during 2017, despite its dominant domestic banking franchise and a strengthening balance sheet. This presented us with a highly attractive opportunity to buy a stock with high dividend potential and to fund it from a stock where valuations have certainly re-rated in the recent past. The key takeaway is that we remain disciplined in implementing our process and ensuring that the portfolio is as strong as possible from the perspective both of dividends and future returns.

SALES:

Sales (whether outright or partial) in the year can generally be divided into three types:

1.  Dividend payout disappointments

With our research focus on understanding dividend policies, dividend payout disappointments tend to be rare and during the year we had no stocks where the dividend was omitted.

2.  Companies where our fundamental view on dividend sustainability or growth deteriorated relative to other opportunities

Examples here include selling Russian telecommunications company Megafon following a disappointing meeting with management, which offered a lesser commitment to the dividend than previously.

3.  Companies where our view on dividends remained positive, but valuations had increased to the extent that the stocks looked less attractive.

In South Africa, we sold out of Bidvest, following strong performance after the Bidvest/Bid Corp split last year and the consequent decline in future expected returns and yield. This reduces our market overweight, and although South Africa is a rich source of dividend ideas, we are comfortable with a more moderate overweight given the currency has moved from cheap closer to fair value.

Purchases

In general, we can characterise purchases as either taking advantage of valuation opportunities (as a result of lagging performance) or adding due to fundamental/dividend improvements.

Examples of the former include purchases in Walmex and Ford Otosan - both high-quality, high-return-on-capital stocks with strong dividend characteristics. For example, Mexico was clearly an area of concern for investors in late 2016 due to the potential impact from higher protectionism following the US election. Our view was that this opened up opportunities to add to resilient quality franchises such as Walmart de México (Walmex).

Examples of stocks to which we added on continued dividend improvement include Telekom Indonesia (dominant telecom operator with continued data growth opportunity), Al Rajhi (largest retail bank in Saudi Arabia) and Jiangsu Yanghe Brewery (Chinese spirits company with strong brands).

Environmental, Social and Governance Issues

We believe strongly that ESG considerations (particularly Governance) need to be a foundation of any investment process supporting long-term investing and that corporate policies at odds with environmental and social issues are not sustainable in the long run. An example of engagement with this issue was our discussion with Lukoil over pollution concerns in northern Russia - something which could be important for the business long term.

More generally, we draw a direct link between dividend policies of companies and our views on governance - i.e. a demonstration of a desire to return cash to shareholders is a very tangible governance indicator.

Outlook

The strong performance of emerging markets equities this year is testament to the long-awaited improvement in fundamentals currently under way and emerging markets valuations are only now moving back toward their long-term average.

From a relative performance viewpoint, we are confident of an improvement going forward. Clearly, some change in market leadership is also necessary for relative performance to turn, but in the meantime, we focus on implementing our disciplined process to ensure that the portfolio is as well positioned as possible to capture the opportunities within yield stocks in emerging markets.

We can see earnings improvements across sectors and countries, which ultimately should be reflected in share prices, and we should be able to capture this in our portfolio. The return-on-equity premium of the portfolio compared to the market remains high and consistent, meaning over the long term our stocks can generate earnings and cashflow, pay dividends and still have the ability to reinvest at attractive returns. However, it is important to note that our valuation discipline means we are not overpaying for this exposure.

Omar Negyal

Jeffrey Roskell

Amit Mehta

Investment Managers                                                                                                                 24th October 2017

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 issues that threaten the viability of the Company. These key risks fall broadly under the following categories:

•   Investment and Strategy: an inappropriate investment strategy, for example asset allocation or the level of gearing or foreign exchange weakness, may lead to underperformance against the Company's benchmark index and peer companies. This may result in the Company's shares trading on a narrower premium or a wider discount or insufficient local currency income generation which may lead to a cut in the dividend. The Board manages these risks by diversification of investments through its investment restrictions and guidelines, which are monitored and reported on by the Manager. The Manager provides the Directors with timely and accurate management information, including performance data and attribution analyses, revenue estimates, currency performance, liquidity reports and shareholder analyses. The Board monitors the implementation and results of the investment process with the Investment Managers, who attend Board meetings, and reviews data which show statistical measures of the Company's risk profile. The Investment Managers employ the Company's gearing strategically, within a range set by the Board.

