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Asia Dragon Trust PLC on Tuesday argued that while Asian markets proved more resilient than other emerging regions over the financial year, global concerns around rising inflation and recession risk still impacted its performance.
At August 31, the firm's net asset value per share was 513.3 pence, down 9.4% from 566.6p year-on-year. In the year ended August 31, Asia Dragon Trust's total net asset value return was negative 8.4%. This compared to a return of negative 7.1% for the company's benchmark index, the MSCI AC Asia index.
Asia Dragon Trust invests in a portfolio of developed and emerging markets across Asia. Its top holdings include Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, and DBS Group Holdings Ltd, a holding company of Singapore-based DBS Bank Ltd.
The firm swung to a pretax loss of £60.3 million from a profit of £125.5 million in the previous year. It recorded a loss on investments of £65.4 million, from profit of £119.6 million a year prior.
Chair James Will said that he believed the macroeconomic environment, driven by rising inflation and recession risk, and current geopolitical turbulence was "unlikely to make the overall investment backdrop less volatile".
"Asia, however, is still less vulnerable than other emerging markets, given better economic and corporate fundamentals. It also has yet to experience the surge in inflation on the scale seen in the more developed markets like Europe and the US," he added.
Asia Dragon Trust declared a final dividend of 6.5p per share, unchanged from last year.
Asia Dragon Trust shares were trading 2.3% higher at 364.00p each in London on Tuesday afternoon.
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