Final Results
Fidelity Japanese Values PLC
1 March 2002
FIDELITY JAPANESE VALUES PLC
Preliminary Announcement of Unaudited Results
For the year ended 31 December 2001
Comment from the Chairman
Performance: NAV: -23.9%
It has been another difficult year which makes it a difficult statement to write
- particularly so following your Board's recommendation and your own approval at
the Annual General Meeting last April of continuing the Company as an investment
trust investing in the shares of smaller Japanese companies for a further three
years. Your Directors believed - and I should iterate still do - that the
prospects for corporate reform in Japan and the values of the shares of smaller
companies were such that we believed that the net asset value three years hence
was likely to be higher. I should say that we never thought the benefits would
be immediate but after one year I am afraid that it was 23.9% lower, ending the
year as 53.12p per share - although this was rather better than the two broad
based indices (TSE First Section and FTSE Japan).
The decline of the net asset value of 17p per share can be attributed to
external factors (the performance of the market and the sterling value of the
Yen): -15p per share and to internal factors (primarily the gearing): -2p per
share. In other words most of the fall occurred because the economic and
financial plight of Japan worsened during the course of the year, especially
during the month of December when the value of the Yen fell quite significantly.
And while a declining currency normally helps share prices, in this instance it
merely undermined what little confidence there was with the result that the TSE
Second Section Index for instance fell 4.9%, the currency fell 8.0%, making a
total of 12.5% for December alone. I should remind all shareholders that, as a
matter of policy, we do not hedge the currency. While there can be no comfort
whatsoever in reporting such a decline in our net asset value, I would like to
highlight the fact that the stock selection of our Manager made a small positive
contribution to offset the other three influences on the net asset value.
There were two main events which have impacted Japan and its stock markets
during 2001 - the appointment of Mr Junichiro Koizumi as Prime Minister and the
tragic events of the 11th of September in the USA. The new Prime Minister, who
campaigned on a programme of reform, offered hope to investors in Japan's stock
markets that finally the reform bull would be taken by the horns. In the event
much less progress has been made than was either hoped for or even expected
because of the opponents of change within the Liberal Democratic Party and
elsewhere. Japan's consensual politics means that change in Japan is never going
to be abrupt and maybe too much has been expected of one man. However
unreasonable the expectations may have been, investors have been disappointed
and markets have suffered as a consequence. Furthermore, the more essential
reforms are delayed, the more difficult it is to reform and the greater the
short-term hardships that go with it.
The tragic events of the 11th September in the USA caused its economy, already
slowing down quite quickly, to enter recession. Its markets suffered and as a
consequence so did those of the rest of the world. Investors viewed these events
as yet another difficulty for Japan as its trade balance, affected by falling
exports, began to decline. In turn the lack of confidence in Japan's economy
affected currency markets and by the end of the year the Yen was falling quite
sharply. Japan's would appear to be the last market that international investors
want to invest in.
Board Visit to Japan: October 2001
It is I believe important that the Board of Directors visit Japan at least once
a year so as to meet people and hear at first hand about the issues that are
affecting the financial future of the country. We paid such a visit in October
of last year and met with a number of people involved in the financial business
and in running companies. We left with the view that - as we already knew -
Japan was wrestling with a number of problems, the greatest of which was
probably the solvency of its banking system. But we were also exposed to a
number of other facets of Japan's economy and stock markets and took comfort
from some very real changes that were taking place which would have short term
detrimental effects but good long term consequences - including changes in
accounting practices, unwinding of cross holdings between companies, improved
corporate governance attitudes and better focus on profitability, including the
return on shareholders' equity. We were made well aware that the short-term
consequences of corporate reform included reducing staff levels and thence
rising unemployment and of course an increasing number of bankruptcies as part
of the process of slimming down excess productive capacity. The short term
consequences of reform were not good reading - just as they weren't in the UK in
the early 1980s.
