BlackRock American Income Trust Plc - Final Results
LEI: 549300WWOCXSC241W468
Annual Report and Financial Statements
Key highlights
-- Introduction of a new innovative and differentiated investment mandate
managed by BlackRock’s Systematic Active Equity team, that combines
human insight with big data and AI, retaining a focus on value stocks
with an attractive dividend, and at a lower fee.
-- Net asset value per share (NAV) total return and share price total
return for the year were +11.5% and +20.9% respectively, compared to a
total return of the index of +8.4%. (All performance in sterling terms
with dividends reinvested).
-- Enhanced dividend policy introduced with payment of quarterly dividends
equivalent to 1.5% of the Company’s net asset value, equivalent to 6% of
net assets value annually.
-- As a result of the changes and positive sentiment towards the Company,
the discount reduced significantly to -5.0% by 31 October 2025 and as at
close of business on 30 January, the share price was at -1.2% discount
to net asset value per share.
“The Company’s systematic investment approach, which we believe is truly innovative and the first of its kind in the
Performance record
As at As at
31 October 31 October
2025 2024
Net assets (£’000)1 129,499 155,067
Net asset value per ordinary share (pence) 229.56 216.24
Ordinary share price (pence) 218.00 190.00
Ongoing charges2 0.73% 1.06%
Discount to cum income net asset value2 5.0% 12.1%
Russell 1000 Value Index – net total return3 2747.32 2533.77
========= =========
For the year For the year
ended ended
31 October 31 October
Performance (with dividends reinvested) 2025 2024
Net asset value per share2 11.5% 16.0%
Ordinary share price2 20.9% 13.8%
Russell 1000 Value Index – net total return3 8.4% 23.2%
========= =========
For the five For the five For the For the
year period year period period since period since
ended ended inception to inception to
31 October 31 October 31 October 31 October
Performance (with dividends 2025 2024 2025 2024
reinvested)
Net asset value per share2 78.3% 45.8% 286.3% 246.5%
Ordinary share price2 86.4% 26.5% 268.3% 204.7%
Russell 1000 Value Index – 88.7% 60.4% 350.1% 315.1%
net total return3
========= ========= ========= =========
For the year For the year
ended ended
31 October 31 October Change
2025 2024 %
Revenue
Net profit after taxation 1,781 2,604 -31.6
(£’000)
Revenue earnings per ordinary 2.83 3.39 -16.5
share (pence)4
--------------- --------------- ---------------
Interim dividends (pence)
1st interim 2.00 2.00 –
2nd interim 3.03 2.00 51.5
3rd interim 3.23 2.00 61.5
4th interim 3.44 2.00 72.0
--------------- --------------- ---------------
Total dividends payable/paid 11.70 8.00 46.3
========= ========= =========
1 The change in net assets reflects portfolio movements, shares repurchased into treasury, shares tendered and dividends paid during the year.
2
Alternative Performance Measures, see Glossary in the Company’s Annual Report for the year ended
3 The Company’s performance benchmark (the Russell 1000 Value Index) may be calculated on either a gross or a net total return basis. Net total 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 total return basis. As the Company is subject to the same withholding tax rates for the countries in which it invests, the NR basis is felt to be the most accurate, appropriate, consistent and fair comparison for the Company.
4
Further details are given in the Glossary in the Company’s Annual Report for the year ended
Chairman’s Statement
Dear Shareholder
Introduction
This has been a year of significant development for your Company. Before turning to a review of performance, outlook and the Board report on the strategy of the Company, it is worth reviewing the changes which shareholders approved.
The changes proposed by the Board reflected our desire to deliver a more compelling and scalable proposition for shareholders by adopting a differentiated, lower-cost approach while retaining the Company’s value-oriented philosophy. The new mandate, managed by BlackRock’s Systematic Active Equity team, commenced on
The package of measures put forward by the Board included the following:
- shareholders were invited to participate in a tender offer of up to 20% of the shares in issue. The tender was undersubscribed with approximately 16.15% of the share capital being tendered;
- those shareholders who remained invested benefitted from a six-month fee holiday to
- a regular quarterly dividend equivalent to 1.5% of the Company’s net asset value equivalent to 6% of net asset value annually;
- a commitment to offer a tender should the investment management performance not exceed the benchmark by a margin of 0.5% over the three years following the introduction of the new strategy.
The transition to the new investment strategy was implemented with minimal transaction costs on a single day.
The Board is encouraged by the positive performance achieved since the new mandate took effect and by the meaningful narrowing of the discount over the period. While it remains early in the life of the new strategy, these developments provide a promising foundation as the Company seeks to deliver attractive returns and income to shareholders, through a differentiated systematic approach that blends data science and investment expertise. At the time of the tender, the price at which shares could be tendered was 192.05p. The discount on the day prior to announcement of the proposals was 6.6%. As at
Market overview
US equity markets delivered solid gains over the year to
Performance
Over the year to
From the date of the Company’s change of strategy on
Since the financial year end and up to close of business on
Revenue earnings and dividends
During the year, the Company adopted an enhanced dividend policy, approved by shareholders. The Company’s ability to pay the enhanced dividends is no longer reliant on revenue generation to fund dividend. Revenue earnings per share for the year were 2.83p (2024: 3.39p), reflecting the change in investment approach which does not specifically look to generate revenue return. One dividend was paid under the previous policy, with the remaining three dividends paid in accordance with the new approach, whereby the Company distributes 1.5% of net asset value each quarter.
In total, shareholders received dividends of 11.70p per share during the year, reflecting three quarterly payments at an annualised rate of 6% of net asset value and one payment made under the previous dividend policy. Based on the share price at
Management of share rating
The Directors recognise the importance to investors that the market price of the Company’s shares should not trade at a significant premium or discount to the underlying NAV. The Board regards the successful delivery of an attractive long-term investment proposition as a key driver of the rating of the Company’s shares. This was one of the factors driving the changes implemented earlier in the year. We also recognise that whilst systematic investing is well-established in other markets, it is less known here. As a Board, we have spent significant time with the BlackRock teams responsible for promoting the Company. The systematic approach has a long and highly credible track record and BlackRock has committed significant resource, know-how and thought to how to build consumer awareness of the Company and its approach in our key target markets. The success of both the investment approach and the promotion of the Company to establish the benefits to shareholders of what the Board believes is a new and innovative approach in the investment trust sector, will be a key determinant of the achievement of our strategic aims.
In the broader market, the investment trust sector average discount remained relatively wide over the year as markets were affected by volatility stemming from increased geopolitical instability and election uncertainty in both the US and
The Company’s discount narrowed meaningfully following the transition and stood at 5.0% as at
Over the Company’s financial year to end
Following Shareholder approval of the amendment to the Company’s investment objective and investment policy, the Board has implemented an enhanced discount control mechanism applying to rolling three-year periods commencing on
These additional protections for shareholders reflects both the Board’s confidence in the new investment approach but also a recognition that success will ultimately be judged by good investment performance, leading to asset growth, increased interest in the Company’s shares and a consistently strong rating leading to share issuance. These remain our key strategic aims.
Board composition
As stated in the 2025 Half Yearly Financial Report,
The Board also advised at the interim stage that an external recruitment firm had been appointed to support the search for an additional Director. I am pleased to report that, following this process,
I am pleased to report that the Board remains fully compliant with the recommendations of both the Parker Review and the FTSE Women Leaders Review and, as at the date of this report, has achieved a 50:50 gender balance. The Board has also disclosed its ethnic diversity, together with its broader policy on diversity and inclusion, within the Corporate Governance Statement in the Company’s Annual Report for the year ended
Annual General Meeting
The Annual General Meeting of the Company will be held at the offices of BlackRock at
Outlook
The outlook for the US economy remains broadly positive, supported by moderating inflation, resilient consumer demand and the Federal Reserve’s shift toward a more accommodative policy stance. Although uncertainty surrounding trade measures and regulatory priorities may continue to generate short-term volatility, these factors are not expected to derail the underlying momentum of the US economy, which continues to compare favourably with other major developed markets.
Valuations across several areas of the market remain appealing, particularly among high-quality and attractively valued companies that have lagged the more speculative parts of the market during the recent rally. History suggests that fundamentals tend to reassert themselves over time, creating a potentially supportive environment for investors with a disciplined, long-term approach.
Against this backdrop, the Company’s diversified, systematic investment process aims to balance fundamental, valuation and sentiment insights, enabling it to capture opportunities across different market conditions. The Board believes that this approach positions the Company well to continue providing shareholders with exposure to the breadth and resilience of the US equity market.
The Company’s differentiated investment approach, its diversified exposure to US value stocks beyond the US mega cap names, its enhanced income and its systematic investment approach give the Board confidence that there are good reasons to view the future of the Company with confidence. We thank shareholders for their support during the year.
Chairman
1 Return on net total return index is calculated including the reinvestment of dividends net of withholding taxes.
Investment Manager’s Report
Market overview
Over the year to
The past 12 months have been characterised by substantial volatility from a political, economic and markets perspective. In the final two months of 2024, a clean sweep of the
Concerns around the health of the US economy and public finances, as well as the unwinding of US exceptionalism oriented sentiment saw the US Dollar fall 8.9% against Sterling in the first half of the year, while after briefly dipping c4% in early April. US 10-year yields touched 4.6% the following month. But from this low point, a huge reversal was to come. Trade tariff related compromises were made that ensured the tariff picture was not so catastrophic; the
Portfolio overview
The investment approach of the Manager changed during the period, with the Company being managed using a systematic active equity approach from
Before we discuss attribution and positioning at a sector and stock level, it is worth noting that we follow a highly diversified approach, holding a relatively large number of positions, as well as only moderate overweights or underweights in any given stock or sector. So in any given period, the risk and performance will be driven by a broad range of positions within the portfolio. (Please refer to the investment process section in the Company’s Annual Report for the year ended 31 October 2025).
From a sector perspective, positions within the Information Technology (IT), Financials, Health Care, Consumer Staples and Consumer Discretionary sectors all made significantly positive contributions to relative returns. Many of the largest contributors at the stock level were overweight positions in technology stocks that benefitted from the ongoing enthusiasm around AI, or capital markets-exposed banks that caught a tailwind from both a buoyant economy and trading activity in the market. Overweight exposures to Lam Research, Morgan Stanley,
In terms of detractors at the sector level, it was only within the Energy and Real Estate sectors that significant negative contributions were experienced. Stock selection within energy was the source of the negative contribution with, for example, an overweight in energy explorer and producer Devon Energy versus and underweight in Marathon Petroleum, whose refining operations offered some insulation from commodity price volatility, not working well. Within real estate, an overweight in data centre-focused REIT Equinix was the largest detractor, as investors fretted over capital expenditure requirements.
