Suits investors looking to receive a steady reliable income from diversified sources. Although income will be the top priority, investors will also benefit from the prospect of growth in the Asia Pacific region.

The Company aims to provide a high dividend as well as capital appreciation from a diversified portfolio of investments traded on Pacific, Australasian, Japanese and Indian stock markets. Dividends are paid quarterly.

• It is the largest and most established Asian income company, investing throughout the Asia Pacific region.
• Dividends from Asian companies now rival those from UK companies and provide a diverse source of income. Henderson Far East Income Limited generates income from a range of countries, sectors and companies.
• Asia is the growth market of the 21^st Century. By 2035 China's GDP is projected to overtake the US (Source: GS BRICS Model Projections).

 

• Investors need to be aware of exchange rates. Most of the investments in this portfolio are not made in Sterling so exchange rates could affect the value of and income from your investment.
• Asian focused portfolios are exposed to Emerging Markets which tend to be less stable than more established markets and can be affected by local political and economic conditions, reliability of trading systems, buying and selling practices and financial reporting standards. 
• This portfolio allows the manager to use options for revenue enhancement purposes. Options can be volatile and may result in a capital loss. Full details of risks.

Asian markets closed a difficult year with a modest rise in December as uncertainty over Europe was counteracted by stronger seasonal retail sales from the US. Stubbornly high inflation and a weakening growth profile negatively impacted the Indian market, which continued its underperformance against the region. China had a much better month as resilient economic data and more accommodating noises emanating from Beijing caught investors’ attention. Sector returns were a mixed bag with some cyclical sectors such as technology doing well while energy and materials lagged. Defensives were also confusing with consumer staples underperforming while telecoms and utilities moved ahead.

The portfolio benefited from the strong performance of China and Thailand and the zero position in India. Over the month we sold our positions in electronics providers Wistron and Venture; in terms of new positions, we added Hong Kong property developer Sun Hung Kai to the portfolio owing to compelling valuations and a more positive outlook for 2012.

Asian markets are attractively valued over the medium to long term and we are using this period of uncertainty to add to preferred positions. In the short term, however, we expect markets to remain volatile while investors digest news flow over the problems in Europe and global growth.

Mike Kerley
December 2011