Gearing Policy
It stands to reason that, if we expect the net asset value of your Company to
rise over the three year period, we should employ a certain amount of borrowing
to help improve the absolute performance of the net asset value. Once a year,
during our visit to Japan, the Board of Directors sets the gearing policy for
the following twelve months and this we did at the board meeting which ended our
visit to Tokyo. At that time we had borrowings of £27 million and cash of £11
million and net gearing of 25% of shareholders equity. Given the prospects as we
saw them, we decided to use the cash that we had to pay off one of our loans (Y
1.6bn) but otherwise to retain the net gearing we had at the time. While we keep
a permanent eye on our gearing, we will only alter this policy should our
borrowing covenants require us to do so.
Annual General Meeting: 24 April 2002
Having had a difficult year but having some hope that the future holds for
better times, I do urge shareholders, both individual and institutional, to
attend the AGM. Asako Kibe will give a presentation covering the past year and
what she and we believe are the prospects for the next year or so. Shareholders
will have questions to ask and will wish to be assured of those better
prospects. It is appropriate that shareholders should each have the benefit of
hearing what others have to say, to ask and to criticise. We, the Board of
Directors want to hear those comments and questions because it will help us do
our job better. So please do come along and join us.
At the AGM John Morrell will not be seeking re-election as a Director of the
Company. He has served on the Board since the Company's inception in 1994 and
his experience of investment matters in Japan and of investment trusts have been
invaluable to the Board's deliberations. Thank you John for all your help.
Prospects
After two very difficult years and given the extreme pessimism that exists about
Japan's economy and its financial markets, it may sound like an exercise in
wishful thinking to promote the idea that investment in Japan generally and in
the shares of your Company could prove rewarding. And indeed to state the bear
case, which is so frequently trotted out in the world's financial press, there
may be worse to come before it gets better.
The Japanese government's finances are very stretched with its national debt at
a very high level; it is finding it difficult to increase tax revenues because
of rising unemployment and of the poor state of corporate profits. The banking
system has become dysfunctional because it is ceasing to be of much use in
promoting economic recovery.
Japan is in many respects financially strong and, so far, that has prevented the
precipitation of the crisis that would force greater change to happen. It has
the largest gold and foreign exchange reserves of any country in the world, it
owns a significant proportion of US Treasury Bills in issue, it has a large
trade surplus, its consumers (unlike most others in the world) save a large
proportion of their income and effectively own most of their government's debt
(the average household in Japan is reported to have liquid savings of
c$100,000). Part of Japan may have serious financial problems but the other part
is financially robust.
We have long maintained that the real change that is taking place in Japan's
economy is at the grass roots level - company by company. Some of that change
involves bankruptcies, some genuine improvements in efficiency. We believe that,
providing there is not a continuing bear market which drags down the price of
pretty well all shares, then there are enough opportunities amongst Japan's
c3,000 or so quoted companies for us to pick a portfolio of winners which should
prove profitable to our shareholders.
Alex Hammond-Chambers
28 February 2002
Dividend: The Company is not proposing to pay a dividend.
Enquiries: Barbara Powley
Fidelity Investments International
01737 836883
FIDELITY JAPANESE VALUES PLC
Statement of Total Return (incorporating the revenue account1) of the Company -
unaudited
For the year ended 31 December 2001
2001 2000
revenue capital total revenue capital total
notes £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
Losses on investments - (17,823) (17,823) - (110,348) (110,348)
Income - dividends 735 - 735 790 - 790
- interest 17 - 17 20 - 20
Investment management fee (894) - (894) (1,607) - (1,607)
Other expenses (436) - (436) (426) - (426)
Exchange losses - (290) (290) - (384) (384)
Repurchase of warrants - - - - (76) (76)
Net loss before finance costs (578) (18,113) (18,691) (1,223) (110,808) (112,031)
and taxation
Exchange gains on loans - 2,013 2,013 - 1,206 1,206
Interest payable (564) - (564) (758) - (758)
Loss on ordinary activities (1,142) (16,100) (17,242) (1,981) (109,782) (111,763)
before tax
Tax on ordinary activities (109) - (109) (119) - (119)
Loss on ordinary activities (1,251) (16,100) (17,351) (2,100) (109,782) (111,882)
after tax for the year
attributable to equity
shareholders
Loss per ordinary share 2
Basic (1.22p) (15.70p) (16.92p) (2.01p) (104.98p) (106.99p)
1 The revenue column on this statement represents the profit and loss account of
the Company.
