Half Year Results 2013

RNS Number : 1527F

JPMorgan Asian Investment Tst PLC

20 May 2013

 



LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE ANNOUNCEMENT

JPMORGAN ASIAN INVESTMENT TRUST PLC

UNAUDITED HALF YEAR RESULTS FOR THE SIX MONTHS ENDED

31ST MARCH 2013

Chairman's Statement

It was gratifying to note that, following the Board's strategic review, which led to extensive changes to the investment management agreement, Shareholders voted overwhelmingly for the continuation of the Company at the AGM in January. I am therefore pleased to report that this support from Shareholders has been rewarded with an improvement in performance. Over the six months ended 31st March 2013, the Company's portfolio return, net of fees and expenses was 13.3%. The return to Ordinary shareholders over the reporting period was 15.1%, reflecting a slight narrowing of the Company's discount from 11.2% to 10.2%. The Company's diluted return on net assets (which assumes that the Subscription shares outstanding at 31st March 2013 were all exercised at 203 pence per share) was 13.6%. All of these performance figures represent an outperformance against the Company's benchmark, which returned 11.9%. Although it is still early days in terms of delivering outperformance for Shareholders, the improvement in performance in the first half is most welcome and the Board very much hopes to report a continuation of this improvement for the second half of the financial year.

A market review, commentary on portfolio activity and performance together with a market outlook are set out in the accompanying Investment Managers' report.

Discount Management

In November 2012, a tender offer for up to 24.99% of the Company's Ordinary share capital was implemented at net asset value ('NAV'), less the direct costs and expenses of the tender offer. A total of 37,170,686 shares, representing 24.99% of the Company's then outstanding Ordinary shares, were repurchased at a price of 218.59 pence per share and were subsequently cancelled.

At the 2013 AGM, Shareholders approved two further 5% conditional tender offers. These conditional tender offers could be implemented by the Board if the Ordinary shares traded at an average discount of more than 9% to their diluted cum income NAV (the 'discount') over the six month periods ending 31st March 2013 and 30th September 2013. Over the course of the first six month measurement period to 31st March 2013, the Company's average discount was 10.7% and the Board recently announced that it had decided to exercise its discretion to implement this first conditional tender offer.

Details of how to tender your shares in respect of the latest 5% tender offer, to include the latest date to submit Shareholder applications, are contained within the Circular accompanying this Report.

The Board continues closely to monitor the level of discount at which the Company's Ordinary shares trade relative to their NAV and has stated that the Company's buyback powers will be used to stabilise the discount, in normal market conditions, at between 8% and 10%. Despite an improvement in the performance of Asian markets, global financial headlines are still providing the catalyst for continued volatility and, therefore, the Board has, on occasion, refrained from implementing share buybacks when the discount has widened beyond 10% over the last six months, as there has been no certainty that such actions would assist in stabilising the discount. Since the Company's year end on 30th September 2012 and to the date of this Report, a total of 5,680,000 Ordinary shares have been bought back (this figure does not include the 37,170,686 shares bought back in respect of the 24.99% tender offer conducted in November 2012).

Subscription Shares

Shareholders are reminded that Subscription shares may be exercised at a price of 203 pence per share on any business day until 31st March 2014, after which the rights on these shares will lapse. In the six month period to 31st March 2013, 9,727 Subscription shares were converted into Ordinary shares, raising proceeds of £19,746. As at the date of this Report, a further 3,139 Subscription shares have been exercised, so that a total of £33,483,000 has now been raised for investment by the Company since the Subscription shares were issued, with just over 73% of the original issue of Subscription shares being converted.

Further details on the Subscription shares, including the apportionments for capital gains tax purposes and how they may be exercised, can be found on the Company's website at www.jpmasian.co.uk and on page 17 of the Half Year Report. Subscription shareholders will receive written notice of their possible courses of action as we move closer to the final maturity date given above.

Gearing and Index Futures

The Company has a £30 million three year multi currency loan facility with ING Bank in place which will expire in August 2013. The investment managers utilise both draw downs from this loan facility and index futures to gear the portfolio and as at 31st March 2013 total gearing was 0.8%.

Board of Directors

It was recently announced that Dr Linda Yueh was stepping down from the Board with effect from 31st March 2013. Linda had accepted an exciting opportunity to work in Singapore as Chief Business Correspondent for BBC World News and this appointment meant that she had to step down as a Director from this Company and her other commercial roles. In the relatively short time that she served as a Director her insight into global economic affairs was highly valuable to the Board's deliberations. The process for appointing a replacement is well under way and I hope to be able to make an announcement within the next month.

