Whew, you are an impatient lot..nothing wrong with ARA, unless you think their top 10 hldgs. are k sterretjie k and the Rand will flex its muscles to such an extent that performance of the shares will be negated. What were your reasons for investing in the first place ? Or are you trading short term ?
ASTORIA INVESTMENTS LTD
(Incorporated in the Republic of Mauritius)
(Registration number 1297585 C1/GBL)
SEM share code: ATIL.N0000
JSE share code: ARA NSX share code: ARO
ISIN: MU0499N00007
(“Astoria” or “the company”)
NET ASSET VALUE PER SHARE AND INVESTMENT UPDATE
Astoria will be releasing its financial results for the year ended 31 December 2015 on 30 March 2016.
The directors of Astoria wish to provide the market with an update of investments and net asset value.
At 31 December 2015 the net asset value per Astoria share was US$0.97. The difference between the
US$1.00 listing price and the year-end net asset value per share is as a result of:
- Listing and capital raising costs, which were less than the projected 2% of capital raised;
- A small profit on investments; and
- A reduction in dollar net asset value as a result of the average conversion rate from Rands to
Dollars of R14.39 being higher than the rate at which the capital was raised being R14.23.
The Investment Manager has taken a very cautious approach to investing the Astoria funds and at 31
December 2015 the funds were deployed as follows: listed global equities 28%, niche funds 4%, and
US$ cash 68%. Subsequent to the 2015 year end, the Investment Manager held back on further
investment given the volatility of global markets and hence exposure to the market decline in early 2016
was limited. Over the last two weeks, and subsequent to the pull back in global markets, a further 8%
(approximately) of the Astoria funds were deployed in listed global equities.
Astoria’s top 10 equity positions are currently: Apple, Amazon, Admiral Group, Walt Disney, Daimler
AG, Facebook, Johnson & Johnson, Pandora A/S, Unilever, Google and MasterCard. None of the equity
positions comprise more than 2.6% of the portfolio value.
A long term mindset is being applied to the investment of the Astoria funds and caution is being
exercised in the deployment of capital. Commitments are currently being made to private equity
opportunities. The long term guidelines of 60% global listed equity, 20% niche funds and 20% private
equity remain. However, given the current uncertain short term outlook for global equities, the
Investment Manager is considering a higher weighting in attractive global private equity co-investment
opportunities which offer a more appropriate risk return profile in the current environment.
The investment objective remains to achieve a strong compound dollar return and provide shareholders
with diversified exposure to global equity assets.
A more comprehensive update will be provided in the results announcement.
Astoria has its primary listing on the Stock Exchange of Mauritius Ltd, and a secondary listing on the
AltX of the JSE and the main board of the NSX.