•   Financial: the financial risks faced by the Company include market price risk, interest rate risk, liquidity risk and credit risk. Further details are disclosed in note 21 on pages 52 to 57 of the 2017 Annual Report.

•   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 report on pages 24 to 27 of the 2017 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's or custodian's records could prevent accurate reporting and monitoring of the Company's financial position. This includes the risk of cybercrime and consequent potential threat to security and business continuity. Details of how the Board monitors the services provided by the Manager and its associates and the key elements designed to provide effective internal control are included in the Risk Management and Internal Control section of the Corporate Governance report on pages 24 to 27 of the 2017 Annual Report.

•   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' above. Were the Company to breach Section 1158, it would lose its investment trust status and, as a consequence, gains within the Company's portfolio could be subject to Capital Gains Tax. The Section 1158 qualification criteria are continually monitored by the Manager 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 and Disclosure, Guidance & Transparency Rules ('DTRs'). 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. The Board relies on the services of its Company Secretary, the Manager and its professional advisers to ensure compliance with the Companies Act 2006, the UKLA Listing Rules, DTRs and the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive.

TRANSACTIONS WITH THE MANAGER AND RELATED PARTIES

Details of the management contract are set out in the Directors' Report on page 21 of the 2017 Annual Report. The management fee payable to the Manager for the year was £3,957,000 (2016: £3,109,000) of which £nil (2016: £nil) was outstanding at the year end.

During the year £42,000 (2016: £63,000), including VAT, was payable to the Manager for the administration of savings scheme products, of which £13,000 (2016: £nil) was outstanding at the year end.

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) including FRS 102 'The financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK Republic of Ireland' 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 and 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 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 accounts are published on the www.jpmglobalemergingmarketsincome.co.uk website, which is maintained by the 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 Auditor does not involve consideration of the maintenance and integrity of this website and, accordingly, the Auditor accepts no responsibility for any changes that have occurred to the accounts since they were initially presented on the website. The accounts 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 and Directors' Remuneration Report that comply with that law and those regulations.

Each of the Directors, whose names and roles are listed on page 20 of the 2017 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.

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 Company's position and performance, business and strategy.

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

Andrew Hutton

Chairman

24th October 2017

statement of comprehensive income for the year ended 31st july 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		-	42,158	42,158	-	41,205	41,205
Net foreign currency gains/(losses)		-	374	374	-	(3,669)	(3,669)
Income from investments		19,763	-	19,763	17,136	-	17,136
Interest receivable and similar income		91	-	91	32	-	32
Gross return		19,854	42,532	62,386	17,168	37,536	54,704
Management fee		(1,187)	(2,770)	(3,957)	(933)	(2,176)	(3,109)
Other administrative expenses		(840)	-	(840)	(721)	-	(721)
Net return on ordinary activities
before finance costs and taxation		17,827	39,762	57,589	15,514	35,360	50,874
Finance costs		(264)	(617)	(881)	(234)	(545)	(779)
Net return on ordinary activities
before taxation		17,563	39,145	56,708	15,280	34,815	50,095
Taxation		(1,272)	-	(1,272)	(1,179)	(448)	(1,627)
Net return on ordinary activities
after taxation		16,291	39,145	55,436	14,101	34,367	48,468
Return per share		5.54p	13.31p	18.85p	4.79p	11.68p	16.47p

Statement of Changes in equity for the year ended 31st july 2017

	Called up		Capital
	share		redemption	Share	Other	Capital	Revenue
	capital		reserve	premium	reserve	reserves	reserve1	Total
		£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000
At 31st July 2015		2,943	13	218,497	101,276	(22,358)	10,165	310,536
Repurchase of shares into Treasury		-	-	-	(163)	-	-	(163)
Net return on ordinary activities		-	-	-	-	34,367	14,101	48,468
Dividends paid in the year (note 2)		-	-	-	-	-	(14,418)	(14,418)
At 31st July 2016		2,943	13	218,497	101,113	12,009	9,848	344,423
Net return on ordinary activities		-	-	-	-	39,145	16,291	55,436
Dividends paid in the year (note 2)		-	-	-	-	-	(14,412)	(14,412)
At 31st July 2017		2,943	13	218,497	101,113	51,154	11,727	385,447

