BlackRock Frontiers Investment Trust Plc - Portfolio Update
All information is at
Performance at month end with net income reinvested.
One Three One Three Five Since
month months year years years Launch*
% % % % % %
Sterling:
Share price -0.5 9.7 18.6 38.7 43.1 150.8
Net asset value 0.6 6.6 19.7 51.4 52.1 175.2
Benchmark (NR)** 0.3 3.4 6.8 24.1 13.3 89.0
MSCI Frontiers Index (NR) 4.3 6.2 11.5 12.3 19.7 79.3
MSCI Emerging Markets Index (NR) 2.6 3.3 5.9 -6.5 15.1 59.9
US Dollars:
Share price -0.6 8.7 21.2 27.1 38.8 104.2
Net asset value 0.5 5.6 22.3 38.7 47.5 123.8
Benchmark (NR)** 0.1 2.5 9.1 13.6 9.8 54.3
MSCI Frontiers Index (NR) 4.2 5.3 14.0 2.8 16.0 45.3
MSCI Emerging Markets Index (NR) 2.5 2.4 8.2 -14.4 11.6 29.6
Sources: BlackRock and Standard & Poor’s Micropal
*
** The Company’s benchmark changed from MSCI Frontier Markets Index to MSCI Emerging ex Selected Countries + Frontier Markets + Saudi Arabia Index (net total return, USD) effective 1/4/2018.
At month end US Dollar Net asset value - capital only: 206.48c Net asset value - cum income: 209.77c Sterling: Net asset value - capital only: 163.45p Net asset value - cum income: 166.06p Share price: 152.75p Total assets (including income): £314.4m Discount to cum-income NAV: 8.0% Gearing: Nil Gearing range (as a % of gross assets): 0-20% Net yield*: 4.1% Ordinary shares in issue**: 189,325,748 Ongoing charges***: 1.38% Ongoing charges plus taxation and performance fee****: 3.78%
*The Company’s yield based on dividends announced in the last 12 months as at the date of the release of this announcement is 4.1% and includes the 2023 interim dividend of
** Excluding 52,497,053 ordinary shares held in treasury.
***The Company’s ongoing charges are calculated as a percentage of average daily net assets and using the management fee and all other operating expenses excluding performance fees, finance costs, direct transaction costs, custody transaction charges, VAT recovered, taxation and certain non-recurring items for Year ended
**** The Company’s ongoing charges are calculated as a percentage of average daily net assets and using the management fee and all other operating expenses and including performance fees but excluding finance costs, direct transaction costs, custody transaction charges, VAT recovered, taxation and certain non-recurring items for Year ended
Sector Gross market value Country Gross market value
Analysis as a % of net assets Analysis as a % of net assets
Financials 44.7 Saudi Arabia 17.7
Industrials 15.0 Indonesia 14.3
Energy 12.1 Philippines 10.1
Materials 10.0 Kazakhstan 8.0
Consumer Staples 9.3 United Arab Emirates 6.9
Real Estate 8.2 Hungary 6.8
Consumer 8.1 Greece 5.9
Discretionary
Communication 6.5 Vietnam 5.2
Services
Information 5.8 Poland 4.8
Technology
Health Care 0.7 Chile 4.8
----- Thailand 4.6
120.4 Qatar 4.0
----- Czech Republic 3.9
Short positions -2.7 Georgia 2.6
===== Argentina 2.6
Multi-International 2.5
Kenya 2.5
Colombia 2.3
Malaysia 2.1
2.1
Turkey
1.8
Pakistan
1.5
Romania
1.3
Nigeria
0.9
Cambodia
0.7
Bangladesh
0.5
Egypt
-----
Total
120.4
----
Short positions -2.7
=====
*reflects gross market exposure from contracts for difference (CFDs).
Market Exposure
30.04 31.05 30.06 31.07 31.08 30.09 31.10 30.11 31.12 31.01 29.02 31.03
2023 2023 2023 2023 2023 2023 2023 2023 2023 2024 2024 2024
% % % % % % % % % % % %
Long 108.5 112.9 116.9 113.0 113.3 114.9 118.8 113.1 116.6 119.5 121.4 120.4
Short 3.8 3.6 4.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.1 4.6 4.7 3.6 3.5 2.7
Gross 112.3 116.5 120.9 116.0 116.3 117.9 121.9 118.0 121.3 123.1 124.9 123.1
Net 104.7 109.3 112.9 110.0 110.3 111.9 115.7 108.8 111.9 115.9 117.9 117.7
Ten Largest Investments
Company Country of Risk Gross market value as a % of net
assets
Saudi National Bank Saudi Arabia 4.8
Bank Central Asia Indonesia 4.7
Kaspi.Kz JCS Kazakhstan 3.8
Emaar Properties United Arab Emirates 3.4
FPT Vietnam 3.2
Abdullah Al Othaim Markets Saudi Arabia 3.0
Ayala Land Philippines 2.9
Etihad Etisalat Saudi Arabia 2.7
Wizz Air Holdings Hungary 2.6
Bank Of Georgia Georgia 2.6
Commenting on the markets,
The Company’s NAV rose by 0.5% in March, outperforming its benchmark the MSCI Emerging ex Selected Countries + Frontier Markets + Saudi Arabia Index (“Benchmark Index”) which returned 0.1%. For reference, the MSCI Emerging Markets Index was up 2.5% while the MSCI Frontier Markets Index was up 4.2% over the same period. All performance figures are on a US Dollar basis with net income reinvested.
Emerging markets more broadly continued their strong run from February, gaining +2.5% in March.
March was yet another good month for the fund where several stocks picks across a variety of different markets did well. Our
On the flipside, Polish clothing manufacturer LPP (-13.9%) was the largest detractor over the month following a short seller report released by
Over the course of March, we made some changes to the portfolio. We locked in profits by exiting our holding in Peruvian bank Credicorp, which has done very well. We added to our holding in
We believe global markets are starting to feel the impact of higher interest rates, noting slowing credit growth in particular as evidence that a demand slowdown is imminent in developed markets. When combined with a Chinese economy which is struggling to find its footing we find it difficult to see where a meaningful pick up in global growth will come from. In contrast we see better fundamentals in frontier and smaller emerging markets. Monetary tightening across much of our universe was ahead of that in developed markets, particularly in
Sources:
1
BlackRock as at
2
MSCI as at
ENDS
Latest information is available by typing www.blackrock.com/uk/brfi on the internet, "BLRKINDEX" on Reuters, "BLRK" on Bloomberg or "8800" on Topic 3 (ICV terminal). Neither the contents of the Manager’s website nor the contents of any website accessible from hyperlinks on BlackRock’s website (or any other website) is incorporated into, or forms part of, this announcement.
Release
