BlackRock Latin American Investment Trust Plc - Portfolio Update
The information contained in this release was correct as at
https://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/news/market-news/market-news-home.html.
All information is at
Performance at month end with net income reinvested
One Three One Three Five
month months year years years
% % % % %
Sterling:
Net asset value^ 6.1 17.1 -5.0 2.2 49.0
Share price 9.9 13.6 -1.2 -3.8 51.5
MSCI EM Latin America
0.6 6.3 -5.2 1.6 53.8
(Net Return)^^
US Dollars:
Net asset value^ 7.1 25.4 0.7 9.5 62.6
Share price 11.0 21.7 4.7 3.1 65.4
MSCI EM Latin America
1.6 13.9 0.4 8.7 67.7
(Net Return)^^
^cum income
^^The Company’s performance benchmark (the MSCI EM Latin America Index) may be calculated on either a Gross or a Net return basis. Net return (NR) indices calculate the reinvestment of dividends net of withholding taxes using the tax rates applicable to non-resident institutional investors, and hence give a lower total return than indices where calculations are on a Gross basis (which assumes that no withholding tax is suffered). As the Company is subject to withholding tax rates for the majority of countries in which it invests, the NR basis is felt to be the most accurate, appropriate, consistent and fair comparison for the Company.
Sources: BlackRock, Standard & Poor’s Micropal
At month end
Net asset value - capital only: 378.48p Net asset value - including income: 381.94p Share price: 344.00p Total assets#: £119.0m Discount (share price to cum income NAV): 9.9% Average discount* over the month – cum income: 11.2%Net Gearing at month end**: 3.8% Gearing range (as a % of net assets): 0-25% Net yield##: 4.9% Ordinary shares in issue(excluding 2,181,662 shares held in 29,448,641 treasury): Ongoing charges***: 1.23%
#Total assets include current year revenue.
##The yield of 5.2% is calculated based on total dividends declared in the last 12 months as at the date of this announcement as set out below (totalling
2024 Q2 Interim dividend of
2024 Q3 Interim dividend of
2024 Q4 Interim dividend of
2025 Q1 Interim dividend of
*The discount is calculated using the cum income NAV (expressed in sterling terms).
**Net cash/net gearing is calculated using debt at par, less cash and cash equivalents and fixed interest investments as a percentage of net assets.
*** 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 finance costs, direct transaction costs, custody transaction charges, VAT recovered, taxation and certain non-recurring items for the year ended
Geographic Exposure % of Total Assets % of Equity MSCI EM Latin America
Portfolio * Index
Brazil 57.3 58.4 59.8
Mexico 34.6 35.3 28.2
Multi-Country 2.6 2.6 0.0
Argentina 2.1 2.1 0.0
Chile 1.6 1.6 6.3
Peru 0.0 0.0 4.1
Columbia 0.0 0.0 1.6
Net current assets
(inc. fixed 1.8 0.0 0.0
interest)
----- ----- -----
Total 100.0 100.0 100.0
===== ===== =====
^Total assets for the purposes of these calculations exclude bank overdrafts, and the net current assets figure shown in the table above therefore excludes bank overdrafts equivalent to 5.8% of the Company’s net asset value.
Sector % of Equity Portfolio* % of Benchmark*
Financials 23.0 34.9
Materials 18.2 15.5
Consumer Staples 15.0 14.8
Consumer Discretionary 12.8 1.5
Industrials 11.1 10.3
Health Care 6.6 0.9
Real Estate 5.9 1.3
Energy 5.3 8.8
Information Technology 2.1 0.7
Utilities 0.0 7.6
Communication Services 0.0 3.7
----- -----
Total 100.0 100.0
===== =====
* excluding net current assets & fixed interest
Country of Risk % of % of
Company Equity Portfolio Benchmark
Vale: Brazil
ADS 6.5
Equity 1.0 5.5
Petrobrás: Brazil
Equity 0.9
Equity ADR 2.5 3.5
Preference Shares ADR 1.9 4.0
Grupo México Mexico 5.3 2.8
Grupo Financiero Banorte Mexico 4.9 3.8
Walmart de México y Centroamérica Mexico 4.7 2.9
FEMSA: Mexico
ADR 0.9
Equity 3.7 3.1
XP Brazil 3.8 1.2
Rede D'or Sao Luiz Brazil 3.6 0.9
Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste Mexico 3.4 1.0
B3 Brazil 3.4 2.2
Commenting on the markets,
The Company’s NAV rose by +6.1% in May, significantly outperforming the benchmark, the MSCI Emering Markets Latin America Index, which returned +0.6% on a net basis over the same period. All performance figures are in sterling terms with dividends reinvested.
At the portfolio level, security selection in
From a security lens, an overweight position to a collection of Brazilian consumer names did well, with Azzas 2154, Lojas Renner and Alpargatas all contributing to performance after delivering strong Q1 earnings. XP, the Brazilian investment management platform, also did well on the back of decent results. An overweight position in Brazilian Health Care names, Hapvida and Rede D'or, also aided performance during the month. Hapvida reported a decline in net new judicial deposits, which was seen as a positive for the sector overall.
On the flipside, the biggest detractor over the month was our overweight position in IT services company, Globant. The stock pulled back on a poor set of earnings and weaker than expected guidance. Not owning Peruvian bank Credicorp was another relative detractor.
Whilst portfolio positioning remained largely unchanged in May, we did take advantage of the strong performance in
Outlook
Latin American equities have re-bounded sharply in 2025, and have outperformed both broader MSCI Emerging Markets and
We see interesting bottom-up opportunities particularly in
Whilst we have recently taken some profits on our domestic
1
Source: BlackRock, as of
ENDS
Latest information is available by typing www.blackrock.com/uk/brla 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 the Manager’s website (or any other website) is incorporated into, or forms part of, this announcement.
