Fidelity Asian Values plc (LON:FAS) has published its fact sheet for the period to 31 December 2022.
Portfolio Manager Commentary
The Trust’s NAV rose 6.7% during the 12-month period ended 31 December 2022, outperforming its reference index which fell by -10.3%. The Trust’s share price rose 10.4% over the same period.
Stock selection was the key contributor to the Trust’s relative performance, particularly in China, South Korea and India. Meanwhile, Taiwan and Sri Lanka held back the relative performance. From a sector perspective, health care, financials, and industrials added value.
Of late, investors seem to be rotating out of growth stocks and into value names in the Asian small cap space, and this trend should continue as small cap value stocks remain at a significant discount to small cap growth stocks. The manager continues to believe that owning good businesses, run by competent managements at attractive prices is the most time-tested way to make money in the stock market. He remains biased towards smaller companies due to three reasons. First, it provides opportunities to invest in “winners of tomorrow” before they become well known. Secondly, it is not widely followed by professional investors and hence offers a higher likelihood of finding “mispriced businesses”. Lastly, with over 19,000 listed companies, there is a lot to choose among “winners of tomorrow” and “mispriced businesses”.
Overall, the Trust was overweight consumer discretionary, financials, consumer staples and energy. At a country level, it was overweight China, Australia and Indonesia
Fidelity Asian Values Plc (LON:FAS) provides shareholders with a differentiated equity exposure to Asian Markets. Asia is the world’s fastest-growing economic region and the trust looks to capitalise on this by finding good businesses, run by good people and buying them at a good price.
