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JPMorgan Global Emerging Markets Income Trust PLC on Friday said it was confident in its ability to continue providing shareholders with exposure to ‘exciting’ opportunities, as it outperformed its benchmark. The London-based investor in emerging market companies said net asset value per share climbed 10% to 166.7 pence on July 31 from 151.4p a year ago. NAV total return was 14.1% in the financial year ended July 31, outperforming its benchmark, the MSCI Emerging Markets index with net dividends reinvested in sterling terms, which had a return of 13.7%. JPMorgan Global Core EM said the top six country contributors were India, Greece, Taiwan, Thailand, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. The top six detractors were China, Indonesia, South Korea, United Arab Emirates, South Africa and Peru. It said its longstanding underweight in India was the most positive relative contributor over its financial year. ‘The Indian market performed well in the first four years of this decade, but we maintained our underweight position as we perceived valuations to be expensive despite the country’s strong growth outlook. It is also difficult to find Indian stocks offering an attractive yield, and we typically found better value opportunities elsewhere. This underweight detracted from returns in recent years, but our caution about the Indian market began to pay off over the past year as growth slowed and investors came to share our concerns about valuations,’ JPMorgan Global Core EM said. Regarding detractors, the firm highlighted: ‘By far the most significant detractor from performance over the review period was our stock selection in China. In contrast to recent previous years, lower yielding stocks led the market as investor sentiment improved towards more growth-oriented companies. This was less about overall economic growth but rather a narrower focus on technology and AI companies, an area in China to which we generally have little exposure due to high valuations and lack of dividends.’ The company’s fourth interim dividend is 2.60p per share, up 8.3% from 2.40p a year ago. This brings the total payout for financial 2025 to 5.60p, up 3.7% from 5.40p. Chair Elisabeth Scott said the board ‘remains confident in your company’s ability to continue providing shareholders with exposure to the exciting opportunities offered by emerging markets and we welcome the portfolio managers’ efforts to take advantage of market dips to grasp these opportunities at attractive prices. Stock by stock, they continue to build on the company’s track record of delivering attractive long-term returns and dividend income to shareholders.’ JPMorgan Global EM shares were down 0.1% at 165.28 pence each on late Friday morning in London. Copyright 2025 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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