Financials: 0.3% underweight (21.6% of the portfolio)
The portfolio has no holding in Wells Fargo, a bank which scores negatively on both quality and investor sentiment metrics. Text analysis of company reports implies weak revenue growth, while hedge fund trading activity has a bias towards shorts in this stock. But the portfolio is overweight Morgan Stanley, which look particularly attractive on signals focusing on momentum in fundamentals.
Industrials: 1.6% overweight (14.8% of the portfolio)
The portfolio is overweight electrical equipment firm AMETEK, which looks attractive based on fundamental momentum and investor sentiment signals. Text analysis of broker research using transformer-based Large Language Models, and trends in shorting activity both point towards a positive outlook.
Health
The portfolio holds an overweight position in pharmaceuticals firm Pfizer, driven by both bottom measures of fundamental momentum, and top-down industry timing signals. AI-based analysis of broker-produced financial metrics, as well as insights that take industry views based on macro and market data are key drivers of this position.
Information Technology: 3.1% overweight (14.5% of the portfolio)
The portfolio has an overweight position in networking company Arista Networks, driven by positive views from top-down industry and bottom-up investor sentiment insights. The hardware industry looks attractive as a result of macroeconomic data and strong cash flows, while shorting activity is muted.
Consumer Discretionary: 1.5% overweight (9.2% of the portfolio)
The portfolio is overweight online retailer Amazon, thanks to bullish views coming from quality and investor sentiment signals. The company’s high level of research and development spending and strong support from retail investors are two drivers of the position.
The portfolio has no holding in Walt Disney thanks to weak scores on quality signals, in particular insights that perform text analysis on company filings in an effort to predict future fundamentals. But the portfolio holds an overweight in Meta Platforms, which scores more positively on quality metrics.
Consumer Staples: 0.9% underweight (6.4% of the portfolio)
The portfolio has no holding in PepsiCo, thanks to negative views coming from fundamental momentum insights, including those that seek to capture brand sentiment from online consumer activity. But the portfolio is overweight Walmart, which scores positively across quality, investor sentiment and top-down industry metrics.
Energy: 1.4% underweight (4.4% of the portfolio)
The portfolio holds an underweight position in Exxon Mobil, driven by negative scores on investor sentiment and fundamental momentum metrics. Information from credit markets and analysis of hiring trends both suggest a negative outlook. But the portfolio is overweight Devon Energy, which looks attractive from a fundamental momentum and investor sentiment perspective.
Materials: 0.4% underweight (3.5% of the portfolio)
The portfolio has no holding in chemicals firm Linde, which scores negatively across all areas of the model. Hiring trends and text-based thematic analysis are two notable drivers of the negative view. But the portfolio is overweight chemicals firm Corteva, which scores highly on fundamental momentum and investor sentiment insights.
Utilities: 1.4% underweight (3.2% of the portfolio)
The portfolio has no holding in electric utility Constellation Energy, driven by negative fundamental momentum and top-down industry timing views – the latter coming from relatively weak cash flow trends at the industry level. But the portfolio is overweight electric utility Entergy, which scores positively across all bottom-up signal types.
Real Estate: 1.2% underweight (2.9% of the portfolio)
The portfolio has no holding in healthcare REIT, Welltower, thanks to negative scores. Fundamental momentum insights, particularly those focused on broker-produced metrics, are the main contributors to this positioning. But the portfolio is overweight Ventas, which looks attractive based on quality and fundamental momentum measures.
Benchmark
The Company’s benchmark, the Russell 1000 Value Index (net total return), provides a dynamic and evolving representation of the US large-capitalisation value equity universe, with inclusion determined by valuation characteristics rather than traditional sector classifications. As a result, large and even technology-focused companies can enter the index when their share prices, earnings profiles or balance sheet metrics begin to exhibit value attributes, meaning that well-known mega-cap names such as Alphabet, Amazon and Meta may feature at certain points in the cycle when market conditions or investor sentiment create more attractive valuations. The composition of the index changes over time, with companies entering and leaving through its regular semi-annual reconstitution as relative valuations and fundamentals evolve; stocks migrate out as they adopt growth characteristics and new opportunities rotate in. This disciplined, rules-based refresh ensures that the benchmark remains responsive to changing market conditions and corporate developments, reflecting the reality that value opportunities in modern equity markets can emerge across sectors and market capitalisations, rather than being confined to traditional areas of the market.
Market outlook
Six months ago, in our interim report, we wrote about a potentially worrying economic and political outlook, highlighting the ongoing uncertainty around tariffs. Since then, the S&P 500 Index has risen over 20% in local currency terms, and we have seen a surge in optimism and speculative activity in markets. Although they have also achieved positive returns in absolute terms, value stocks have lagged the market, while some of our signals that focus on fundamental financial indicators and quality have struggled. However, it’s worth noting that the structural value exposure continues to offer diversifying properties against a broad market which continues to be dominated by a handful of mega capitalisation growth stocks. And history suggests that fundamentals and quality can only be ignored for so long, especially when more speculative areas of the market get ahead of themselves. At the same time, as the discussion of portfolio performance and positioning above illustrates, we also have insights in the model that have captured and may continue to capture shorter term opportunities in firms that are benefiting from bullish sentiment. By following a diversified, balanced approach, we seek to ensure that we build portfolios that can generate positive outcomes regardless of the environment.
Ten largest investments
Together, the Company’s ten largest investments represented 25.5% of the Company’s portfolio as at
1
Alphabet (2024: n/a)
Sector:
Market value: £5,171,000
Percentage of total portfolio: 4.0% (2024: n/a) (Benchmark weight: 3.6%)
Alphabet, the holding company of Google, is a global technology company. It offers a wide range of products and platforms including Google Search, Google Maps, Gmail, Google Play,
2
Amazon (2024: 28th)
Sector: Consumer Discretionary
Market value: £4,483,000
Percentage of total portfolio: 3.5% (2024: 1.7%) (Benchmark weight: 2.2%)
Amazon is a global technology company primarily involved in the sale of a range of products and services. The company's main activities include operating an online marketplace for both buyers and sellers and producing media content. The company's major products and services include merchandise, electronic devices such as the Kindle and Echo, and services such as cloud computing, digital content subscriptions and advertising.
3
JPMorgan Chase (2024: n/a)
Sector: Financials
Market value: £4,014,000
Percentage of total portfolio: 3.1% (2024: n/a) (Benchmark weight: 3.0%)
JPMorgan Chase is a banking services company that offers consumer and commercial banking, investment banking, financial transaction processing and asset management solutions.
4
Berkshire Hathaway
(2024: n/a)
Sector: Financials
Market value: £3,449,000
Percentage of total portfolio: 2.7% (2024: n/a) (Benchmark weight: 3.0%)
Berkshire Hathaway is a holding company engaged in a wide range of business activities. The company’s main operations include insurance, freight rail transportation and utility and energy generation and distribution. Its major products and services encompass property and casualty insurance, life and health insurance and reinsurance.
5
Walmart
(2024: n/a)
Sector: Consumer Staples
Market value: £3,242,000
Percentage of total portfolio: 2.5% (2024: n/a) (Benchmark weight: 1.4%)
Walmart is a US-based omni-channel retailer. It sells groceries, consumables, health & wellness products, office products, apparel, fuel and home furnishings, among others, through grocery stores, supermarkets, hypermarkets, department and discount stores, e-commerce portals and neighbourhood markets.
6
Sector: Financials
Market value: £3,061,000
Percentage of total portfolio: 2.4% (2024: n/a) (Benchmark weight: 1.1%)
7
Morgan Stanley
(2024: n/a)
Sector: Financials
Market value: £2,457,000
Percentage of total portfolio: 1.9% (2024: n/a) (Benchmark weight: 0.6%)
Morgan Stanley is one of the largest providers of financial services. The company provides institutional securities, wealth management and investment management services. Solutions under institutional securities and wealth management consist of lending, investment banking, sales and trading, brokerage and investment advisory, wealth and financial planning, banking and retirement planning and insurance.
8 Johnson & Johnson
(2024: n/a)
Sector: Health Care
Market value: £2,415,000
Percentage of total portfolio: 1.9% (2024: n/a) (Benchmark weight: 1.6%)
Johnson & Johnson is a healthcare company engaged in the research, development, manufacture, and sale of innovative medicines and medical technologies. The company provides pharmaceutical products for therapy areas related to immune disorders, cancer, neurological disorders, infectious, cardiovascular, and metabolic diseases; and medical devices for use in cardiovascular, orthopaedic, neurovascular care, general surgery and vision care.
9
Meta Platforms
(2024: n/a)
Sector: Information Technology
Market value: £2,288,000
Percentage of total portfolio: 1.8% (2024: n/a) (Benchmark weight: 0.9%)
Meta Platforms, formerly Facebook Inc., is a provider of social networking, advertising and business insight solutions through its major products Facebook, Instagram, Oculus, Messenger and WhatsApp. The company sells advertising placements for marketers to reach people based on various factors including age, gender, location, interests and behaviour.
10
Sector: Financials
Market value: £2,199,000
Percentage of total portfolio: 1.7% (2024: n/a) (Benchmark weight: 0.5%)
The Charles Schwab Corporation (Charles Schwab) is a savings and loan holding company that provides wealth management, securities brokerage, banking, asset management, custody and financial advisory services. The company offers brokerage accounts, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, managed investing solutions, alternative investments, banking services and trust services.
All percentages reflect the value of the holding as a percentage of total investments.
