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 -6.7 -4.5 1.0 30.9 120.9 153.3
Net asset value -3.3 -1.6 2.1 28.1 134.6 181.0
Benchmark (NR)** -0.9 -0.7 1.7 1.3 57.1 92.2
MSCI Frontiers Index (NR) 0.3 4.7 9.8 7.6 54.3 96.9
MSCI Emerging Markets Index (NR) -1.8 -0.1 5.8 6.5 40.8 69.2
US Dollars:
Share price -4.3 -1.5 3.3 28.5 130.2 110.8
Net asset value -0.8 1.5 4.3 25.7 144.5 133.5
Benchmark (NR)** 1.6 2.3 3.9 -0.7 63.5 60.4
MSCI Frontiers Index (NR) 2.9 7.9 12.2 5.4 60.6 63.0
MSCI Emerging Markets Index (NR) 0.6 2.9 8.1 4.4 46.6 40.1
Sources:
*
** 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: 207.19c Net asset value - cum income: 209.06c Sterling: Net asset value - capital only: 160.51p Net asset value - cum income: 161.96p Share price: 147.00p Total assets (including income): £306.5m Discount to cum-income NAV: 9.2% Gearing: Nil Gearing range (as a % of gross assets): 0-20% Net yield*: 5.1% Ordinary shares in issue**: 189,270,248 Ongoing charges***: 1.41% Ongoing charges plus taxation and performance fee****: 2.33%
*The Company’s yield based on dividends announced in the last 12 months as at the date of the release of this announcement is 5.1%, and includes the 2024 interim dividend of
** Excluding 52,552,553 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 46.1 Saudi Arabia 15.8
Industrials 12.6 Indonesia 11.4
Real Estate 12.2 United Arab Emirates 10.8
Consumer 10.8 Poland 8.4
Discretionary
Materials 9.8 Turkey 7.7
Communication 9.0 Hungary 6.9
Services
Information 7.1 Kazakhstan 6.4
Technology
Consumer Staples 5.5 Philippines 5.6
Health Care 3.8 Pakistan 4.9
Energy 1.6 Multi-International 4.9
----- Greece 4.9
118.5 Thailand 4.6
----- Vietnam 3.7
Short Positions -4.3 Kenya 3.2
Bangladesh 3.2
Malaysia 2.9
Czech Republic 2.5
Georgia 2.4
Chile 2.2
Singapore 1.8
Romania 1.7
Egypt 1.7
Cambodia 0.9
-----
118.5
-----
-4.3
Short positions
----
*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 28.02 31.03
2024 2024 2024 2024 2024 2024 2024 2024 2024 2025 2025 2025
% % % % % % % % % % % %
Long 120.8 118.1 118.4 116.1 112.3 107.9 110.1 109.6 112.4 118.5 121.0 118.5
Short 2.3 2.4 2.9 3.5 3.6 3.9 3.6 3.3 4.0 4.2 3.9 4.3
Gross 123.1 120.5 121.3 119.6 115.9 111.8 113.7 112.9 116.4 122.7 124.9 122.8
Net 118.5 115.7 115.5 112.6 108.7 104.0 106.5 106.3 108.4 114.3 117.1 114.2
Ten Largest Investments
Company Country of Risk Gross market value as a % of net assets Al Rajhi Bank Saudi Arabia 5.8 Emaar Properties United Arab Emirates 4.7 OTP Bank Hungary 4.7 LPP Poland 4.6 Bank Mandiri Indonesia 4.2 PZU Poland 3.8 Etihad Etisalat Saudi Arabia 3.8 FPT Vietnam 3.7 Eldorado Gold Turkey 3.4 CP All Thailand 3.3
Commenting on the markets,
The Company’s NAV fell by 0.8% in March, underperforming its benchmark, the MSCI Frontier +
Although stock selection had a negative impact on the overall portfolio returns, certain stocks performed well. The largest contributor to returns was our off-benchmark position in Eldorado Gold (+21.8%), the Turkish gold mine operator. The rise in gold prices has pushed the stock higher. Our Financials exposure across region also did well. Indonesian
On the flipside, our IT services exposure detracted. The sector sold off more broadly on the back of tariff concerns and their potential impact on US growth. All three, Vietnamese IT services company FPT (-13.9%),
We made a few changes to the portfolio in
We continue to see improving activity levels in some frontier and smaller emerging markets. With inflation falling across many countries within our universe, rate cuts should resume once US bond yields stabilise. 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, 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
