Sparks - Invesco Asia Dragon Trust

Invesco Asia Dragon Trust (IAD) published its annual report for year-end April 2026. Following the successful combination of Invesco Asia Trust with Asia Dragon Trust last year and subsequent performance, the trust’s net assets reached close to £1bn. The company projects an ongoing charges ratio of 0.70% going forwards, the lowest across the relevant AIC Asian peer groups. IAD also offers an annual dividend distribution equivalent to c 4% of NAV, paid quarterly, and a rolling three-yearly 100% unconditional tender through which shareholders may tender up to 100% of their holdings at a 4% discount to NAV (with the first tender expected in 2028). 

IAD reported NAV and share price total returns (TR) of 39.6% and 44.7%, respectively, in year-end April 2026, a strong result in absolute terms. This compares with a 45.7% return of the benchmark, with the moderate underperformance attributable to stock selection in China and IAD’s underweight of the technology sector. The technology sector was a major driver of the region’s performance, with significant contribution from a narrow set of stocks (TSMC, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix) that generated outsized returns; together, these three stocks represented 27% of the MSCI AC Asia ex Japan Index at end-April 2026. Since end-April 2026, IAD’s NAV TR of 6.4% was ahead of the index’s 4.3%, while its share price returned 8.2%, resulting in a narrowing of the discount to 5.7%. Over the long term, IAD’s bottom-up valuation-aware strategy blending growth and income styles allowed it to outperform the market, with a 12.2% and 13.4% NAV and share price TR per year over the 10 years to end-April 2026 compared to 10.8% per year for the benchmark. IAD highlighted that the outlook for corporate earnings growth remains positive across several markets in the region. 

IAD announced that, effective from 1 August 2026, it is appointing Marc Ye, a longstanding member of the Invesco team, as a third co-manager alongside Fiona Yang and Ian Hargreaves, who will retain their roles as lead and senior co-manager, respectively. At the board level, Neil Rogan will retire as chair and from the board at the end of the September 2026 AGM after nine years of service. Vanessa Donegan will become the new chair and Susan Sternglass Noble will take over as senior independent director from Donegan. James Will, the former Asia Dragon Trust chair, will also retire at the end of the September 2026 AGM after approaching nine years of service.