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 july 2017

		2017	2016
		£'000	£'000
Fixed assets
Investments held at fair value through profit or loss		411,548	360,612
Current assets
Derivative financial assets		7	1
Debtors		2,848	5,612
Cash and cash equivalents		1,605	11,663
		4,460	17,276
Current liabilities
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year		(220)	(3,337)
Derivative financial liabilities		(1)	-
Net current assets		4,239	13,939
Total assets less current liabilities		415,787	374,551
Creditors: amounts falling due after more than one year		(30,340)	(30,128)
Net assets		385,447	344,423
Capital and reserves
Called up share capital		2,943	2,943
Capital redemption reserve		13	13
Share premium		218,497	218,497
Other reserve		101,113	101,113
Capital reserves		51,154	12,009
Revenue reserve		11,727	9,848
Total shareholders' funds		385,447	344,423
Net asset value per share		131.0p	117.1p

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30TH JUNE 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 and 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 disclosures on going concern on page 28 of the Directors' Report in the 2017 Annual Report form part of these financial statements.

The policies applied in these financial statements are consistent with those applied in the preceding year. The Company has elected not to prepare a Statement of Cash Flows for the current year on the basis that substantially all of its investments are liquid and carried at market value and a Statement of Changes in Equity is provided.

 2. Dividends

(a)     Dividends paid and proposed

	2017	2016
	£'000	£'000
2016 Fourth interim dividend paid of 1.9p (2015: 1.9p)	5,589	5,592
First interim dividend paid of 1.0p (2016: 1.0p)	2,941	2,944
Second interim dividend paid of 1.0p (2016: 1.0p)	2,941	2,941
Third interim dividend paid of 1.0p (2016: 1.0p)	2,941	2,941
Total dividends paid in the year	14,412	14,418
Dividend declared
Fourth interim dividend declared of 1.9p (2016: 1.9p)	5,589	5,589

(b)    Dividend for the purposes of Section 1158 of the Corporation Tax Act 2010 ('Section 1158')

The requirements of Section 1158 are considered on the basis of the dividend proposed in respect of the financial year, shown below. The revenue available for distribution by way of dividend for the year is £16,291,000 (2016: £14,101,000). The revenue reserve after paying the proposed dividend will be £6,138,000 (2016: £4,259,000).

	2017	2016
	£'000	£'000
First interim dividend paid of 1.0p (2016: 1.0p)	2,941	2,944
Second interim dividend paid of 1.0p (2016: 1.0p)	2,941	2,941
Third interim dividend paid of 1.0p (2016: 1.0p)	2,941	2,941
Fourth interim dividend declared of 1.9p (2016: 1.9p)	5,589	5,589
Total dividends for Section 1158 purposes	14,412	14,415

All dividends paid and proposed in the period have been and will be funded from the revenue reserve.

3.       Return per share

	2017	2016
	£'000	£'000
Revenue return	16,291	14,101
Capital return	39,145	34,367
Total return	55,436	48,468
Weighted average number of shares in issue during the year	294,140,161	294,242,522
Revenue return per share	5.54p	4.79p
Capital return per share	13.31p	11.68p
Total return per share	18.85p	16.47p

4.       Net asset value per share

	2017	2016
Net assets (£'000)	385,447	344,423
Number of shares in issue	294,140,161	294,140,161
Net asset value per share	131.0p	117.1p

5.        Status of announcement

          2016 Financial Information

     The figures and financial information for 2016 are extracted from the Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 31^st July 2016 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 498(2) or section 498(3) of the Companies Act 2006.

     2017 Financial Information

The figures and financial information for 2017 are extracted from the Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 31^st July 2017 and do not constitute the statutory accounts for that year.  The Annual Report and Accounts 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 Registrar of Companies in due course.

Neither the contents of the Company's website nor the contents of any website accessible from hyperlinks on the Company's website (or any other website) is incorporated into, or forms part of, this announcement.

JPMORGAN FUNDS LIMITED 

24th October 2017

For further information please contact:

Divya Amin

For and on behalf of

JPMorgan Funds Limited                                                                              

020 7742 4000

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

 

END

 

 

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