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Schroder Oriental Income Fund Ltd said its net asset value per share fell as it swung to a NAV total loss in financial 2023. The Asia Pacific-focused investor reported that net asset value per share was 256.01 pence at August 31, the end of its financial year, down 7.7% from 277.24 pence the year prior. The firm said NAV total return loss was 3.5% for the period, swinging from a total return of 2.5% a year ago. However, the firm said that this was a ‘notable outperformance’ of its reference index, the MSCI AC Pacific ex Japan, which fell by 8.1%. It noted that the strength of the pound during the year contributed to the decline in total return, due to losses on exchange rates. Schroders Oriental declared a total dividend of 11.80 pence per share, up 3.5% from 11.40p previously. It declared a fourth quarter dividend of 5.80p per share. Looking ahead, the company said: ‘it is likely that we will see further downward revisions to earnings as global growth slows, and an ongoing period of inventory adjustment amongst companies to reflect this slower growth.’ Chair Paul Meader said: ‘I ended my last chairman’s statement in the spring on a note of cautious optimism that the outlook for Asian equities was starting to brighten. Sadly, in the last six months anyway, the sun has not shone and the second half of our financial year saw modest declines in total returns. ‘The bright spot is that this is, once again, a notable outperformance of the reference index, the MSCI AC Pacific ex Japan in sterling terms... It is also worth noting that the strength of sterling was a material contributory factor to the fall.’ Schroder Oriental shares rose 0.1% to 245.67 pence each on afternoon in London. Copyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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