Percentages in brackets represent the value of the holding as at
Portfolio analysis as at
Sector Exposure
Portfolio Portfolio Exposure of the Exposure of the
exposure at 31 exposure at 31 Russell 1000 S&P 500 Index at
October 2025 October 2024 Value Index at 31 October 2025
31 October 2025
Communication 6.4% 7.8% 8.2% 10.1%
Services
Consumer 9.2% 10.2% 7.7% 10.5%
Discretionary
Consumer Staples 6.4% 5.8% 7.3% 4.7%
Energy 4.4% 6.0% 5.8% 2.8%
Financials 21.6% 16.1% 21.9% 12.9%
Health Care 13.1% 18.0% 11.9% 9.0%
Industrials 14.8% 5.8% 13.2% 8.1%
Information 14.5% 16.5% 11.4% 36.1%
Technology
Materials 3.5% 6.6% 3.9% 1.7%
Real Estate 2.9% 2.1% 4.1% 1.8%
Utilities 3.2% 5.1% 4.6% 2.3%
Fifty largest investments as at
Market
value % of total
Company Sector £’000 portfolio
Alphabet Communication Services 5,171 4.0
Amazon Consumer Discretionary 4,483 3.5
JPMorgan Chase Financials 4,014 3.1
Berkshire Hathaway Financials 3,449 2.7
Walmart Consumer Staples 3,242 2.5
Bank of America Financials 3,061 2.4
Morgan Stanley Financials 2,457 1.9
Johnson & Johnson Health Care 2,415 1.9
Meta Platforms Information Technology 2,288 1.8
(IT)
Charles Schwab Financials 2,199 1.7
Corporation
UnitedHealth Group Health Care 2,125 1.6
Pfizer Health Care 2,062 1.6
Micron Technology IT 1,879 1.5
Procter & Gamble Consumer Staples 1,825 1.4
Bristol-Myers Squibb Health Care 1,764 1.4
Entergy Utilities 1,748 1.4
Citigroup Financials 1,697 1.3
Union Pacific Industrials 1,618 1.3
Boston Scientific Health Care 1,592 1.2
AMETEK Industrials 1,536 1.2
Corteva Materials 1,505 1.2
Devon Energy Energy 1,481 1.1
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Health Care 1,468 1.1
Cardinal Health Health Care 1,458 1.1
Travelers Financials 1,346 1.0
Honeywell International Industrials 1,341 1.0
Qualcomm IT 1,322 1.0
Caterpillar Industrials 1,153 0.9
Cisco Systems IT 1,146 0.9
3M Industrials 1,138 0.9
Medtronic Health Care 1,126 0.9
Comcast Communication Services 1,108 0.9
Ferguson Enterprises Industrials 1,098 0.8
TJX Companies Consumer Discretionary 1,097 0.8
CME Group Financials 1,070 0.8
Intercontinental Exchange Financials 1,070 0.8
Philip Morris Consumer Staples 1,068 0.8
International
Salesforce IT 1,068 0.8
McDonald’s Consumer Discretionary 1,017 0.8
Mueller Industries Industrials 994 0.8
Costco Wholesale Consumer Staples 982 0.8
Ventas Real Estate 956 0.7
Intel IT 955 0.7
General Dynamics Industrials 955 0.7
General Motors Consumer Discretionary 943 0.7
Consolidated Edison Utilities 922 0.7
Arista Networks IT 905 0.7
AbbVie Health Care 876 0.7
Progressive Corporation Financials 874 0.7
Huntington Bancs Financials 841 0.7
--------------- ---------------
50 largest investments 83,908 64.9
Remaining 100 investments 45,304 35.1
--------------- ---------------
Total 129,212 100.0
========= =========
Details of the full portfolio are available on the Company’s website at www.blackrock.com/uk/brai.
All investments are listed in the US and ordinary shares unless otherwise stated. The number of holdings as at
At
Geographic Exposure1
As at 31/10/2025 As at 31/10/2024 United States 100.0% 90.2%
United Kingdom 3.4%
Other2 2.3%
France 2.2%
South Korea 1.9%
1 Based on the principal place of operation of each investment.
2
Consists of
Strategic Report
The Directors present the Strategic Report of the Company for the year ended
Principal activity
The Company carries on business as an investment trust and is listed on the
Investment objective
The Company’s investment objective is to provide long
-
term capital growth, whilst paying an attractive level of income.
Strategy, business model and investment policy
Strategy
The Company invests in accordance with the objective given above. The Board is collectively responsible to shareholders for the long
-
term success of the Company and is its governing body. There is a clear division of responsibility between the
Business model
The Company’s business model follows that of an externally managed investment trust. Therefore, the Company does not have any employees and outsources its activities to third
-
party service providers including the Manager who is the principal service provider. In accordance with the Alternative Investment Fund Managers’ Directive (AIFMD) the Company is an
The management of the investment portfolio and the administration of the Company have been contractually delegated to the Manager which in turn (with the permission of the Company) has delegated certain investment management and other ancillary services to
The Company delegates fund accounting services to the Manager, which in turn sub
-
delegates these services to
Investment policy
The Company invests predominantly in a diversified portfolio of US equity securities, with a systematic (i.e. rules based) active investment approach, focussing on large
-
cap and medium
-
cap companies. A security is a US equity security if: (i) the equity security is listed, quoted or traded on a
The Investment Manager seeks to pursue the Company’s investment objective by investing in a systematic manner, harnessing big data, using machine learning and the power of artificial intelligence to inform proprietary return forecast models that incorporate quantitative (i.e. mathematical or statistical) analysis. These forecast models are designed to identify aspects of mispricing across stocks which the Investment Manager can seek to capture by over - and underweighting particular equities while seeking to control incremental risk. The Investment Manager then constructs and rebalances the portfolio by integrating its investment insights with the model based optimisation process. The Company has no stated minimum holding period for investments and may buy or sell securities whenever the Investment Manager sees an appropriate opportunity. The Investment Manager may engage in active and frequent trading of investments.
Typically, it is expected that the investment portfolio will comprise between 150 and 250 equity securities.
Use of derivatives
The Company may invest in derivatives for efficient portfolio management. Any use of derivatives for efficient portfolio management is made based on the same principles of risk spreading and diversification that apply to the Company’s direct investments.
Risk diversification
Portfolio risk is mitigated by investing in a diversified spread of investments. In particular, the Company observes the following investment restrictions:
- no single investment (including for the avoidance of doubt, any single derivative instrument), at the time of investment, shall account for more than 10 per cent of the gross asset value of the Company;
- no more than 20 per cent of the gross asset value of the Company, at the time of investment, shall be invested in securities which are not US equity securities; and
- no more than 35 per cent of the gross asset value of the Company, at the time of investment, shall be exposed to any one sector.
Benchmark
Performance is measured against an appropriate benchmark, the Russell 1000 Value Index (net total return).
Borrowing and gearing policy
The Company may borrow up to 20 per cent of its net asset value (calculated at the time of draw down), although typically borrowings are not expected to exceed 10 per cent of its net asset value at the time of draw down. Borrowings may be used for investment purposes. The Company may enter into interest rate hedging arrangements.
Currency hedging
The Company’s foreign currency investments are not hedged to Sterling as a matter of general policy. However, the investment team may employ currency hedging, either back to Sterling or between currencies (i.e. cross
-
hedging of portfolio investments).
Further investment restrictions
In order to comply with the current Listing Rules, the Company also complies with the following investment restrictions (which do not form part of the Company’s investment policy):
- the Company will not conduct any trading activity which is significant in the context of its group as a whole; and
- the Company will not invest more than 10 per cent of its gross asset value in other listed closed-ended investment funds, whether managed by the Investment Manager or not, except that this restriction shall not apply to investments in listed closed-ended investment funds which themselves have stated investment policies to invest no more than 15 per cent of their gross assets in other listed closed-ended investment funds.
Changes to the investment policy
No material change will be made to the investment policy without the approval of shareholders by ordinary resolution.
Performance
Over the year ended
Results and dividends
The results for the Company are set out in the Statement of Comprehensive Income. The total return for the year, after taxation, was a profit of £10,954,000 (2024: £22,572,000) of which the revenue return amounted to a profit of £1,781,000 (2024: £2,604,000) and the capital return amounted to a profit of £9,173,000 (2024: £19,968,000).
Previously, the Company paid quarterly dividends of 2.00p per share. The first quarterly dividend of 2.00p per share was paid on
At the General Meeting on
The second quarterly dividend was calculated based on 1.5% of the Company’s NAV at close of business on
The third quarterly dividend was calculated based on 1.5% of the Company's NAV at close of business on
The fourth quarterly dividend was calculated based on 1.5% of the Company's NAV at close of business on
Future prospects
The Board’s main focus is to is to provide long
-
term capital growth, whilst paying an attractive level of income. The future of the Company is dependent upon the success of the investment strategy. The outlook for the Company in the next twelve months is discussed in both the Chairman’s Statement and in the Investment Manager’s Report.
Social, community and human rights issues
As an investment trust, the Company has no direct social or community responsibilities or impact on the environment. However, the Directors believe that it is important and in shareholders’ interests to consider human rights issues and environmental, social and governance factors when selecting and retaining investments.
Modern Slavery Act
As an investment vehicle, the Company does not provide goods or services in the normal course of business and does not have customers. The Investment Manager considers modern slavery as part of supply chains and labour management within the investment process. Accordingly, the Directors consider that the Company is not required to make any slavery or human trafficking statement under the Modern Slavery Act 2015. In any event, the Board considers the Company’s supply chains, dealing predominantly with professional advisers and service providers in the financial services industry, to be low risk in relation to this matter.
Directors, gender representation and employees
The Directors of the Company on
Key performance indicators
At each Board meeting, the Directors consider a number of performance measures to assess the Company’s success in achieving its objectives. The key performance indicators (KPIs) used to measure the progress and performance of the Company over time, and which are comparable to other investment trusts, are set out in the following table.
Additionally, the Board regularly reviews the performance of the portfolio, as well as the net asset value and share price of the Company and compares this against various companies and indices. The Board also reviews the performance of the portfolio against a benchmark, the Russell 1000 Value Index (net total return). Information on the Company’s performance is given in the Chairman’s Statement.
Year ended Year ended
31 October 31 October
2025 2024
Net asset value total return1,2 11.5% 16.0%
Share price total return1,2 20.9% 13.8%
Dividends per share 11.70p 8.00p
Discount to cum income net asset value2,3 5.0% 12.1%
Ongoing charges4 0.73% 1.06%
========= =========
1 This measures the Company’s share price and NAV total return, which assumes dividends paid by the Company have been reinvested.
2
Alternative Performance Measures, see Glossary in the Company’s Annual Report for the year ended
3 This is the difference between the share price and the NAV per share. It is an indicator of the need for shares to be repurchased or, in the event of a premium to NAV per share, issued.
4 Ongoing charges represent the management fee and all other operating expenses excluding finance costs, direct transaction costs, custody transaction charges, VAT recovered, taxation, prior year expenses written back and certain non-recurring items as a % of average daily net assets.
