Why Asia's income bulls still have years to run

Why income bulls still have years to run

Mark Williams, co-manager of the Liontrust Asia Income fund, explains why the peak of the bull run in Asian equities is not even close and the region's dividend culture is here to stay.

Asia's past growth - delayed but not derailed by the Asian financial crisis of 1997 - hid from investors its merits as a source of income. Following the recent financial crisis, which brought the developed world's quantitative responses, the quest for income was widened to areas that had been long ignored, such as Asia. But rather than being a recent fad, the Asia Pacific region has long been a strong source of income. Going back 20 years, investment in the region's equities (as defined by the MSCI AC Asia-Pacific ex-Japan index) generated a dividend return of 74%, bringing the total ret...