Outlook

At the time of writing Asian markets continue to rise and I am pleased to report that the improvement in the Company's performance remains on track. Your Board will continue carefully to monitor the Manager's performance and expect that the improving performance record will assist in narrowing the Company's discount over time.

James M Long

Chairman                                                                                                                                         20th May 2013

Investment Managers' Report

Market Review

The MSCI AC Asia ex Japan Index rose 11.9% in sterling terms in the six months ended 31st March 2013. Towards the end of 2012, stock markets in Asia surged and there was a major change in market leadership, with China rallying strongly into year end. India continued to struggle as the market was weighed down by its weak currency, reflecting a poor and deteriorating current account. Over the period under review, China, Hong Kong and ASEAN (ex Malaysia) were relative outperformers, while India, Malaysia, Taiwan and Korea were the major underperformers in the region.

In China, the main catalyst for equity markets was political change which coincided with signs of an improvement in the economy, such as a pick up in retail sales, industrial production, and fixed asset investment. The property market also enjoyed a surge in volumes, a big drawdown in inventory and stable pricing. Nevertheless, the positive sentiment was short-lived as markets corrected in early 2013, as government policies aimed at unregulated banking, reigning in the property market and cracking down on corruption dampened sentiment towards Chinese equities.

The ASEAN region has outperformed the broader Asia region yet again. After briefly underperforming at the end of last year, ASEAN performed well early in 2013, bar Malaysia, where election concerns compelled selling by local investors. The economies of Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines grew by 5 to 7% with acceptable levels of inflation, strong domestic consumption and generally investor friendly government policies.

Korea and Taiwan lagged the regional markets. These economies are dependent on global trade, which remains in the doldrums. In Korea, the strengthening Won combined with the depreciating Japanese Yen, did not bode well for corporate margins. Korean auto stocks in particular have been hit hard recently. In Taiwan, the tepid consumer response to the iPhone5 has reminded investors of how tough the technology sector can be. In India, the corporate, economic and political news has generally been uniformly bad. Were it not for strong foreign buying, the market and the currency, would have registered even worse numbers.

Portfolio Activity

During the period under review, the combined weighting in Hong Kong and China was increased, reflecting the incrementally more positive newsflow surrounding these economies. In China we added to financials such as China Construction Bank and Agricultural Bank of China, reflecting their cheap valuations, leverage to an improving economy and reduced pressure to raise capital. In addition, we added to property companies such as China Resource Land and China Vanke. We felt that concerns over the property market were overdone and the stocks were trading at attractive discounts to net asset value. We also took positions in several deep cyclical stocks which we believed were oversold, such as China Eastern Airlines. The gas sector in China is in a new 'sweet spot' given it is emerging as the best solution for the increasingly worsening pollution in China. China Resources Gas is a stock that offers exposure to this theme, is growing earnings at 20%+ a year and has consequently entered our portfolio. Elsewhere in the energy sector, we increased positions in China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec). This last stock has the potential to deliver the highest earnings growth in the oil sector at 22% growth for 2013 and its large downstream chemical exposure gives better leverage to China's macro recovery.

Our weighting positioning in India has also increased across the board. We added to India despite the extremely poor macro situation as we felt that valuations, particularly in high quality stocks that we favoured, were looking attractive given how much the market had been sold off. We felt that the positive momentum on reform measures following the appointment of the new finance minister at the end of 2012 would support the market. We focused on adding to quality names in the portfolio, which included well managed financials with strong asset quality, such as HDFC Bank, Housing Development Finance Corporation and Mahindra and Mahindra Financial Services. In addition, we also added to selected smaller, well run mid cap names such as Godrej Industries, where we felt that valuations were extremely compelling.

We continued to lower positions in Indonesia and take profits in select stocks, given our concerns over rich valuations, the widening current account deficit and the volatile currency. We continue to favour Thailand within South East Asia, where growth and valuations are reasonable. Over the period under review, we also reduced our weighting in Korea to an underweight position given unfavourable headwinds such as declining export competitiveness due to the weakening Yen and poor domestic sentiment. The major reductions in our portfolio included Samsung Electronics, Shinhan Financial Services and Hankook Tire.

Performance

At the portfolio level, the Company returned 13.3% net of management fees and expenses, outperforming the benchmark's return of 11.9%. Much of this outperformance can be attributed to strong stock selection in Thailand, Hong Kong and China.