Principal risks
The Company is exposed to a variety of risks and uncertainties. As required by the 2018 UK Corporate Governance Code (the
The risk register, its method of preparation and the operation of key controls in BlackRock’s and third - party service providers’ systems of internal control, are reviewed on a regular basis by the Audit Committee. In order to gain a more comprehensive understanding of BlackRock’s and other third - party service providers’ risk management processes and how these apply to the Company’s business, BlackRock’s internal audit department provides an annual presentation to the Audit Committee chairs of the BlackRock investment trusts setting out the results of testing performed in relation to BlackRock’s internal control processes. The Audit Committee also periodically receives and reviews internal control reports from BlackRock and the Company’s service providers.
The Board has undertaken a robust assessment of both the principal and emerging risks facing the Company, including those that would threaten its business model, future performance, solvency or liquidity. For instance, the risk that unforeseen or unprecedented events including (but not limited to) heightened geopolitical tensions such as the war in
Emerging risks are considered by the Board as they come into view and are incorporated into the existing review of the Company’s risk register. Emerging risks that have been considered by the Board over the year include the impact of climate change, escalating geopolitical conflict and technological advances.
The key emerging risks identified are as follows:
Artificial Intelligence (AI): Advances in computing power means that AI has become a powerful tool that will impact a huge range of areas and with a wide range of applications that have the potential to dislocate established business models and disrupt labour markets, creating uncertainty in corporate valuations. In addition, the growing use of AI in investment decision - making introduces risks such as algorithmic bias, lack of transparency and potential systemic vulnerabilities, which could lead to unintended market distortions. The significant energy required to power this technological revolution will create further pressure on environmental resources and carbon emissions.
Climate change: Investors can no longer ignore the impact that the world’s changing climate will have on their portfolios, with the impact of climate change on returns, including climate related natural disasters, now potentially significant and with the potential to escalate more swiftly than one is able to predict.
The Board will continue to assess these risks on an ongoing basis. In relation to the
The principal risks and uncertainties faced by the Company during the financial year, together with the potential effects, controls and mitigating factors are set out below.
Movements in the relative risk assessment compared with the position reported in the previous financial year are given on pages 35 to 38 of the annual report which can be found on the Company's website at www.blackrock.com/uk/brai.
Market
Principal risk
Market risk arises from volatility in the prices of the Company’s investments. It represents the potential loss the Company might suffer through realising investments in the face of negative market movements. This risk remains unchanged from the prior year, however market volatility during the year increased the potential impact of adverse market movements, with the likelihood of this risk impacting the Company remaining elevated due to ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty.
Market risk includes the potential impact of changes in economic and market conditions and events outside the Company’s control, including interest rates, inflation, geopolitical tensions, political events and legislative change, which may adversely affect the valuation of investee companies.
Mitigation/Control
The Board considers the diversification of the portfolio, asset allocation, stock selection and levels of gearing on a regular basis and has set investment restrictions and guidelines which are monitored and reported on by the Investment Manager.
The Board monitors the implementation and results of the investment process with the Investment Manager.
The Board also recognises the benefits of a closed - end fund structure in extremely volatile markets such as those affected by the current environment of heightened geopolitical tensions and uncertainty. Unlike open - ended counterparts, closed - end funds are not obliged to sell - down portfolio holdings at low valuations to meet liquidity requirements for redemptions. During times of elevated volatility and market stress, the ability of a closed - end fund structure to remain invested for the long term enables the portfolio managers to adhere to disciplined fundamental analysis from a bottom - up perspective and be ready to respond to dislocations in the market as opportunities present themselves.
The portfolio managers spend a considerable amount of time understanding the ESG risks and opportunities facing investee companies and conduct research and due diligence on new investments and when monitoring investments in the portfolio.
Investment performance
Principal risk
Returns achieved are reliant primarily upon the performance of the portfolio.
The Board is responsible for:
- deciding the investment strategy to fulfil the Company’s objective; and
- monitoring the performance of the Investment Manager and the implementation of the investment strategy.
An inappropriate investment strategy may lead to:
- underperformance compared to the benchmark;
- a widening discount to NAV;
- a reduction or permanent loss of capital; and
- dissatisfied shareholders and reputational damage.
The assessed level of this risk has decreased during the year following the implementation of the revised investment objective and policy, under which the portfolio is constructed to more closely track the benchmark, with controlled active positioning through modest overweights and underweights to seek outperformance.
Mitigation/Control
To manage this risk the Board:
- regularly reviews the Company’s investment mandate and long-term strategy;
- has set investment restrictions and guidelines which the Investment Manager monitors and regularly reports on;
- receives from the Investment Manager a regular explanation of stock selection decisions, portfolio exposure, gearing and any changes in gearing and the rationale for the composition of the investment portfolio;
- monitors and maintains an adequate spread of investments in order to minimise the risks associated with particular countries or factors specific to particular sectors, based on the diversification requirements inherent in the investment policy; and
- receives and reviews regular reports showing an analysis of the Company’s performance against the Russell 1000 Value Index (net total return) and other similar indices.
Operational
Principal risk
In common with most other investment trust companies, the Company has no employees. The Company therefore relies on the services provided by third
-
parties and is dependent on the control systems of the Manager, the Depositary and Fund Accountant, which maintain the Company’s assets, dealing procedures and accounting records.
The security of the Company’s assets, dealing procedures, accounting records and adherence to regulatory and legal requirements depend on the effective operation of the systems of these other third - party service providers. There is a risk that a major disaster renders the Company’s service providers unable to conduct business at normal operating effectiveness.
Failure by any service provider to carry out its obligations could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s performance. Disruption to the accounting, payment systems or custody records (including cyber security risk) could prevent the accurate reporting and monitoring of the Company’s financial position.
Mitigation/Control
Due diligence is undertaken before contracts are entered into with third
-
party service providers. Thereafter, the performance of the provider is subject to regular review and reported to the Board.
The Board reviews on a regular basis an assessment of the fraud risks that the Company could potentially be exposed to and also a summary of the controls put in place by the Manager, Depositary, Custodian, Fund Accountant and Registrar specifically to mitigate these risks.
Most third - party service providers produce Service Organisation Control (SOC 1) reports to provide assurance regarding the effective operation of internal controls as reported on by their reporting accountants. These reports are provided to the Audit Committee for review. The Committee would seek further representations from service providers if not satisfied with the effectiveness of their control environment.
The Company’s financial instruments held in custody are subject to a strict liability regime and, in the event of a loss of such financial instruments held in custody, the Depositary must return financial instruments of an identical type or the corresponding amount, unless able to demonstrate the loss was a result of an event beyond its reasonable control.
The Board reviews the overall performance of the Manager, Investment Manager and all other third - party service providers on a regular basis and compliance with the Investment Management Agreement annually.
The Board also considers the business continuity arrangements of the Company’s key service providers on an ongoing basis and reviews these as part of its review of the Company’s risk register.
Legal &
Principal risk
The Company has been approved by
Any breach of the relevant eligibility conditions could lead to the Company losing investment trust status and being subject to corporation tax on capital gains realised within the Company’s portfolio. In such event, the investment returns of the Company may be adversely affected.
A serious regulatory breach could result in the Company and/or the Directors being fined or the subject of criminal proceedings, or the suspension of the Company’s shares which would in turn lead to a breach of the Corporation Tax Act 2010.
Amongst other relevant laws, the Company is required to comply with the provisions of the Companies Act 2006, the Alternative Investment Fund Managers’ Directive, the
Mitigation/Control
The Investment Manager monitors investment movements, the level and type of forecast income and expenditure and the amount of proposed dividends to ensure that the provisions of Chapter 4 of Part 24 of the Corporation Tax Act 2010 are not breached. The results are reported to the Board at each meeting.
Compliance with the accounting rules affecting investment trusts is also carefully and regularly monitored.
The Company Secretary, Manager and the Company’s professional advisers provide regular reports to the Board in respect of compliance with all applicable rules and regulations. The Board and Manager also monitor changes in government policy and legislation which may have an impact on the Company.
The Company’s Investment Manager, BlackRock, at all times complies with the sanctions administered by the
Financial
Principal risk
The Company’s investment activities expose it to a variety of financial risks which include market risk, counterparty credit risk, liquidity risk and the valuation of financial instruments.
Mitigation/Control
Details of these risks are disclosed in note 15 of the Company’s Annual Report for the year ended
Marketing
Principal risk
There is a failure to communicate adequately with shareholders or reach out to potential new shareholders resulting in reduced demand for the Company’s shares and a widening of the discount.
Mitigation/Control
The Board reviews marketing strategy and initiatives and the Manager is required to provide regular updates on progress. BlackRock has a dedicated investment trust sales team visiting both existing and potential clients on a regular basis. The Manager also devotes considerable resources marketing to self
-
directed private investors. Data on client meetings and issues raised are provided to the Board on a regular basis.
Geopolitical
Principal risk
The Company is exposed to geopolitical risks arising from escalating global political tensions, including conflict, trade disputes, sanctions and changes in domestic regulation. These developments may increase market volatility, disrupt global trade and supply chains, weaken economic growth and adversely affect investor sentiment, corporate earnings and asset valuations, which could result in increased volatility in the Company’s net asset value and share price and negatively impact performance.
Mitigation/Control
The Board seeks to mitigate this risk through oversight of a diversified investment strategy and by monitoring portfolio exposures, sectors and individual investments. The Investment Manager incorporates ongoing assessment of geopolitical and macroeconomic developments into its investment process and portfolio construction, and reports regularly to the Board on market conditions and risk exposures. The Board also reviews the Company’s risk management framework on an ongoing basis to ensure it remains appropriate in light of changing global conditions.
Section 172 statement: Promoting the success of the Company
The Directors are required to explain in detail how they have discharged their duties under Section 172(1) of the Companies Act 2006 in promoting the success of their companies for the benefit of members as a whole. This includes the likely consequences of their decisions in the longer term and how they have taken wider stakeholders’ needs into account.
The disclosure that follows covers how the Board has engaged with and understands the views of stakeholders and how stakeholders’ needs have been taken into account, the outcome of this engagement and the impact that it has had on the Board’s decisions. The Board considers the main stakeholders in the Company to be the Manager, Investment Manager and the shareholders. In addition to this, the Board considers investee companies and key service providers of the Company to be stakeholders; the latter comprise the Company’s Custodian, Depositary, Registrar and Broker.
Stakeholders
Shareholders
The Board is focused on fostering good working relationships with shareholders and on understanding the views of shareholders in order to incorporate them into the Board’s strategy and objectives in delivering an attractive level of income return together with capital appreciation over the long term.
