Mobius Investment Trust delivers 23% NAV return after major redemption

Mobius Investment Trust PLC has reported a sharp improvement in performance, delivering a net asset value total return of 23.0% for the six months ended 31 May 2026.

The emerging markets investment trust also beat its comparator index, while its share price generated a total return of 22.2%. That is a welcome change from the difficult first half of 2025, when its NAV fell by 8.2%.

However, there are still important points for investors to watch. The shares ended the period at a 12.1% discount to NAV, the portfolio remains heavily exposed to Asian technology, and the trust is considerably smaller following a major shareholder redemption.

The figures are taken from the company's unaudited original half-year announcement.

Mobius Investment Trust's key figures

Metric	31 May 2026	31 May 2025	30 November 2025
NAV per share	193.5p	136.4p	158.7p
Share price	170.0p	129.0p	140.5p
Discount to NAV	12.1%	5.4%	11.4%
Net assets	£127.1 million	£157.4 million	£183.1 million

For the six-month reporting period, NAV total return was 23.0%, compared with 21.1% from the MSCI Emerging Markets Mid Cap Index in sterling terms. MMIT therefore outperformed its comparator by 1.9 percentage points.

The trust's NAV reached a high of 197.4p on 27 May before closing at 193.5p. Its shares traded at an average discount of 11.7% during the period.

There was some improvement after the reporting date. On 27 July 2026, the shares stood at 174.0p against a cum-income NAV of 192.2p, reducing the discount to 9.5%.

AI infrastructure drove the recovery

The strongest contributors were businesses supplying materials, chips and testing equipment for artificial intelligence infrastructure.

Elite Material contributed 7.0% to performance, Chroma ATE added 5.8%, and ASPEED contributed 4.1%.

Elite Material benefited from demand and pricing for high-end copper clad laminates used in AI data centres. Chroma ATE gained from demand for advanced testing equipment, while ASPEED benefited from demand for server management chips.

These gains show that MMIT retained meaningful exposure to the AI investment cycle, despite becoming more selective about technology valuations.

The manager trimmed holdings where prospective returns had become less attractive after strong share price appreciation. It also exited software businesses EPAM Systems and TOTVS because developing AI capabilities could change their competitive positions and weaken long-term earnings visibility.

Online travel platforms Trip.com and MakeMyTrip were also sold. They detracted 1.8% and 1.4%, respectively, as investors considered how AI could affect online search, customer acquisition and booking behaviour. CarTrade was the third-largest detractor at 1.2%, with the trust completing its exit after earlier gains.

This is active management in a fairly direct form. The team is not simply increasing its exposure to anything carrying an AI label. It is trying to distinguish between companies supplying the infrastructure and those whose existing business models could be disrupted.

The portfolio has changed significantly

MMIT held 29 investments across 11 countries at the end of May, with investments representing 98.1% of net assets.

Largest country exposures	Percentage of net assets
Taiwan	32.6%
India	21.1%
South Korea	18.1%
Turkey	8.3%
South Africa	4.9%

Technology remained the largest sector at 40.5% of net assets, down from 51.7% at the November year-end. Industrials increased from 7.3% to 25.0%, while financials rose from 10.1% to 14.0%.

New investments included Indian surveillance equipment provider Aditya Infotech, Indian retail investment platform Groww, South African wealth manager PSG Financial, and Taiwanese server rail manufacturer King Slide Works.

These additions reflect several themes beyond AI, including security infrastructure, the financialisation of household savings and industrial investment. Financialisation means more household money moving into formal savings and investment products.

The portfolio is nevertheless concentrated. Its ten largest investments represented 49.9% of net assets, while Taiwan, India and South Korea together accounted for 71.8%. That concentration can help when stock selection is successful, but it also increases the impact of country-specific, sector and geopolitical risks.

The redemption still matters

The half-year performance looks strong, but it sits alongside a major reduction in the size of the trust.

Shareholders owning 43.1% of the issued share capital chose to redeem their holdings in December 2025. In total, 49,729,629 shares were cancelled, with £78.6 million deducted from shareholders' funds including costs.

The number of ordinary shares in issue fell from 115.4 million to 65.7 million. This explains why net assets declined from £183.1 million at 30 November 2025 to £127.1 million at 31 May 2026 despite the positive investment return.

The board said the trust had regained approximately 30% of the reduction in net assets caused by the redemption. Even so, a smaller asset base can make ongoing costs more significant and may affect the trust's market liquidity.

The next redemption opportunity is scheduled for November 2027. The board has not conducted additional share buybacks following the substantial 2025 redemption, as it does not want to reduce net assets further in the short term.

This leaves investment performance and shareholder engagement as the main tools for addressing the discount. Investors following the governance changes can also read about the previous chair's departure amid underperformance and redemptions.

Returns were driven by capital gains, not income

MMIT reported a total return after tax of £23.7 million, reversing the £14.2 million loss from the same period a year earlier. Gains on investments were £24.4 million.

Income fell to £629,000 from £925,000, while the revenue return was £138,000, or 0.21p per share. No new dividend was disclosed in this half-year announcement.

The trust had no borrowings and held £3.9 million in cash and cash equivalents at the period end. The board also confirmed that it had identified no material uncertainty affecting the trust's ability to continue operating for at least 12 months from approval of the report.

What investors should watch next

The strongest feature of these results is the return to benchmark-beating performance after a difficult period. Active changes to the portfolio appear to have helped, while AI infrastructure holdings delivered substantial gains.

The discount remains the clearest unresolved issue. It narrowed after the period end, but 9.5% still means the shares were trading below the value of the underlying assets.

Investors should also watch whether the manager can preserve gains as semiconductor and hardware valuations become more demanding. The trust's exposure to Taiwan and South Korea offers access to the AI supply chain, but it creates meaningful geographic and technology concentration.

For now, MMIT has produced a strong half-year recovery and rebuilt part of the assets lost through the redemption. Sustaining that performance, while controlling concentration risk and narrowing the discount, is the next test.