Matthews Asia is not necessarily a fund management name that people will recognise but they are specialist Asia Fund Managers based in San Francisco. The team regularly visit Asia and have hubs across the region. The fund does pay income of currently around 3% but at its heart it is a total return fund, with income being re-invested. This is part of the overall return profile.
In terms of dividends we discussed why focus on these types of businesses. They believe this is reflective of the quality aspect of the process. The focus is on those businesses that have the ability to pay dividends and/or increase the level of dividends they are paying. Where a company is paying dividends, this sends out interesting qualitive signals….read more