Manager and Investment Manager
The Company’s Board has delegated the management of the Company’s portfolio to
Other key service providers
In order for the Company to function as an investment trust on the London Stock Exchange’s (LSE) main market for listed securities and generally function as an investment trust with a listing on the official list of the
A summary of the key areas of engagement undertaken by the Board with its key stakeholders in the year under review and how Directors have acted upon this to promote the long - term success of the Company are set out below.
Area of Engagement
Investment mandate and objective
Issue
The Board is committed to promoting the role and success of the Company in delivering on its investment mandate to shareholders over the long term. The Board also has responsibility to shareholders to ensure that the Company’s portfolio of assets is invested in line with the stated investment objective and in a way that ensures an appropriate balance between spread of risk and portfolio returns.
The Board recognised that the Company’s performance relative to its benchmark had been challenged and that regulatory and market developments, including changes arising from the
Engagement
The Board worked closely with the Investment Manager throughout the year to review the Company’s investment mandate. This included detailed discussions on portfolio performance, cost competitiveness, regulatory developments and the preferences of shareholders.
As part of this process, the Board undertook a comprehensive review of the Company’s investment strategy and considered a range of alternative approaches, including proposals presented by the Investment Manager. The Board also engaged with advisers and sought feedback from shareholders to understand their views on the Company’s strategy, structure and long-term prospects.
Impact
Following shareholder approval, the Company adopted a revised investment objective and policy. The Company now seeks to deliver long
-
term capital growth while paying an attractive level of income through the adoption of a systematic active equity investment approach. The revised mandate is intended to enhance the consistency of returns, reduce costs and support the long
-
term attractiveness of the Company for both existing and prospective shareholders.
The Board believes that the change in investment mandate better positions the Company to deliver on its objectives over the long term, supports continued shareholder engagement and provides a stronger platform for future growth while maintaining an appropriate risk profile.
Shareholders
Issue
Continued shareholder support and engagement are critical to the continued existence of the Company and the successful delivery of its long
-
term strategy.
Engagement
The Board is committed to maintaining open channels of communication and engaging with shareholders. The Company welcomes and encourages attendance and participation from all shareholders at its Annual General Meetings. Shareholders will have the opportunity to meet the Directors and Investment Manager and to address questions to them directly. The Investment Manager will also provide a presentation on the Company’s performance and outlook. The Chairman and Senior Independent Director are available to meet with major shareholders and also meet directly with shareholders providing a forum for canvassing their views and enabling the Board to be aware of any issues of concern.
The Annual Report and Half Yearly Financial Report are available on the BlackRock website and are also circulated to shareholders. In addition, regular updates on performance, monthly factsheets, the daily NAV and other information are also published on the Manager’s website at www.blackrock.com/uk/brai.
Unlike trading companies, one - to - one shareholder meetings normally take the form of a meeting with the Investment Manager as opposed to members of the Board. The Company’s willingness to enter into discussions with institutional shareholders is also demonstrated by the programmes of institutional presentations by the portfolio managers. Additionally, the Investment Manager regularly presents at professional and private investor events to help explain and promote the Company’s strategy.
If shareholders wish to raise issues or concerns with the Board, they are welcome to do so at any time. The Chairman is available to meet directly with shareholders periodically to understand their views on governance and the Company’s performance where they wish to do so. He may be contacted via the Company Secretary whose details are given in the Company’s Annual Report for the year ended
Impact
The Board values any feedback and questions from shareholders ahead of and during Annual General Meetings in order to gain an understanding of their views and will take action when and as appropriate. Feedback and questions will also help the Company evolve its reporting, aiming to make reports more transparent and understandable.
During the year the Chairman and Senior Independent Director offered meetings to all identifiable major shareholders, without any representatives of the management group present. These meetings, and private Board discussions with its Broker Cavendish, are particularly important as the Company approaches its continuation vote. Feedback from all substantive meetings between the Investment Manager and shareholders is also shared with the Board. The Directors also receive updates from the Company’s Broker on any feedback from shareholders, as well as share trading activity, share price performance and updates from the Investment Manager.
Portfolio holdings are ultimately shareholders’ assets and the Board recognises the importance of good stewardship and communication with investee companies in meeting the Company’s investment objective and strategy. The Board monitors the Manager’s stewardship activities and receives regular feedback from the Investment Manager in respect of meetings with the management of portfolio companies.
Management of share rating
Issue
The Board recognises that it is in the long
-
term interests of shareholders that the Company’s shares do not trade at a significant discount (or premium) to their prevailing NAV. The Board believes this may be achieved by the use of share buy back powers and the issue of shares.
Engagement
The Board monitors the Company’s share rating on an ongoing basis and receives regular updates from the Manager and the Company’s Broker,
The Board believes that the best way of maintaining the share rating at an optimal level over the long term is to create demand for the shares in the secondary market. To this end, the Investment Manager is devoting considerable effort to broadening the awareness of the Company, particularly to wealth managers and to the wider retail market.
In addition, the Board has worked closely with the Manager to develop the Company’s marketing strategy, with the aim of ensuring effective communication with existing shareholders and to attract new shareholders to the Company in order to improve liquidity in the Company’s shares and to sustain the share rating of the Company.
The Board has implemented an enhanced discount control mechanism applying to rolling three
-
year periods commencing on
Impact
The Board continues to monitor the Company’s premium/discount to NAV and will look to buy back or issue shares if it is deemed to be in the interests of shareholders as a whole. During the financial year and up to the date of this report the Company did not reissue any shares. The Company repurchased 4,386,580 shares during the financial year. Since the year end and up to
The Company’s average discount for the year to
Service levels of third-party providers
Issue
The Board acknowledges the importance of ensuring that the Company’s principal suppliers are providing a suitable level of service, including the Manager in respect of investment performance and delivering on the Company’s investment mandate; the Custodian and Depositary in respect of their duties towards safeguarding the Company’s assets; the Registrar in its maintenance of the Company’s share register and dealing with investor queries; and the Company’s Broker in respect of the provision of advice and acting as a market maker for the Company’s shares.
Engagement
The Manager reports to the Board on the Company’s performance on a regular basis. The Board carries out a robust annual evaluation of the Manager’s performance, their commitment and available resources.
The Board performs an annual review of the service levels of all third
-
party service providers and concludes on their suitability to continue in their role. The Board receives regular updates from the AIFM, Depositary, Registrar and Broker on an ongoing basis. For example, our Broker,
The Board works closely with the Manager to gain comfort that relevant business continuity plans are operating effectively for all of the Company’s key service providers.
Impact
All performance evaluations were performed on a timely basis and the Board concluded that all key third
-
party service providers, including the Manager, were operating effectively and providing a good level of service.
The Board has received updates in respect of business continuity planning from the Company’s Manager, Custodian, Depositary, Fund Accountant, Registrar and Printer and is confident that arrangements are in place to ensure a good level of service will continue to be provided.
Board composition
Issue
The Board is committed to ensuring that its own composition brings an appropriate balance of knowledge, experience and skills, and that it is compliant with best corporate governance practice under the
Engagement
During the year, the Board appointed a new Director. The Nomination Committee agreed the selection criteria and the method of selection, recruitment and appointment. The services of an external search consultant,
All Directors are subject to a formal evaluation process on an annual basis (more details and the conclusions of the 2025 evaluation process are given in the Company’s Annual Report for the year ended
Shareholders may attend the Annual General Meeting and raise any queries in respect of Board composition or individual Directors in person or may contact the Company Secretary or the Chairman using the details provided in the Company’s Annual Report for the year ended
Impact
As a result of the recruitment process, Ms
As at the date of this report, the Board was comprised of two men and two women. The Board considers that the tenure of the Chairman and Directors should be determined principally by how the Board’s purpose in providing strategic leadership, governance and bringing challenge and support to the Manager can best be maintained, whilst also recognising the importance of independence, refreshment, diversity and retention of accumulated knowledge. It firmly believes that an appropriate balance of these factors is essential for an effective functioning board and, at times, will naturally result in some longer serving Directors. Furthermore, the Board wishes to retain the flexibility to recruit outstanding candidates when they become available rather than simply adding new Directors based upon a predetermined timetable.
Details of each Directors’ contribution to the success and promotion of the Company are set out in the Directors’ Report and details of Directors’ biographies can be found in the Company’s Annual Report for the year ended
The Directors are not aware of any issues that have been raised directly by shareholders in respect of Board composition in the year under review. Details of the proxy voting results in favour and against individual Directors’ re-election at the 2025 Annual General Meeting are given on the Manager’s website at www.blackrock.com/uk/brai.
Viability statement
In accordance with provision 31 of the 2018 UK Corporate Governance Code, the Directors have assessed the prospects of the Company over a longer period than the twelve months referred to by the ‘Going Concern’ guidelines.
The Directors expect the Company to continue for the foreseeable future and have therefore conducted this review for a period up to the Annual General Meeting in 2029. The new strategy, effective from
In making an assessment on the viability of the Company, the Board has considered the following:
- the impact of a significant fall in US equity markets on the value of the Company’s investment portfolio;
- the principal and emerging risks and uncertainties, as set out above, and their potential impact;
- the level of ongoing demand for the Company’s shares;
- a significant reduction in the Company’s ongoing charges in the new investment strategy;
- the Company’s share price discount/premium to NAV;
- the liquidity of the Company’s portfolio; and
- the level of income generated by the Company and future income and expenditure forecasts.
The Directors have concluded that there is a reasonable expectation that the Company will continue in operation and meet its liabilities as they fall due over the period of their assessment based on the following considerations:
- the Investment Manager’s compliance with the investment objective and policy, its investment strategy and asset allocation;
- the portfolio mainly comprises readily realisable assets with low value at risk which continue to offer a broad range of investment opportunities for shareholders as part of a balanced investment portfolio;
- the ongoing processes for monitoring operating costs and income which are considered to be reasonable in comparison to the Company’s total assets; and
- the Board’s discount management policy.
In addition, the Board’s assessment of the Company’s ability to operate in the foreseeable future is included in the Going Concern Statement which can be found in the Directors’ Report.
BY ORDER OF THE BOARD
FOR AND ON BEHALF OF
Company Secretary
The investment management fee due for the year ended
In addition to the above services, BIM (
The Company has an investment in the
The ultimate holding company of the Manager and the Investment Manager is BlackRock, Inc., a company incorporated in
At the date of this report, the Board consists of four non-executive Directors, all of whom are considered to be independent of the Manager by the Board.
