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 -3.1 2.6 14.5 35.7 32.6 143.0
Net asset value -2.2 4.6 14.2 43.9 47.7 169.2
Benchmark (NR)** -0.8 3.5 4.7 20.5 10.5 87.5
MSCI Frontiers Index (NR) -2.1 2.8 10.4 3.2 17.0 75.5
MSCI Emerging Markets Index (NR) 1.3 9.7 10.3 -7.2 14.3 62.1
US Dollars:
Share price -4.0 0.9 14.1 22.8 27.5 96.1
Net asset value -3.1 2.9 13.7 30.2 42.0 116.9
Benchmark (NR)** -1.7 1.7 4.3 8.9 6.1 51.7
MSCI Frontiers Index (NR) -3.0 1.1 10.0 -6.7 12.4 40.9
MSCI Emerging Markets Index (NR) 0.4 7.8 9.9 -16.1 9.8 30.1
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: 199.32c Net asset value - cum income: 203.35c Sterling: Net asset value - capital only: 159.18p Net asset value - cum income: 162.40p Share price: 148.00p Total assets (including income): £307.4m Discount to cum-income NAV: 8.9% Gearing: Nil Gearing range (as a % of gross assets): 0-20% Net yield*: 4.3% 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 4.3% 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 45.7 Saudi Arabia 15.9
Industrials 14.5 Indonesia 14.3
Energy 11.2 Philippines 10.0
Materials 10.7 Kazakhstan 8.1
Consumer Staples 8.6 Hungary 7.3
Real Estate 8.2 United Arab Emirates 7.1
Consumer 8.1 Greece 5.9
Discretionary
Communication 7.9 Poland 5.7
Services
Information 5.1 Chile 4.9
Technology
Health Care 0.8 Thailand 4.7
----- Qatar 4.1
120.8 Czech Republic 4.0
----- Argentina 3.1
Short positions -2.3 Kenya 2.9
Vietnam 2.9
=====
Multi-International 2.2
Georgia 2.2
Malaysia 2.2
Pakistan 2.2
2.1
Turkey
2.1
Colombia
2.1
Singapore
1.5
Romania
1.1
Cambodia
0.8
Nigeria
0.8
Bangladesh
0.6
Egypt
-----
Total
120.8
----
Short positions -2.3
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*reflects gross market exposure from contracts for difference (CFDs).
Market Exposure
31.05 30.06 31.07 31.08 30.09 31.10 30.11 31.12 31.01 29.02 31.03 30.04
2023 2023 2023 2023 2023 2023 2023 2023 2024 2024 2024 2024
% % % % % % % % % % % %
Long 112.9 116.9 113.0 113.3 114.9 118.8 113.1 116.6 119.5 121.4 120.4 120.8
Short 3.6 4.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.1 4.6 4.7 3.6 3.5 2.7 2.3
Gross 116.5 120.9 116.0 116.3 117.9 121.9 118.0 121.3 123.1 124.9 123.1 123.1
Net 109.3 112.9 110.0 110.3 111.9 115.7 108.8 111.9 115.9 117.9 117.7 118.5
Ten Largest Investments
Company Country of Risk Gross market value as a % of net
assets
Bank Central Asia Indonesia 4.7
Saudi National Bank Saudi Arabia 4.6
Kaspi.Kz JCS Kazakhstan 3.6
Emaar Properties United Arab Emirates 3.5
FPT Vietnam 2.9
Wizz Air Holdings Hungary 2.8
Etihad Etisalat Saudi Arabia 2.8
Vista Oil & Gas Argentina 2.8
Jeronimo Martins Poland 2.7
Saudi Basic Industries Saudi Arabia 2.7
Corporation
Commenting on the markets,
The Company’s NAV fell by 3.1 % in April, underperforming its benchmark the MSCI Emerging ex Selected Countries + Frontier Markets + Saudi Arabia Index (“Benchmark Index”) which returned -1.7%. For reference, the MSCI Emerging Markets Index was up by 0.4% while the MSCI Frontier Markets Index was down by 3.0% over the same period. All performance figures are on a US Dollar basis with net income reinvested.
Emerging markets (+0.4%) significantly outperformed developed markets in April, which ended the month down -3.7%. EMEA finished the month flat (+0.2%).
While stock selection did well in April, our country allocation detracted. It was a tough month for
At the other extreme,
Nagacorp (+20.5%), the Cambodian integrated gambling resort operator, was the best performing stock over the month as company reported continuing strong results and we continued to see increased incidence of Chinese travellers enjoying foreign travel. Elsewhere in
On the flipside, IT services company EPAM (-14.8%) detracted amid weaker full year guidance for revenues. Philippine's based property developer Ayala Land (-13.3%) was another detractor on concerns that higher rates globally would curtail Philippine property demand.
Actually post month end we saw the company report a presale result up 20% year on year and the highest level since Q4 19, beating expectations.
Indonesian retailer Mitra Adiperkasa (-15.6%) fell as the company reported weak results, particularly in the Food and Beverage segment where they have been hurt by the domestic boycott of Starbucks which has followed the conflict in the
Over the course of April, we made a few changes to the portfolio. We initiated a holding in tech conglomerate
As higher global rates continue to feed through into the real economy, we expect some moderation of demand in developed markets. We note slowing credit growth in particular in the US. In contrast, we continue to see improving activity levels in frontier and smaller emerging markets. With inflation falling across many countries within our universe, rate cuts have started to materialise in some areas of our universe. This is a good set up for domestically oriented economies to see a cyclical pick up. We remain positive on the outlook for small emerging and frontier markets versus developed markets, and we find significant value in currencies and equity markets across our investment opportunity set. Our investment universe, in absolute and relative terms, remains under-researched and we believe this should enable compelling alpha opportunities.
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
