The board revealed its performance has “significantly exceeded” the MSCI AC Asia ex Japan Small Cap Index by 29.4%. Over the five-year measurement period from 1 August 2021 to 31 July 2026, the company’s net asset value (NAV) total return per share (Basic) was 67.2%, compared to the Index total return of 37.8%.

The investment trust introduce the performance test in August 2021 as part of its commitment to discount control and deliver shareholder value. The board highlighted the results highlights its high-conviction approach to investing in smaller Asian businesses, which are “overlooked by broader market indices and mainstream funds.”

AAS confirmed its intention to renew the performance-linked conditional tender mechanism for a further five-year assessment period on similar terms as the previous tender. 

Under the renewed mechanism, if the Company’s NAV total return fails to equal or exceed the total return of the MSCI AC Asia ex Japan Small Cap Index (in GBP terms) over the new assessment period, the Board would put forward proposals to shareholders to tender up to 25% of issued share capital for cash at a price close to NAV.

To protect against the short-term market volatility at the final calculation date, performance for the new period will be calculated using an average of the five-year NAV total return across each trading day in July 2031, against the average total return of the benchmark over the same period.

Krishna Shanmuganathan, chair at Aberdeen Asia Focus, said: “We provide investors with a unique investment proposition: access to a compelling and diversified portfolio of market leading but relatively smaller Asian businesses, very different to any comparative benchmark. These companies, often overlooked by passive funds, are hand-picked through a rigorous bottom-up stock selection process. 

“Since these businesses are often under-researched by the wider market and attractively priced, our manager, supported by a team of 36 investment professionals focussed on Asian equities and based throughout Asia, is able to uncover hidden gems. These are the next generation of market leaders capitalising on accelerating structural growth trends in their economies, which are themselves growing at pace. We are confident of AAS’ ability to continue performing well and to deliver value for shareholders.”