Disclosures of the Directors’ interests in the ordinary shares of the Company and fees and expenses payable to the Directors are set out in the Directors’ Remuneration Report on pages 55 to 57. At
Statement of Directors’ Responsibilities in respect of the Annual Report and Financial Statements
The Directors are responsible for preparing the Annual Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable
Company law requires the Directors to prepare financial statements for each financial year. Under that law, the Directors have elected to prepare the financial statements under
In preparing those financial statements, the Directors are required to:
- present fairly the financial position, financial performance and cash flows of the Company;
- select suitable accounting policies in accordance with IAS 8, ‘Accounting Policies, Changes in Accounting Estimates and Errors,’ and then apply them consistently;
- present information, including accounting policies, in a manner that provides relevant, reliable, comparable and understandable information;
- make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
- state whether the financial statements have been prepared in accordance with IASs in conformity with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements;
- provide additional disclosures when compliance with the specific requirements in IASs in conformity with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 is insufficient to enable users to understand the impact of particular transactions, other events and conditions on the Company’s financial position and financial performance; and
- prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the Company will continue in business.
The Directors are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the Company’s transactions and disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the Company and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the Company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
The Directors are also responsible for preparing the Strategic Report, Directors’ Report, the Directors’ Remuneration Report, the Corporate Governance Statement and the Report of the Audit Committee in accordance with the Companies Act 2006 and applicable regulations, including the requirements of the Listing Rules and the Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules. The Directors have delegated responsibility to the Manager for the maintenance and integrity of the Company’s corporate and financial information included on the BlackRock website. Legislation in the
Each of the Directors, whose names are listed in the Company’s Annual Report for the year ended
- the financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with IASs in conformity with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006, give a true and fair view of the assets, liabilities, financial position and net profit of the Company; and
- the Strategic Report contained in the Annual Report and Financial Statements includes a fair review of the development and performance of the business and the position of the Company, together with a description of the principal risks and uncertainties that it faces.
The 2018 UK Corporate Governance Code also requires Directors to ensure that the Annual Report and Financial Statements are fair, balanced and understandable. In order to reach a conclusion on this matter, the Board has requested that the Audit Committee advise on whether it considers that the Annual Report and Financial Statements fulfil these requirements. The process by which the Committee has reached these conclusions is set out in the Audit Committee’s report in the Company’s Annual Report for the year ended
FOR AND ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD
Chairman
Statement of Comprehensive Income for the year ended
2025 2024
Revenue Capital Total Revenue Capital Total
Notes £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
Income from
investments
held at
fair value 3 2,693 – 2,693 3,813 – 3,813
through
profit or
loss
Other 3 37 – 37 42 – 42
income
--------------- --------------- --------------- --------------- --------------- ---------------
Total 2,730 – 2,730 3,855 – 3,855
income
========= ========= ========= ========= ========= =========
Net profit
on
investments
and
derivatives – 9,572 9,572 – 20,909 20,909
held at
fair value
through
profit or
loss
Net loss on
foreign – (26) (26) – (67) (67)
exchange
--------------- --------------- --------------- --------------- --------------- ---------------
Total 2,730 9,546 12,276 3,855 20,842 24,697
========= ========= ========= ========= ========= =========
Expenses
Investment
management 4 (120) (361) (481) (286) (860) (1,146)
fee
Other
operating 5 (495) (11) (506) (534) (10) (544)
expenses
--------------- --------------- --------------- --------------- --------------- ---------------
Total
operating (615) (372) (987) (820) (870) (1,690)
expenses
========= ========= ========= ========= ========= =========
Net profit
before
finance 2,115 9,174 11,289 3,035 19,972 23,007
costs and
taxation
Finance – (1) (1) (2) (4) (6)
costs
--------------- --------------- --------------- --------------- --------------- ---------------
Net profit
before 2,115 9,173 11,288 3,033 19,968 23,001
taxation
Taxation (334) – (334) (429) – (429)
--------------- --------------- --------------- --------------- --------------- ---------------
Profit for 1,781 9,173 10,954 2,604 19,968 22,572
the year
========= ========= ========= ========= ========= =========
Earnings
per
ordinary 7 2.83 14.61 17.44 3.39 25.97 29.36
share
(pence)
========= ========= ========= ========= ========= =========
The total columns of this statement represent the Company’s Statement of Comprehensive Income, prepared in accordance with
The Company does not have any other comprehensive income/(loss) (2024: £nil). The net profit/(loss) for the year disclosed above represents the Company’s total comprehensive income.
Statement of Changes in Equity for the year ended
Called Capital
up share redemption Special Capital Revenue
capital reserve reserve reserves reserve Total
Notes £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
For the year
ended 31
October 2025
At 31 October 1,004 1,460 66,412 85,692 499 155,067
2024
Total
comprehensive
income:
Net profit – – – 9,173 1,781 10,954
for the year
Transactions
with owners,
recorded
directly to
equity:
Ordinary
shares 8,9 – – (8,879) – – (8,879)
repurchased
into treasury
Treasury
shares 8,9 (50) 50 – – – –
cancelled
Share
repurchase 8,9 – – (158) – – (158)
costs
Ordinary
shares
repurchased 8,9 – – (20,953) – – (20,953)
into treasury
– tender
offer
Tender offer
and other
costs 8,9 – – (350) – – (350)
relating to
the proposals
BlackRock
contribution 8,9 – – 118 – – 118
to costs of
the proposals
Dividends 6 – – – (4,336) (1,964) (6,300)
paid
--------------- --------------- --------------- --------------- --------------- ---------------
At 31 October 954 1,510 36,190 90,529 316 129,499
2025
========= ========= ========= ========= ========= =========
For the year
ended 31
October 2024
At 31 October 1,004 1,460 82,540 69,201 584 154,789
2023
Total
comprehensive
income:
Net profit – – – 19,968 2,604 22,572
for the year
Transactions
with owners,
recorded
directly to
equity:
Ordinary
shares 8,9 – – (16,067) – – (16,067)
repurchased
into treasury
Share
repurchase 8,9 – – (61) – – (61)
costs
Dividends 6 – – – (3,477) (2,689) (6,166)
paid
--------------- --------------- --------------- --------------- --------------- ---------------
At 31 October 1,004 1,460 66,412 85,692 499 155,067
2024
========= ========= ========= ========= ========= =========
For information on the Company’s distributable reserves please refer to note 9 below.
Statement of Financial Position as at
2025 2024
Notes £’000 £’000
Non current assets
Investments held at fair value through 129,205 155,578
profit or loss
Current assets
Current tax asset 121 97
Other receivables 162 212
Derivative assets held at fair value 7 –
though profit or loss – index futures
Cash collateral pledged with brokers 35 –
Cash and cash equivalents – cash at bank 711 274
Cash and cash equivalents – cash fund1 – 801
--------------- ---------------
Total current assets 1,036 1,384
========= =========
Total assets 130,241 156,962
========= =========
Current liabilities
Other payables (742) (1,895)
--------------- ---------------
Total current liabilities (742) (1,895)
========= =========
Net assets 129,499 155,067
========= =========
Equity
Called up share capital 954 1,004
Capital redemption reserve 9 1,510 1,460
Special reserve 9 36,190 66,412
Capital reserves 9 90,529 85,692
Revenue reserve 9 316 499
--------------- ---------------
Total shareholders’ funds 129,499 155,067
========= =========
Net asset value per ordinary share (pence) 7 229.56 216.24
========= =========
1
Cash fund represents funds held on deposit with the
Cash Flow Statement for the year ended
2025 2024
£’000 £’000
Operating activities
Net profit before taxation1 11,288 23,001
Changes in working capital items:
Decrease in other receivables (excluding amounts 5 17
due from brokers)
(Decrease)/increase in other payables (excluding (695) 208
amounts due to brokers)
Decrease in amounts due from brokers 45 2,385
Decrease in amounts due to brokers – (1,918)
Increase in cash collateral pledged with brokers (35) –
Other adjustments:
Finance costs 1 6
Net profit on investments and derivatives held (9,572) (20,909)
at fair value through profit or loss
Net loss on foreign exchange 26 67
Sales of investments held at fair value through 279,878 133,284
profit or loss
Purchases of investments held at fair value (243,940) (113,741)
through profit or loss
Taxation paid (358) (402)
--------------- ---------------
Net cash inflow from operating activities 36,643 21,998
========= =========
Financing activities
Interest paid (1) (6)
Payments for ordinary shares repurchased into (9,495) (15,776)
treasury
Payments for shares repurchased into treasury – (20,953) –
tender offer
Tender offer costs (350) –
BlackRock contribution to costs of the proposals 118 –
Dividends paid (6,300) (6,166)
--------------- ---------------
Net cash outflow from financing activities (36,981) (21,948)
========= =========
(Decrease)/increase in cash and cash equivalents (338) 50
Effect of foreign exchange rate changes (26) (67)
--------------- ---------------
Change in cash and cash equivalents (364) (17)
Cash and cash equivalents at start of year 1,075 1,092
--------------- ---------------
Cash and cash equivalents at end of year 711 1,075
========= =========
Comprised of:
Cash at bank 711 274
Cash fund2 – 801
--------------- ---------------
711 1,075
========= =========
1 Dividends and interest received in cash during the year amounted to £2,329,000 and £37,000 (2024: £3,363,000 and £43,000).
2
Cash fund represents funds held on deposit with the
Notes to the Financial Statements for the year ended
1. Principal activity
The principal activity of the Company is that of an investment trust company within the meaning of Section 1158 of the Corporation Tax Act 2010. The Company was incorporated in
2. Accounting policies
The principal accounting policies adopted by the Company have been applied consistently, other than where new policies have been adopted and are set out below.
(a) Basis of preparation
The financial statements have been prepared under the historic cost convention modified by the revaluation of certain financial assets and financial liabilities held at fair value through profit or loss and in accordance with
Insofar as the Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) for investment trust companies and venture capital trusts, issued by the
Substantially, all of the assets of the Company consist of securities that are readily realisable and, accordingly, the Directors are satisfied that the Company has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future for the period to
The Directors have considered the impact of climate change on the value of the investments included in the Financial Statements and have concluded there was no further impact of climate change to be considered as the investments are valued based on market pricing as required by IFRS 13.
None of the Company’s other assets and liabilities were considered to be potentially impacted by climate change.
The Company’s financial statements are presented in Sterling, which is the functional currency of the Company and the currency of the primary economic environment in which the Company operates. All values are rounded to the nearest thousand pounds (£’000) except where otherwise indicated.