In Thailand, we benefited firstly from being overweight one of the top performing markets in the region. Additionally we were correctly overweight domestic oriented stocks, particularly banks such a Krung Thai Bank and property companies such as LPN Development which performed strongly during the period under review. The strong domestic economy, rising property prices and favourable regulations helped the stocks that we owned to re-rate over the period.

In China, we benefited from an overweight in China Resources Gas Group, a stock that continued to enjoy steady growth. Of note, China Resource Gas announced strong results, with net profits up 37% on the prior year as a result of stronger gas sales. The Company's holding in AAC Technologies, which makes acoustic components for mobile phones, performed well over the period given strong earnings growth. Performance was also assisted by a zero weight in large benchmark stock China Life Insurance, a stock which fell heavily over the period. China Life was weighed down by poor earnings due to impairment losses from A-shares and due to the muted outlook for premium growth.

In Hong Kong, the portfolio benefited from overweight positions in Jardine Strategic, a conglomerate with exposure to the rapidly growing South-East Asia region and in Wharf Holdings, a landlord that continued to benefit from strong rental reversions.

Conversely, the major detractors to performance were stock selection in Korea and in India. We were overweight exporters Kia Motors and Hyundai Motors, which performed poorly despite low valuations following concerns over a loss of competitiveness given the relative strength of South Korean Won strength versus the Japanese Yen. Construction related stock Samsung Engineering also fared poorly during the period as it missed its earnings estimates due to several write-downs in its order book. In India, we purchased several positions too early, such as Ambuja Cement and IDFC, in anticipation of firmer cement prices and a pick-up in investment spending respectively. The stocks fell during the period under review but we maintain these holdings as we believe that we are in the early stages of a recovery in India.

Market Outlook

The global environment has been less of a drag on sentiment for Asian equity investors in recent months. Despite depressed sentiment from Cyprus and disappointing election results from Italy, each 'shock' from Europe seems to have less impact on Asian equities. The American economy could decelerate into Q2 and Q3, but the combination of a recovering property market, the shale revolution and a manufacturing renaissance is strong enough to make US equities compelling. So, risk appetite for equities should remain adequate to tempt investors out of cash and money markets, but maybe not out of their fixed income holdings.

Looking more closely at China, we expect a mild recovery for the rest of 2013. We believe the earlier than expected incremental policy adjustments are unlikely to derail the macro recovery, although GDP growth may come in softer than expected as China shifts away from an investment led economy to a consumption led economy. The renewed property tightening, combined with monetary policy fine tuning, should prevent property prices appreciating too fast. Worsening pollution issues may restrain construction activities selectively. The new leadership's anti-corruption campaign is needed for longer term growth sustainability, despite the near term negative impact on consumption.

Within Asia, the best news is that earnings are no longer being downgraded for the region as a whole. In fact, with the bulk of the fourth quarter results already announced, it seems that earnings have been revised up, ever so slightly, in February and March. The revisions have been positive in Greater China and negative for most of ASEAN. Mainland Chinese banks and property and Taiwan tech companies have dominated the positive revisions. In addition, the recent announcements by the Bank of Japan are likely to provide further support for asset reflation around Asia.

While the ASEAN story still looks very enticing, we are becoming slightly cautious. Valuations are high in some sectors and we remain alert to signs of overheating that might cause central banks to start tightening their policies. As discussed, we still see the best opportunities arising in Thailand.

In conclusion, we remain constructive on Asian equities for the duration of 2013. Most importantly, valuations are entirely reasonable and earnings have stabilised. Granted, there will always be causes for alarm, such as Avian Flu in China, sabre rattling by North Korea, and elections in India, Malaysia and Indonesia, but all that is par for the course in this part of the world and ironically will present opportunities.

Ted Pulling

Jeff Roskell

Investment Manager                                                                                                                   20th May 2013

Interim Management Report

The Company is required to make the following disclosures in its half year report.

Principal Risks and Uncertainties

The principal risks and uncertainties faced by the Company have not changed and fall into the following broad categories: investment and strategy; market; accounting, legal and regulatory; corporate governance and shareholder relations; operational; and financial. Information on each of these areas is given in the Business Review within the Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 30th September 2012.

Related Party Transactions

During the first six months of the current 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 period.

