Aberdeen Closed-End Funds
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Closed-end funds are traded on the secondary market through one of the stock exchanges. The Fund’s investment return and principal value will fluctuate so that an investor’s shares may be worth more or less than the original cost. Shares of closed-end funds may trade above (a premium) or below (a discount) the net asset value (NAV) of the fund’s portfolio. There is no assurance that the Fund will achieve its investment objective. Past performance does not guarantee future results.International investing entails special risk considerations, including currency fluctuations, lower liquidity, economic and political risks, and differences in accounting methods; these risks are generally heightened for emerging market investments.Concentrating investments in the specific regions subjects the Fund to more volatility and greater risk of loss than geographically diverse funds.Fixed income securities are subject to certain risks including, but not limited to: interest rate (changes in interest rates may cause a decline in the market value of an investment), credit (changes in the financial condition of the issuer, borrower, counterparty, or underlying collateral), prepayment (debt issuers may repay or refinance their loans or obligations earlier than anticipated), and extension (principal repayments may not occur as quickly as anticipated, causing the expected maturity of a security to increase).The Fund’s use of leverage exposes the Fund to additional risks, including the risk that the costs of leverage could exceed the income earned by the Fund on the proceeds of such leverage. Additionally, in the event of a general market decline in the value of the Fund’s assets, the effect of that decline will be magnified in the Fund because of the additional assets purchased with the proceeds of the leverage.Your portfolio may not have the same asset class weightings. Asset class weightings are subject to change.Diversification does not ensure a profit or protect against a loss in a declining market.Some of the information in this document may contain projections or other forward looking statements regarding future events or future financial performance of countries, markets or companies. These statements are only predictions and actual events or results may differ materially. The reader must make his/her own assessment of the relevance, accuracy and adequacy of the information contained in this document, and make such independent investigations, as he/she may consider necessary or appropriate for the purpose of such assessment.Any opinion or estimate contained in this recording is made on a general basis and is not to be relied on by the reader as advice. Neither ABRDNnor any of its agents have given any consideration to nor have they made any investigation of the investment objectives, financial situation or particular need of the reader, any specific person or for any loss arising whether directly or indirectly as a result of the reader, any person or group of persons acting on any information, opinion or estimate contained in this document.
Aberdeen Closed-End Funds
AOD and AGD Update featuring Portfolio Manager - Josh Duitz
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In this episode, we sit down with Josh Duitz, Aberdeen's Head of Global Income and a Portfolio Manager for both AOG and AGD. Josh discusses the current state of the global equity market, including the impact of the Iran conflict.
AOD/AGD Podcast Transcript - April 2026
Mike Taggart: Welcome to the latest podcast for both the Aberdeen Total Dynamic Dividend Fund, ticker symbol AOD, and the Aberdeen Global Dynamic Dividend Fund, ticker symbol AGD.
I'm Mike Taggart, Aberdeen's Head of Closed End Fund Investor Relations. With me is Josh Duitz, Aberdeen's Head of Global Income and a Portfolio Manager for both AOD and AGD.
Josh, thanks for taking the time to discuss the funds today.
Josh Duitz: Thanks for having me, Mike. Appreciate it.
Mike Taggart: So Josh, both of these funds invest in global equities, and global equities had a great 2025 and start to 2026. What drove that, and what type of impact has the Iran conflict had on those markets?
Josh Duitz: So global equities really benefited from a combination of fundamentals and sentiment. Earnings proved far more resilient than many people expected - especially outside the narrow mega-cap tech space. Companies continued to generate strong cash flows, balance sheets improved, and dividends held up well.
At the same time, investors became more comfortable that inflation was moderating and that interest rates were closer to their peak. That supported both equity multiples and risk appetite globally, particularly in dividend-paying sectors like financials, energy, and industrials.
In terms of the Iran conflict, the impact on global equity markets has actually been quite contained. There's been short-term volatility around headlines, but markets have largely looked through it. The reality is that global equities today are driven more by earnings, dividends, and economic momentum than geopolitical noise. In some areas, like energy and defense, it's even reinforced cash flow visibility rather than undermining it.
Mike Taggart: And then turning to the funds themselves, where have you been facing the strongest headwinds and tailwinds in the portfolios?
Josh Duitz: So I'll talk about it on a contribution basis year to date.
And we've seen positive contributions from sectors like energy, materials, and utilities.