Adoption of new and amended International Accounting Standards and interpretations:
IAS 1 – Classification of liabilities as current or non current and non current liabilities with covenants
(effective
The amendment of this standard did not have any significant impact on the Company.
IAS 21 – Lack of exchangeability
(effective
The amendment of this standard did not have any significant impact on the Company’s operations as IAS 21 better reflects the practical considerations of establishing fair values for the Company’s foreign currency assets.
Relevant International Accounting Standards that have yet to be adopted:
IFRS 18 – Presentation and disclosure in financial statements
(effective
The amendment of this standard is expected to have an impact on the disclosure and presentation of the Statement of Comprehensive Income but will not have any impact on the accounting or financial results.
(b) Presentation of the Statement of Comprehensive Income
In order to better reflect the activities of an investment trust company and in accordance with guidance issued by the AIC, supplementary information which analyses the Statement of Comprehensive Income between items of a revenue and a capital nature has been presented alongside the Statement of Comprehensive Income.
(c) Segmental reporting
The Directors are of the opinion that the Company is engaged in a single segment of business being investment business.
(d) Income
Dividends receivable on equity shares are recognised as revenue for the year on an ex-dividend basis. Where no ex-dividend date is available, dividends receivable on or before the year end are treated as revenue for the year. Provision for bad debts is made for any doubtful dividends not expected to be received. Special dividends, if any, are treated as a capital or a revenue receipt depending on the facts or circumstances of each particular case. The return on a debt security is recognised on a time apportionment basis so as to reflect the effective yield on the debt security.
Deposit interest receivable is accounted for on an accruals basis. Interest income from the
Where the Company has elected to receive its dividends in the form of additional shares rather than in cash, the cash equivalent of the dividend is recognised as income. Any excess in the value of the shares received over the amount of the cash dividend is recognised in capital.
(e) Expenses
All expenses, including finance costs, are accounted for on an accruals basis. Expenses have been charged wholly to the revenue account of the Statement of Comprehensive Income, except as follows:
- expenses which are incidental to the acquisition or sale of an investment are charged to the capital account of the Statement of Comprehensive Income. Details of transaction costs on the purchases and sales of investments are disclosed within note 10 to the financial statements in the Company’s Annual Report for the year ended
- expenses are treated as capital where a connection with the maintenance or enhancement of the value of the investments can be demonstrated; and
- the investment management fee and finance costs have been allocated 25% to the revenue account and 75% to the capital account of the Statement of Comprehensive Income in line with the Board’s expected long-term split of returns, in the form of capital gains and income, respectively, from the investment portfolio.
(f) Taxation
The tax expense represents the sum of the tax currently payable and deferred tax. The tax currently payable is based on the taxable profit for the year. Taxable profit differs from net profit as reported in the Statement of Comprehensive Income because it excludes items of income or expenses that are taxable or deductible in other years and it further excludes items that are never taxable or deductible. The Company’s liability for current tax is calculated using tax rates that were applicable at the balance sheet date.
Where expenses are allocated between capital and revenue accounts, any tax relief in respect of expenses is allocated between capital and revenue returns on the marginal basis using the Company’s effective rate of corporation tax for the accounting period.
Deferred taxation is recognised in respect of all temporary differences that have originated but not reversed at the financial reporting date, where transactions or events that result in an obligation to pay more taxation in the future or right to pay less taxation in the future have occurred at the financial reporting date. This is subject to deferred taxation assets only being recognised if it is considered more likely than not that there will be suitable profits from which the future reversal of the temporary differences can be deducted. Deferred taxation assets and liabilities are measured at the rates applicable to the legal jurisdictions in which they arise.
(g) Investments held at fair value through profit or loss
In accordance with IFRS 9, the Company classifies its investments at initial recognition as held at fair value through profit or loss and are managed and evaluated on a fair value basis in accordance with its investment strategy and business model.
All investments are measured initially and subsequently at fair value through profit or loss. Purchases of investments are recognised on a trade date basis. Sales of investments are recognised at the trade date of the disposal.
The fair value of the financial investments is based on their quoted bid price at the financial reporting date, without deduction for the estimated selling costs. This policy applies to all current and non-current asset investments held by the Company.
Changes in the value of investments held at fair value through profit or loss and gains and losses on disposal are recognised in the Statement of Comprehensive Income as “Net profit/(loss) on investments and options held at fair value through profit or loss”. Also included within the heading are transaction costs in relation to the purchase or sale of investments.
For all financial instruments not traded in an active market, the fair value is determined by using various valuation techniques. Valuation techniques include market approach (i.e., using recent arm’s length market transactions adjusted as necessary and reference to the current market value of another instrument that is substantially the same) and the income approach (i.e., discounted cash flow analysis and option pricing models making as much use of available and supportable market data where possible).
(h) Other receivables and other payables
Other receivables and other payables do not carry any interest and are short term in nature and are accordingly stated on an amortised cost basis.
(i) Dividends payable
Under IASs, final dividends should not be accrued in the financial statements unless they have been approved by shareholders before the financial reporting date. Interim dividends should not be recognised in the financial statements unless they have been paid.
Dividends payable to equity shareholders are recognised in the Statement of Changes in Equity.
(j) Foreign currency translation
Transactions involving foreign currencies are converted at the rate ruling at the date of the transaction. Foreign currency monetary assets and liabilities and non-monetary assets held at fair value are translated into Sterling at the rate ruling on the financial reporting date. Foreign exchange differences arising on translation are recognised in the Statement of Comprehensive Income as a revenue or capital item depending on the income or expense to which they relate. For investment transactions and investments held at the year end, denominated in a foreign currency, the resulting gains or losses are included in the profit/(loss) on investments and options held at fair value through profit or loss in the Statement of Comprehensive Income.
(k) Cash and cash equivalents
Cash comprises cash in hand, bank overdrafts and on demand deposits. Cash equivalents are short term, highly liquid investments that are readily convertible to known amounts of cash and that are subject to an insignificant risk of changes in value.
The investment in the
(l) Bank borrowings
Bank overdrafts and loans are recorded as the proceeds received. Finance charges, including any premium payable on settlement or redemption and direct issue costs, are accounted for on an accruals basis in the Statement of Comprehensive Income using the effective interest rate method and are added to the carrying amount of the instrument to the extent that they are not settled in the period in which they arise.
(m) Share repurchases
Shares repurchased and subsequently cancelled – share capital is reduced by the nominal value of the shares repurchased and the capital redemption reserve is correspondingly increased in accordance with Section 733 of the Companies Act 2006. The full cost of the repurchase is charged to the special reserve.
Shares repurchased and held in treasury – the full cost of the repurchase is charged to the special reserve.
(n) Critical accounting estimates and judgements
The Company makes estimates and assumptions concerning the future. The resulting accounting estimates and assumptions will, by definition, seldom equal the related actual results. Estimates and judgements are regularly evaluated and are based on historical experience and other factors, including expectations of future events that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances. The Directors do not believe that any accounting judgements or estimates have a significant risk of causing a material adjustment to the carrying amount of assets and liabilities within the next financial year.
3. Income
2025 2024
£’000 £’000
Investment income:
UK dividends 104 518
Overseas dividends 2,407 3,107
Overseas special dividends – 12
Overseas REIT1 dividends 182 176
--------------- ---------------
Total investment income 2,693 3,813
========= =========
Other income:
Deposit interest 23 13
Interest from cash fund 13 29
Interest on cash collateral 1 –
--------------- ---------------
Total other income 37 42
========= =========
Total 2,730 3,855
========= =========
1 Real Estate Investment Trust.
Dividends and interest received in cash during the year amounted to £2,329,000 and £37,000 (2024: £3,363,000 and £43,000).
No special dividends have been recognised in capital during the year (2024: £nil).
4. Investment management fee
2025 2024
Revenue Capital Total Revenue Capital Total
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
Investment
management 120 361 481 286 860 1,146
fee
--------------- --------------- --------------- --------------- --------------- ---------------
Total 120 361 481 286 860 1,146
========= ========= ========= ========= ========= =========
Up to
From
The investment management fee is allocated 25% to the revenue account and 75% to the capital account.
There is no additional fee for company secretarial and administration services.
5. Other operating expenses
2025 2024
£’000 £’000
Allocated to revenue:
Custody fee 2 2
Auditors’ remuneration – audit services1 43 47
Registrar’s fee 36 30
Directors’ emoluments2 144 145
Broker fees 40 40
Depositary fees 13 16
Printing fees 41 43
Legal and professional fees 15 16
Marketing fees 78 87
AIC fees 13 12
FCA fees 12 12
Write back of prior year expenses3 (17) (43)
Other administrative costs 75 127
--------------- ---------------
Total revenue expenses 495 534
========= =========
Allocated to capital:
Custody transaction charges4 11 10
--------------- ---------------
Total capital expenses 11 10
========= =========
Total 506 544
========= =========
2025 2024
% %
Ongoing charges5 0.73 1.06
========= =========
1 No non-audit services were provided by the Company’s auditor (2024: none).
2
Further information on Directors’ emoluments can be found in the Directors’ Remuneration Report in the Company’s Annual Report for the year ended
3 Relates to Directors’ expenses and miscellaneous fees written back during the year (2024: Directors’ expenses and legal fees).
4
For the year ended
5
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, prior year expenses written back and certain non-recurring items. Alternative Performance Measure, see Glossary in the Company’s Annual Report for the year ended
6. Dividends
Dividends paid 2025 2024
on equity Record date Payment date £’000 £’000
shares:
Fourth interim
dividend of
2.00p per share
for the year 22 November 2024 2 January 2025 1,412 1,597
ended 31 October
2024 (2023:
2.00p)
First interim
dividend of
2.00p per share
for the year 11 April 2025 2 May 2025 1,351 1,560
ended 31 October
2025 (2024:
2.00p)
Second interim
dividend of
3.03p per share
for the year 6 June 2025 4 July 2025 1,715 1,521
ended 31 October
2025 (2024:
2.00p)
Third interim
dividend of
3.23p per share 12 September
for the year 15 August 2025 2025 1,822 1,488
ended 31 October
2025 (2024:
2.00p)
--------------- ---------------
Accounted for in
the financial 6,300 6,166
statements
========= =========
The total dividends payable in respect of the year ended
2025 2024
Dividends paid or declared on equity shares: £’000 £’000
First interim dividend of 2.00p per share for 1,351 1,560
the year ended 31 October 2025 (2024: 2.00p)
Second interim dividend of 3.03p per share for 1,715 1,521
the year ended 31 October 2025 (2024: 2.00p)
Third interim dividend of 3.23p per share for 1,822 1,488
the year ended 31 October 2025 (2024: 2.00p)
Fourth interim dividend of 3.44p per share for 1,9412 1,410
the year ended 31 October 20251 (2024: 2.00p)
--------------- ---------------
Total for the year 6,829 5,979
========= =========
1
Based on 56,412,138 ordinary shares in issue on
2 £312,000 paid from the revenue reserve and £1,692,000 paid from capital realised reserves.
