ABERDEEN Asset Management’s New Dawn Investment Trust had a markedly better year in the 12 months to the end of April than in the previous 12-month period, with its net asset value total return of 39 per cent seeing it beat its benchmark index by 2.6 percentage points.

Chairman David Shearer said the trust, which has lifted its dividend from 3.9p to 4p per share, benefited from Asian equities rising sharply in sterling terms over the year, helped by the pound suffering after the Brexit vote.