Going Concern

The Directors believe, having considered the Company's investment objectives, risk management policies, capital management policies and procedures, nature of the portfolio and expenditure projections, that the Company has adequate resources, an appropriate financial structure and suitable management arrangements in place to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. For these reasons, they consider there is reasonable evidence to continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the accounts.

Directors' Responsibilities

The Board of Directors confirms that, to the best of its knowledge:

(i) the condensed set of financial statements contained within the half yearly financial report has been prepared in accordance with the Accounting Standards Board's Statement 'Half-Yearly Financial Reports'; and

(ii)     the interim management report includes a fair review of the information required by 4.2.7R and 4.2.8R of the UK Listing Authority Disclosure and Transparency Rules.

For and on behalf of the Board

James M Long

Chairman                                                                                                                                         20th May 2013

For further information, please contact:

Alison Vincent
For and on behalf of
JPMorgan Asset Management (UK) Limited, Secretary
020 7742 4000

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.jpmasian.co.uk

Income Statement

for the six months ended 31st March 2013

	(Unaudited)			(Unaudited)			(Audited)
	Six months ended			Six months ended			Year ended
	31st March 2013			31st March 2012			30th September 2012
	Revenue	Capital	Total	Revenue	Capital	Total	Revenue	Capital	Total
	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000
Gains on investments held at
fair value through profit
or loss	-	33,489	33,489	-	36,997	36,997	-	30,475	30,475
Net foreign currency losses	-	(423)	(423)	-	(124)	(124)	-	(87)	(87)
Income from investments	1,032	-	1,032	1,478	-	1,478	7,744	-	7,744
Other interest receivable and
similar income	-	-	-	4	-	4	5	-	5
Gross return	1,032	33,066	34,098	1,482	36,873	38,355	7,749	30,388	38,137
Management fee	(730)	-	(730)	(1,185)	-	(1,185)	(2,216)	-	(2,216)
Management fee contribution	-	1,135	1,135	-	-	-	-	-	-
Other administrative expenses	(347)	-	(347)	(411)	-	(411)	(726)	-	(726)
Net (loss)/return on ordinary
activities before finance costs
and taxation	(45)	34,201	34,156	(114)	36,873	36,759	4,807	30,388	35,195
Finance costs	(156)	-	(156)	(134)	-	(134)	(262)	-	(262)
Net (loss)/return on ordinary
activities before taxation	(201)	34,201	34,000	(248)	36,873	36,625	4,545	30,388	34,933
Taxation	(120)	-	(120)	(141)	-	(141)	(709)	-	(709)
Net (loss)/return on ordinary
activities after taxation	(321)	34,201	33,880	(389)	36,873	36,484	3,836	30,388	34,224
(Loss)/return per Ordinary
share - diluted (note 4)	(0.27)p	28.41p	28.14p	(0.23)p	22.27p	22.04p	2.44p	19.32p	21.76p
(Loss)/return per Ordinary
share - undiluted (note 4)	(0.27)p	28.47p	28.20p	(0.24)p	22.42p	22.18p	2.43p	19.24p	21.67p

All revenue and capital items in the above statement derive from continuing operations. No operations were acquired or discontinued in the period.