On
7. Earnings and net asset value per ordinary share
Revenue earnings, capital earnings and net asset value per ordinary share are shown below and have been calculated using the following:
2025 2024
Net revenue profit attributable to ordinary 1,781 2,604
shareholders (£’000)
Net capital profit attributable to ordinary 9,173 19,968
shareholders (£’000)
--------------- ---------------
Total profit attributable to ordinary 10,954 22,572
shareholders (£’000)
========= =========
Total shareholders’ funds (£’000) 129,499 155,067
========= =========
The weighted average number of ordinary shares
in issue during the year on which the earnings 62,809,902 76,877,643
per ordinary share was calculated was:
The actual number of ordinary shares in issue at
the year end on which the net asset value per 56,412,138 71,708,970
ordinary share was calculated was:
Earnings per ordinary share
Revenue earnings per share (pence) – basic and 2.83 3.39
diluted
Capital earnings per share (pence) – basic and 14.61 25.97
diluted
--------------- ---------------
Total earnings per share (pence) – basic and 17.44 29.36
diluted
========= =========
As at As at
31 October 31 October
2025 2024
Net asset value per ordinary share (pence) 229.56 216.24
Ordinary share price (pence) 218.00 190.00
========= =========
There were no dilutive securities at the year end.
8. Share capital
Ordinary
shares Treasury Total Nominal
in issue shares shares value
number number number £’000
Allotted, called
up and fully
paid share
capital
comprised:
Ordinary shares
of 1 pence each:
At 31 October 79,989,044 20,372,261 100,361,305 1,004
2023
Ordinary shares
repurchased into (8,280,074) 8,280,074 – –
treasury
--------------- --------------- --------------- ---------------
At 31 October 71,708,970 28,652,335 100,361,305 1,004
2024
Ordinary shares
repurchased into (4,386,580) 4,386,580 – –
treasury
Ordinary shares
repurchased into (10,910,252) 10,910,252 – –
treasury –
tender offer
Treasury shares – (5,000,000) (5,000,000) (50)
cancelled
--------------- --------------- --------------- ---------------
At 31 October 56,412,138 38,949,167 95,361,305 954
2025
========= ========= ========= =========
During the year ended
During the year ended
During the year ended
Since
9. Reserves
Distributable reserves
Capital
Capital reserve
reserve arising on
Capital arising on revaluation of
redemption Special investments investments Revenue
reserve reserve sold held reserve
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
At 31 October 1,460 82,540 75,840 (6,639) 584
2023
Movement
during the
year:
Total
comprehensive
income:
Net profit – – 10,333 9,635 2,604
for the year
Transactions
with owners,
recorded
directly to
equity:
Ordinary
shares – (16,067) – – –
repurchased
into treasury
Share
repurchase – (61) – – –
costs
Dividends – – (3,477) – (2,689)
paid
--------------- --------------- --------------- --------------- ---------------
At 31 October 1,460 66,412 82,696 2,996 499
2024
========= ========= ========= ========= =========
Movement
during the
year:
Total
comprehensive
income:
Net
(loss)/profit – – (3,185) 12,358 1,781
for the year
Transactions
with owners,
recorded
directly to
equity:
Ordinary
shares – (8,879) – – –
repurchased
into treasury
Treasury
shares 50 – – – –
cancelled
Share
repurchase – (158) – – –
costs
Ordinary
shares
repurchased – (20,953) – – –
into treasury
– tender
offer
Tender offer
and other
costs – (350) – – –
relating to
the
proposals1
BlackRock
contribution – 118 – – –
to costs the
proposals1
Dividends – – (4,336) – (1,964)
paid
--------------- --------------- --------------- --------------- ---------------
At 31 October 1,510 36,190 75,175 15,354 316
2025
========= ========= ========= ========= =========
1
Costs relating to the implementation of the proposals set out in the Circular dated
The capital redemption reserve is not a distributable reserve of £1,510,000 (2024: £1,460,000) under the Companies Act 2006. In accordance with ICAEW Technical Release 02/17BL on Guidance on Realised and Distributable profits under the Companies Act 2006, the special reserve and capital reserves may be used as distributable reserves for all purposes and, in particular, the repurchase by the Company of its ordinary shares and for payments such as dividends. In accordance with the Company’s Articles of Association, the special reserve of £36,190,000 (2024: £66,412,000), capital reserves of £90,529,000 (2024: £85,692,000) and the revenue reserve of £316,000 (2024: £499,000) may be distributed by way of dividend. The gain on the capital reserve arising on the revaluation of investments of £15,354,000 (2024: £2,996,000) is subject to fair value movements and may not be readily realisable at short notice, as such it may not be entirely distributable. The investments are subject to financial risks, as such the capital reserves (arising on investments sold) and the revenue reserve may not be entirely distributable if a loss occurred during the realisation of these investments.
As at
The Company’s share premium account was cancelled pursuant to shareholders’ approval of a special resolution at the Company’s Annual General Meeting on
10. Valuation of financial instruments
Financial assets and financial liabilities are either carried in the Statement of Financial Position at their fair value (investments) or at an amount which is a reasonable approximation of fair value (due from brokers, dividends and interest receivable, due to brokers, accruals, cash at bank and bank overdrafts). IFRS 13 requires the Company to classify fair value measurements using a fair value hierarchy that reflects the significance of inputs used in making the measurements. The valuation techniques used by the Company are explained in the accounting policies note 2(g) above.
Categorisation within the hierarchy has been determined on the basis of the lowest level of input that is significant to the fair value measurement of the relevant asset.
The fair value hierarchy has the following levels:
Level 1 – Quoted market price for identical instruments in active markets
A financial instrument is regarded as quoted in an active market if quoted prices are readily available from an exchange, dealer, broker, industry group, pricing service or regulatory agency and those prices represent actual and regularly occurring market transactions on an arm’s length basis. The Company does not adjust the quoted price for these instruments.
Level 2 – Valuation techniques using observable inputs
This category includes instruments valued using quoted prices for similar instruments in markets that are considered less than active, or other valuation techniques where all significant inputs are directly or indirectly observable from market data.
Level 3 – Valuation techniques using significant unobservable inputs
This category includes all instruments where the valuation technique includes inputs not based on market data and these inputs could have a significant impact on the instrument’s valuation.
This category includes instruments that are valued based on quoted prices for similar instruments where significant entity determined adjustments or assumptions are required to reflect differences between the instruments and instruments for which there is no active market.
The Investment Manager considers observable data to be that market data that is readily available, regularly distributed or updated, reliable and verifiable, not proprietary and provided by independent sources that are actively involved in the relevant market.
The level in the fair value hierarchy within which the fair value measurement is categorised in its entirety is determined on the basis of the lowest level input that is significant to the fair value measurement. If a fair value measurement uses observable inputs that require significant adjustment based on unobservable inputs, that measurement is a Level 3 measurement.
Assessing the significance of a particular input to the fair value measurement in its entirety requires judgement, considering factors specific to the asset or liability, including an assessment of the relevant risks including but not limited to credit risk, market risk, liquidity risk, business risk and climate change risk. The determination of what constitutes ‘observable’ inputs requires significant judgement by the Investment Manager and these risks are adequately captured in the assumptions and inputs used in measurement of Level 3 assets or liabilities.
Fair values of financial assets and financial liabilities
The table below sets out fair value measurements using the IFRS 13 fair value hierarchy.
Financial assets
at fair value Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Total
through profit £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
or loss as at
31 October 2025
Equity 129,205 – – 129,205
investments
Derivative
instruments – 7 – – 7
index futures
--------------- --------------- --------------- ---------------
Total 129,212 – – 129,212
========= ========= ========= =========
Financial assets
at fair value Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Total
through profit £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
or loss as at
31 October 2024
Equity 155,578 – – 155,578
investments
--------------- --------------- --------------- ---------------
Total 155,578 – – 155,578
========= ========= ========= =========
There were no transfers between levels of financial assets and financial liabilities during the year recorded at fair value as at
For exchange listed equity investments, the quoted price is the bid price. Substantially, all investments are valued based on unadjusted quoted market prices. Where such quoted prices are readily available in an active market, such prices are not required to be assessed or adjusted for any price related risks, including climate risk, in accordance with the fair value related requirements of the Company’s financial reporting framework.
11. Related party disclosure
Directors’ Emoluments
At the date of this report, the Board consists of four non-executive Directors, all of whom are considered to be independent of the Manager by the Board.
Disclosures of the Directors’ interests in the ordinary shares of the Company and fees and expenses payable to the Directors are set out in the Directors’ Remuneration Report in the Company’s Annual Report for the year ended
The following investors are:
a. funds managed by the
b. investors (other than those listed in (a) above) who held more than 20% of the voting shares in issue in the Company and are, as a result, considered to be related parties to the Company (
Total % of shares
held by Number of Significant
Significant Investors Investors
Total % of shares who are who are not
held by not affiliates of affiliates of
Related BlackRock BlackRock Group BlackRock
Funds or BlackRock, Inc. Group or BlackRock,
Inc.
As at 31 October 1.0 n/a n/a
2025
As at 31 October 0.9 n/a n/a
2024
========= ========= =========
12. Transactions with the Investment Manager and AIFM
The investment management fee due for the year ended
In addition to the above services, BIM (
The Company has an investment in the
The ultimate holding company of the Manager and the Investment Manager is BlackRock, Inc., a company incorporated in
13. Contingent liabilities
There were no contingent liabilities at
14. Subsequent events
On
15. Annual Report
Copies of the Annual Report and Financial Statements will be published shortly and will be available from the registered office, c/o The Company Secretary,
16. Annual General Meeting
The Annual General Meeting of the Company will be held at the offices of BlackRock,
ENDS
The Annual Report will also be available on the BlackRock website at blackrock.com/uk/brai. 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.
For further information please contact:
Tel: 020 7743 3000
Press enquiries:
Tel: 020 7294 3620
E-mail: BlackRockInvestmentTrusts@lansons.com or EdH@lansons.com
EC2N 2DL
Release
