Only six closed-ended funds managed this accolade, including Aberdeen Asian Smaller Companies, Aberdeen All Asia and the Edinburgh Dragon Trust.
First State’s Scottish Oriental Smaller Companies investment trust has the best record overall, outperforming its MSCI AC Asia Pacific ex Japan benchmark in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011, and in eight of the last 10 calendar years.
Year-on-year performance of funds vs benchmarks 2007-2011
| Name |
2011 |
2010 |
2009 |
2008 |
2007 |
| Aberdeen Asian Smaller Companies |
-5.08 |
67.12 |
64.54 |
-22.26 |
-0.79 |
| Schroder Oriental Income |
-5.68 |
35.64 |
89.22 |
-40.39 |
23.75 |
| Edinburgh Dragon Trust |
-13.85 |
33.5 |
56.24 |
-22.61 |
24.09 |
| Scottish Oriental Smaller Companies |
-14.36 |
50 |
96.18 |
-27.82 |
9.53 |
| MSCI AC Asia Pacific ex Japan |
-14.97 |
21.84 |
54.23 |
-33.45 |
34.16 |
| Aberdeen All Asia |
-14.32 |
28.34 |
48.91 |
-30.79 |
14.42 |
| MSCI AC ASIA |
-15.31 |
21.25 |
17.28 |
-17.35 |
10.22 |
| Genesis Emerging Market |
-11.75 |
27.73 |
95.8 |
-48.3 |
27.89 |
| MSCI Emerging Markets |
-18.89 |
23.67 |
62.36 |
-36.01 |
37.48 |
Source: FE Analytics
Genesis Emerging Market and Matthew Dobbs’ Schroder Oriental Income investment trust take the two remaining spots, though they both significantly underperformed in 2008.
With a one-year historic yield of 4.47 per cent, Schroder Oriental Income is the second-highest yielding Asia trust on the market.
Dobbs’ Schroder Asian Alpha Plus – another consistent performer – was recently highlighted as one of the rising stars in the Asia Pacific sector.
An overweight in small and mid cap cyclical stocks led to a number of highly geared investment trusts achieving massive outperformance in 2009 and 2010.
However, only a fraction of emerging market trusts also managed to protect against the downside.
Scottish Oriental Smaller Companies and Aberdeen Asian Smaller Companies have a particularly good record in this respect. The two funds returned 146.18 and 131.66 per cent respectively between 1 January 2009 and 1 January 2011, and also lost less than the 14.97 per cent sustained by their MSCI Asia Pacific ex Japan benchmark.
With losses of 5.08 per cent, Susie Rippingall’s Aberdeen Asian Smaller Companies portfolio was the second-best performing Asia trust in 2011, pipped to the post by only Aberdeen Asian Income.
Performance of funds vs sector over 3-yrs
Source: FE Analytics
The Aberdeen trust has a marginally better record than its First State rival over a three-year period and it has also been less volatile.
The Aberdeen emerging market team’s success in the investment trust universe complements the consistent outperformance of its open-ended fund range. The likes of Aberdeen Emerging Markets and Aberdeen All Asia are among the best-performing and highest-profile in their respective IMA sectors.
A recent FE Trustnet study also highlighted the strength of Aberdeen’s UK equity investment trust range. Manager of the Dunedin Income Growth trust Jeremy Whitley said Aberdeen’s commitment to quality companies has been a big driver of the portfolio’s consistent performance in recent years.