We achieve this through a combination of revenue generating operating activities and investing in growing businesses across emerging markets. We run a well-diversified and liquid portfolio, take strategic stakes in selected businesses and plan to take operational control of companies through the acquisition of minority and majority stakes in companies with a focus on emerging markets

2016 was a defining year for our company. On 11 August 2016, we raised £78 million on the Channel Islands Stock Exchange, and we were admitted to trading on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM Market two weeks later. These landmark developments give us the resources to focus on growing dividends and substantial capital growth for our shareholders in the years to come, and we want to thank those involved for their support – not only our distinguished group of institutional and private shareholders, but also our Board of Directors and the management team who worked hard to make this happen.

Our key objective from the start was to generate sufficient income in the portfolio to retain a healthy dividend yield, and that objective remains to that day (with APQ maintaining its current target of 6%). This focus on income is not just a reflection of the current state of the investment universe but reflects our fundamental view that investors in emerging markets tend to overpay for the ‘dream’ of long-term growth and underpay for the cash flows readily coming from the asset class. Our approach is the exact opposite: We believe Emerging Markets (‘EM’) offer tremendous income opportunities regardless of index performance, asset class. If public or private bonds offer the best opportunities, we will pursue them. If we can find decent long-dated cash flows in hedging instruments or royalties, we will pursue those as well. Our edge as team, in our view, is a deep and long-standing expertise in scanning the EM universe for these opportunities and embedding them on our balance sheet to achieve the income target we have set ourselves and achieve modest book value growth in the medium term.

This approach has served us well in our first year of operation. We paid our first dividend in January, and subsequent 1.5p dividends in April and August. We have stuck to liquid exposure because we see a distinct lack of value and income potential in illiquid opportunities across EM. The latter is a reflection of a glut of liquidity compressing risk premia in global markets. For a detailed look at these trends, we refer you to our quarterly fact sheets.