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		Exercised	Capital
Six months ended	share	Share	warrant	redemption	Other	Capital	Revenue
31st March 2013	capital	premium	reserve	reserve	reserve	reserves	reserve	Total
(Unaudited)	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000
At 30th September 2012	37,337	31,503	977	11,622	34,499	203,905	4,453	324,296
Repurchase of the Company's own Ordinary shares for cancellation	(10,550)	-	-	10,550	-	(91,749)	-	(91,749)
Issue of Ordinary shares on exercise of Subscription shares	3	18	-	-	-	-	-	21
Net return/(loss) on ordinary activities	-	-	-	-	-	34,201	(321)	33,880
Dividends appropriated in the period	-	-	-	-	-	-	(2,564)	(2,564)
At 31st March 2013	26,790	31,521	977	22,172	34,499	146,357	1,568	263,884
	Called up		Exercised	Capital
Six months ended	share	Share	warrant	redemption	Other	Capital	Revenue
31st March 2012	capital	premium	reserve	reserve	reserve	reserves	reserve	Total
(Unaudited)	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000
At 30th September 2011	42,196	26,679	977	6,002	79,874	173,517	4,292	333,537
Repurchase of the Company's own Ordinary shares for cancellation	(4,383)	-	-	4,383	(36,009)	-	-	(36,009)
Exercise of Subscription shares into
Ordinary shares	(1)	1	-	-	-	-	-	-
Issue of Ordinary shares on exercise of Subscription shares	34	208	-	-	-	-	-	242
Net return/(loss) on ordinary activities	-	-	-	-	-	36,873	(389)	36,484
Dividends appropriated in the period	-	-	-	-	-	-	(3,675)	(3,675)
At 31st March 2012	37,846	26,888	977	10,385	43,865	210,390	228	330,579
	Called up		Exercised	Capital
Year ended	share	Share	warrant	redemption	Other	Capital	Revenue
30th September 2012	capital	premium	reserve	reserve	reserve	reserves	reserve	Total
(Audited)	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000
At 30th September 2011	42,196	26,679	977	6,002	79,874	173,517	4,292	333,537
Repurchase of the Company's own
Ordinary shares for cancellation	(5,620)	-	-	5,620	(45,375)	-	-	(45,375)
Exercise of Subscription shares into
Ordinary shares	(32)	32	-	-	-	-	-	-
Issue of Ordinary shares on exercise
of Subscription shares	793	4,792	-	-	-	-	-	5,585
Net return on ordinary activities	-	-	-	-	-	30,388	2,836	34,224
Dividends appropriated in the year	-	-	-	-	-	-	(3,675)	(3,675)
At 30th September 2012	37,337	31,503	977	11,622	34,499	203,905	4,453	324,296

Balance Sheet

at 31st March 2013

	(Unaudited)	(Unaudited)	(Audited)
	31st March 2013	31st March 2012	30th September 2012
	£'000	£'000	£'000
Fixed assets
Investments held at fair value through profit or loss	265,635	320,515	314,574
Current assets
Debtors	2,932	7,285	269
Cash and short term deposits	9,966	3,281	12,066
Derivative financial instruments held at fair value through
profit or loss	-	38	106
	12,898	10,604	12,441
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year	(14,647)	-	-
Other creditors	-	(540)	(2,714)
Derivative financial instruments held at fair value through
profit or loss	(2)	-	(5)
Net current (liabilities)/assets	(1,751)	10,064	9,722
Total assets less current liabilities	263,884	330,579	324,296
Net assets	263,884	330,579	324,296
Capital and reserves
Called up share capital	26,790	37,846	37,337
Share premium	31,521	26,888	31,503
Exercised warrant reserve	977	977	977
Capital redemption reserve	22,172	10,385	11,622
Other reserve	34,499	43,865	34,499
Capital reserves	146,357	210,390	203,905
Revenue reserve	1,568	228	4,453
Total equity shareholders' funds	263,884	330,579	324,296
Net asset value per Ordinary
share - diluted (note 5)	243.8p	216.0p	216.8p
Net asset value per Ordinary
share - undiluted (note 5)	247.0p	219.0p	217.6p

Cash Flow Statement

for the six months ended 31st March 2013

	(Unaudited)	(Unaudited)	(Audited)
	Six months ended	Six months ended	Year ended
	31st March 2013	31st March 2012	30th September 2012
	£'000	£'000	£'000
Net cash (outflow)/inflow from operating
activities (note 6)	(422)	(797)	3,686
Net cash outflow from returns on investments
and servicing of finance	(132)	(170)	(298)
Taxation recovered	40	-	-
Net cash inflow from capital expenditure
and financial investment	82,510	31,601	37,456
Dividend paid	(2,564)	(3,675)	(3,675)
Net cash outflow from financing	(80,993)	(43,829)	(45,295)
Decrease in cash in the period	(1,561)	(16,870)	(8,126)
Reconciliation of net cash flow to movement in
net debt
Net cash movement	(1,561)	(16,870)	(8,126)
Loans (drawn down)/repaid in the period	(13,285)	8,054	8,054
Exchange movements	(425)	(128)	(87)
Changes in net funds/debt arising from cash flows	(15,271)	(8,944)	(159)
Net funds at the beginning of the period	12,066	12,225	12,225
Net (debt)/funds at the end of the period	(3,205)	3,281	12,066
Represented by:
Cash and short term deposits	9,966	3,281	12,066
Bank loans	(13,171)	-	-
Net (debt)/funds at the end of the period	(3,205)	3,281	12,066

Notes to the Accounts

for the six months ended 31st March 2013

1.  Financial statements

      The information contained within the Financial Statements in the half year report and accounts has not been audited or reviewed by the Company's auditors.

