OREANDA-NEWS. Scottish Oriental Smaller Companies Trust (SST) is a well-established Asian trust investing in small-cap companies in the region, excluding Japan and Australasia. Following the 2015 division of First State Stewart into two companies, SST comes under the umbrella of FSS Asia and continues to be managed by Wee-Li Hee, working alongside Martin Lau and Scott McNab. Stocks are selected on a bottom-up basis with a focus on quality companies with good long-term growth prospects. The portfolio is conservatively run with a view to preserving/increasing capital rather than outperforming a benchmark.

SST's discount has been on a widening trend over the last couple of years as Asia has fallen out of favour with investors. The current share price discount to cum-income NAV of 13.0% compares to the 12-month range of 1.7% to 16.2% and is wider than the average discount over the last one, three, five and 10 years (range of 5.5% to 11.7%). However, it is roughly comparable to its closest peer. The board does not have a formal discount control policy, but has been accelerating the pace of share repurchases. At the current price, the shares are yielding 1.5%.  

 

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