This has been my biggest single holding for many years now and I've been fairly happy. My biggest anxiety is the relatively high holdings in Taiwan and in China which can go to nothing when Xi invades, as he has said he will. |
Ex divi this morning |
HFEL performance has improved since new Managers and new tactics. I hold both. |
HFEL has outperformed it over a year - TR of 26% vs 23%. It could, of course, be a blip. |
This has performed better than HFEL over 3,6 and 12 months, 1,3 and 5 years. |
There are a lot of ifs there. Given the recent strong organic growth in income the trust is already yielding 6.38%. You could have a yield on cost of 10% in a few years' time anyway without their "enhanced dividend policy" which is as likely to see a static or falling payout as it is to see a rising one. EAT and BRLA, refer. |
 I think this is very positive news. If they can get NAV up, which they will if Asian Markets perform well, the dividend yield could get to well over 10%.
A risk is that they make the same mistake as HFEL and let their determination to pay big dividends come at the expense of capital gains, but this bit from their update today is reassuring on that risk:-
“Importantly, there will be no change to the investment process nor to the Company’s strategy as a result of the new policy. The Investment Manager will continue to seek quality, cash-generative businesses with strong management teams, at sensible valuations, that have the potential to deliver reliable income and capital growth for ourinvestors.
The enhanced dividend policy reflects the Board’s confidence in the long term robust opportunities in Asian markets, where dividend yields and growth have outpaced those of Europe and the US. With over 50% of total returns in Asian equities now driven by dividends, and with companies in the region demonstrating stronger balance sheets and increasing free cash flow coverage for dividends, the potential for rising payout ratios is compelling.” |
Were shareholders consulted on these changes? I've just read last summer's report and can find no mention of them. Nor can I find any contact details for the Chairman. I see there's also going to be a continuation vote every three years. The danger with these is that they attract SABA-style profiteers. There's nothing in today's announcement that protects the interests of long-term investors; quite the opposite. |
15 Jan NAV Including Income 252.53p |
Personally I don't like this. The attraction of AAIF was the predictable yield.
If it moves to a fixed amount of assets per quarter is it sustainable or will it end up eating its own tail? I suspect the latter. |
The USP of income ITs is their ability to use reserves to provide steady income in bear markets. When they transition to this model they destroy their key advantage. Why continue to invest in AAIF when an open-ended fund or a much cheaper ETF is now likely to do a similar job? |
''The fund has the second-highest yield within the five-strong AIC Asia Pacific Equity Income sector, while its NAV has outpaced the performance of the MSCI AC Asia Pacific Index, which is used as a reference, over the last three and five years.''
HFEL the highest yielding has a poor track record yet trades at a premium to NAV (bonkers!) ......[...] |
I really don't like these policies of paying a percentage of NAV as a dividend. For sure, it's great in a rising market but disastrous in a protracted bear market. The whole point of holding ITs for income is their ability to maintain or even increase payments in difficult times. Will sell here after it's gone ex and move the funds into SOI, HFEL and MYI. |
abrdn Asian Income Fund (AAIF.LN) has announced an enhanced dividend policy, the introduction of a continuation vote and its final dividend declaration. In detail: An enhanced annual dividend policy of 6.25% of average net asset value ("NAV"), equating to a notional dividend yield of 7.1% based on share price (applies from the start of the 2025 financial year);Introduction of a continuation vote every three years; andA dividend for the fourth quarter of 2024 of 6.78 pence per Ordinary share, resulting in a full year dividend of 14.43 pence per share, an increase of 22.8% compared to the previous year. |
Edison Research video |
Manager presentation - |
htTPs://www.abrdn.com/en-gb/aaif/news-and-insights/insights/asia-and-the-influence-of-the-us? |
Baillie Gifford fund manager opinion-
Qian Zhang: Asia is growing faster than the rest of the world. A lot of these Asian companies are at
the forefront of deep structural global trends. Whether it is technology hardware produced by Asian
companies, or natural resources that are found in Asia, but are essential for global green transition,
all of these are great growth opportunities for long-term investors to explore.
Samsung is a Korean technology conglomerate. What is in common among a smartphone, a
personal laptop, electric vehicle and a computer datacentre? All of them could have Samsung
products in them. One of the very key themes for the next decade is the promise of AI. The story is
gradually shifting from what we call a computing AI to what we call consumer AI. That means
getting your devices ready for AI, getting the chips and the applications installed, and that could lift
a whole upgrade cycle for consumer electronics. It could be more significant than the first
introduction of the smartphones themselves 15 years ago. |
Sister fund
free stock charts from uk.advfn.com |
Such a contrast with HFEL. Puzzling. |
Small mention here...HTTps://www.ajbell.co.uk/articles/investmentarticles/281654/revealed-investment-trusts-yielding-45-or-more |
29 Oct NAV abrdn Asian Income Fund Limited Undiluted Including Income
247.92p |
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