And on the flip side of it, we've seen weakness in sectors like consumer discretionary and communication services, which really isn't surprising given the macro.
As you know, Mike, just talking about one of the sectors, we don't generally take large sector bets. We're not benchmark huggers. Our framework's really the MSCI All Country World Index. And we generally, when we take a sector bet, it's a couple of 100 basis points over the weighting of the MSCI. So just one sector that has been a positive contribution is the utility sector, which is actually our biggest overweight. And I know historically dividend funds had large overweights to utilities. We do not generally have large overweights to utilities, but we have recently, and that's been a strong contributor to performance this year.
And the reason, just to discuss that a little bit, the reason we have that large overweight to utilities right now is we believe there are a lot of secular tailwinds for the sector, including accelerating electricity demand from AI data centers and electrification, alongside the need for massive grid modernization and renewable integration. And these dynamics are supporting visible, regulated capital investments and earnings growth.
So again, we are only a couple hundred basis points overweight, but that certainly has helped performance this year.
Mike Taggart: Excellent. So then if we look forward, I mean, you just mentioned the utilities overweight, but how do you currently have the portfolio structured? Have you changed positioning with events in Iran?
Josh Duitz: And I always state this about these funds, that we really, truly are not macro investors. If you look at where we're positioned by sector as well as geographically, we're fairly close to the benchmark.
But that doesn't mean we're not following the macro very closely and trying to react to that. And generally, that's really topping up positions. And we're using the opportunities of the volatile market for that. And we do that when we feel like the fundamentals are not correctly reflected by the market. And you see that especially during times of high volatility. So that's what we're trying to take advantage of in this market.
Mike Taggart: You know, both AOD and AGD also have the investment objective of seeking high current dividend income. So how does that influence security selection overall in your process?
Josh Duitz: That's a great question, right? And I think that's one of the beauties of our fund, is that we can have a well-diversified dividend fund. And that's important to mention.
Like all the companies we invest in pay dividends. And historically, companies that pay dividends and grow their dividends is an important feature, grow their dividends, generally outperform the market.
So anytime a analyst leads with the best part of a company is that it has a high dividend yield.
Usually that's not what we're looking for. We're looking for companies that have dividend yields or higher dividend yields that can produce a good total return.
We're looking for a good total return in any type of investment we make.
So preferably with a company that pays a dividend, a nice dividend, and is growing their free cash flows.
And I think that's the beauty, that dividend capture allows us to invest in the companies that we think have the best opportunity to have a good total return over the long term and that pay a dividend.
Mike Taggart: Finally, if you could just summarize why investors should be putting money to work in global equity income right now?
Josh Duitz: We think global equity income, and specifically AOD and AGD, make a lot of sense right now. Investors are being paid to wait with the nice dividend we provide.
You're getting access to diversified global businesses with strong balance sheets, durable cash flows, and attractive dividend yields at a time when income still matters.
AOD and AGD are designed to capture the income opportunity in global equities, while also participating in equity upside.
You're not relying on one region or one narrow market leadership group.
Instead, you're invested across sectors and geographies where dividends are supported by real earnings, not financial engineering.
In a world where uncertainty hasn't disappeared, but fundamentals remain solid, global equity income offers a powerful combination of income, diversification, and long-term growth potential.
And that's exactly what AOD and AGD are built to deliver.
Mike Taggart: Okay, great. Well, thank you, Josh, for that in-depth update.
Josh Duitz: Thanks for having me, Mike. Appreciate it.
Mike Taggart: There are three convenient ways to learn more about both AOD and AGD.
Visit their websites, ABRDNAOD.com and ABRDNAGD.com. Second, you can e-mail us at investor.relations@Aberdeenplc.com or give us a call at 1-800-522-4333.
I'm Mike Taggart of Aberdeen. Thank you for listening.
This podcast is provided for general information only and assumes a certain level of knowledge of financial markets.
It is provided for informational purposes only and should not be considered as an offer, investment recommendation or solicitation to deal in any of the investments or products mentioned herein and does not constitute investment research.
The views in this podcast are those of the contributors at the time of publication, and do not necessarily reflect those of Aberdeen. The companies discussed in this podcast have been selected for illustrative purposes only, or to demonstrate our investment management style and not as an investment recommendation or indication of their future performance.
The value of investments and the income from them can go down as well as up, and investors may get back less than the amount invested. Past performance is not a guide to future returns, return projections, or estimates, and provide no guarantee of future results.