     The figures and financial information for the year ended 30th September 2012 are extracted from the latest published accounts of the Company and do not constitute statutory accounts for that year. Those accounts have been delivered to the Registrar of Companies and included the report of the auditors which was unqualified and did not contain a statement under either section 498(2) or 498(3) of the Companies Act 2006.

2.  Accounting policies

     The accounts have been prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice ('UK GAAP') and with the Statement of Recommended Practice 'Financial Statements of Investment Trust Companies and Venture Capital Trusts', issued in January 2009.

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

     The accounting policies applied in the half year report and accounts are consistent with those applied in the accounts for the year ended 30th September 2012.

3.  Dividend

	(Unaudited)	(Unaudited)	(Audited)
	Six months ended	Six months ended	Year ended
	31st March 2013	31st March 2012	30th September 2012
	£'000	£'000	£'000
Final dividend paid in respect of the year ended
30th September 2012 of 2.4p (2011: 2.2p)	2,564	3,675	3,675

     No interim dividend has been declared in respect of the six months ended 31st March 2013 (2012: nil).

4.  (Loss)/return per Ordinary share

	(Unaudited)	(Unaudited)	(Audited)
	Six months ended	Six months ended	Year ended
	31st March 2013	31st March 2012	30th September 2012
	£'000	£'000	£'000
(Loss)/return per share is based on the following:
Revenue (loss)/return	(321)	(389)	3,836
Capital return	34,201	36,873	30,388
Total return	33,880	36,484	34,224
Weighted average number of Ordinary shares in issue during
the period used for the purpose of the diluted calculation	120,389,724	165,561,998	157,246,781
Weighted average number of Ordinary shares in issue during
the period used for the purpose of the undiluted calculation	120,138,874	164,496,435	157,910,701
Diluted
Revenue (loss)/return per Ordinary share	(0.27)p	(0.23)p	2.44p
Capital return per Ordinary share	28.41p	22.27p	19.32p
Total return per Ordinary share	28.14p	22.04p	21.76p
Undiluted
Revenue (loss)/return per Ordinary share	(0.27)p	(0.24)p	2.43p
Capital return per Ordinary share	28.47p	22.42p	19.24p
Total return per Ordinary share	28.20p	22.18p	21.67p

      The diluted return/(loss) per Ordinary share represents the return/(loss) on ordinary activities after     taxation divided by the weighted average number of Ordinary shares in issue during the period as    adjusted in accordance with the requirements of Financial Reporting Standard 22: 'Earnings per share'.

5. Net asset value per Ordinary share

	(Unaudited)	(Unaudited)	(Audited)
	Six months ended	Six months ended	Year ended
	31st March 2013	31st March 2012	30th September 2012
Diluted
Ordinary shareholders' funds assuming exercise of
Subscription shares (£'000)	281,213	350,963	341,645
Number of potential Ordinary shares in issue	115,353,095	162,503,781	157,553,781
Net asset value per Ordinary share (pence)	243.8	216.0	216.8
Undiluted
Ordinary shareholders' funds (£'000)	263,884	330,579	324,296
Number of Ordinary shares in issue	106,816,558	150,922,005	149,007,517
Net asset value per Ordinary share (pence)	247.0	219.0	217.6

      The diluted net asset value per Ordinary share assumes that all outstanding Subscription shares were converted into Ordinary shares at the period end.

6.  Reconciliation of net return/(loss) on ordinary activities before finance costs and taxation to net cash (outflow)/inflow from operating activities

	(Unaudited)	(Unaudited)	(Audited)
	Six months ended	Six months ended	Year ended
	31st March 2013	31st March 2012	30th September 2012
	£'000	£'000	£'000
Net return on ordinary activities before finance costs
and taxation	34,156	36,759	35,195
Less capital return on ordinary activities before finance
costs and taxation	(34,201)	(36,873)	(30,388)
Scrip dividends received as income	-	-	(325)
Increase in accrued income	(193)	(479)	(79)
(Increase)/decrease in other debtors	(6)	(19)	14
Decrease in accrued expenses	(54)	(38)	(34)
Overseas taxation	(124)	(147)	(697)
Net cash (outflow)/inflow from operating activities	(422)	(797)	3,686

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 ASSET MANAGEMENT (UK) LIMITED

ENDS

A copy of the half year has been submitted to the National Storage Mechanism and will shortly be available for inspection at www.hemscott.com/nsm.do

The half year will also shortly be available on the Company's website at www.jpmasian.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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