2 Return per ordinary share are based on the net revenue loss on ordinary
activities after taxation of £1,251,000 (2000: loss £2,100,000), and the capital
depreciation in the year of £16,100,000 (2000: depreciation of £109,782,000) and
on 102,561,395 ordinary shares (2000: 104,577,344), being the weighted average
number of ordinary shares in issue during the year.
As the basic and fully-diluted returns, calculated according to the provisions
of FRS 14, are identical, the fully-diluted return has not been disclosed. Since
the effect of the warrants outstanding on the first day of the accounting period
is not dilutive, they have not been included in the calculation of the
fully-diluted return.
All revenue and capital items in the above statement derive from continuing
operations. No operations were acquired or discontinued in the year.
FIDELITY JAPANESE VALUES PLC
Balance Sheet - unaudited as at 31 December 2001
2001 2000
£'000 £'000
Fixed assets
Investments 69,570 93,602
Current assets
Debtors 61 293
Cash at bank 1,480 7,368
1,541 7,661
Creditors - amounts falling due within one (8,368) (10,147)
year
Net current liabilities (6,827) (2,486)
Total assets less current liabilities 62,743 91,116
Creditors - amounts falling due after more (8,823) (18,563)
than one year
Total net assets 53,920 72,553
Capital and reserves
Called up share capital 25,376 25,980
Capital redemption reserve 955 350
Share premium account 40 37
Other reserves
Other reserves 61,839 63,125
Warrant exercise reserve 2 -
Warrant reserve 10,198 10,200
Capital reserve - realised 790 16,564
Capital reserve - unrealised (37,270) (36,944)
Revenue reserve (8,010) (6,759)
Total equity shareholders' funds 53,920 72,553
Net asset value per ordinary share:
Basic 53.12p 69.81p
FIDELITY JAPANESE VALUES PLC
Cash Flow Statement - unaudited
For the year ended 31 December 2001
2001 2000
£'000 £'000
Operating activities
Investment income received 633 677
Deposit interest received 17 20
Investment management fee paid (971) (1,929)
Directors' fees paid (55) (47)
Other cash payments (364) (200)
Net cash outflow from operating activities (740) (1,479)
Returns on investments and servicing of finance
Interest paid (608) (761)
Net cash outflow from returns on investments and servicing of finance (608) (761)
Taxation
UK income tax recovered - 1
Tax recovered - 1
Financial Investment
Purchase of investments (31,837) (83,557)
Exchange gains 99 127
Disposal of investments 38,030 88,172
Net cash inflow from financial investment 6,292 4,742
Net cash inflow before financing 4,944 2,503
Financing
Repurchase of ordinary shares (1,286) (1,519)
Repurchase of warrants - (376)
Exercise of warrants 4 49
3.38% fixed rate unsecured loan repaid (9,183) -
1.05% fixed rate unsecured loan drawn down 9,106 -
1.05% fixed rate unsecured loan repaid (9,084) -
Net cash outflow from financing (10,443) (1,846)
(Decrease)/Increase in cash (5,499) 657
The above statements have been prepared on the basis of the accounting policies
as set out in the recently published set of annual financial statements. The
figures for the year to 31.12.00 have been extracted from the accounts for the
year ended 31.12.00 which have been delivered to the Registrar of Companies and
on which the Auditors gave an unqualified report.
The annual report and accounts will be posted to shareholders as soon as is
practicable.
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