The information contained in this release was correct as at
31 December 2021. Information
on the Company’s up to date net asset values can be found on the
London Stock Exchange website at:
https://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/news/market-news/market-news-home.html.
BLACKROCK GREATER EUROPE INVESTMENT TRUST PLC (LEI -
5493003R8FJ6I76ZUW55)
All information is at 31 December
2021 and unaudited.
Performance at month end with net income reinvested
|
One
Month |
Three
Months |
One
Year |
Three
Years |
Launch
(20 Sep 04) |
Net asset value
(undiluted) |
1.0% |
7.3% |
30.5% |
120.7% |
826.3% |
Net asset value*
(diluted) |
1.0% |
7.3% |
30.5% |
120.6% |
826.7% |
Share price |
-0.3% |
5.8% |
32.2% |
135.3% |
849.7% |
FTSE World Europe ex
UK |
3.8% |
5.1% |
17.4% |
53.6% |
379.1% |
* Diluted for treasury shares and subscription shares.
Sources: BlackRock and Datastream
At month end
Net asset value
(capital only): |
682.49p |
Net asset value
(including income): |
684.00p |
Share price: |
694.00p |
Premium to NAV
(including income): |
1.5% |
Net gearing: |
9.1% |
Net
yield¹: |
0.9% |
Total assets
(including income): |
£690.5m |
Ordinary shares in
issue²: |
100,945,411 |
Ongoing
charges³: |
1.02% |
1 Based on an interim dividend of 1.75p per share and a
final dividend of 4.55p per share for the year ended 31 August 2021.
2 Excluding 16,983,527 shares held in treasury.
3 Calculated as a percentage of average net assets and using
expenses, excluding interest costs, after relief for taxation, for
the year ended 31 August 2021.
Sector Analysis |
Total Assets
(%) |
Industrials |
24.4 |
Technology |
21.2 |
Health Care |
17.1 |
Consumer Discretionary |
16.6 |
Financials |
9.8 |
Consumer Staples |
4.9 |
Energy |
3.3 |
Basic Materials |
2.9 |
Net Current Liabilities |
-0.2 |
|
----- |
|
100.0 |
|
===== |
|
|
Country Analysis |
Total Assets
(%) |
Switzerland |
22.8 |
Netherlands |
16.8 |
Denmark |
15.5 |
France |
13.3 |
Sweden |
8.1 |
United Kingdom |
5.9 |
Russia |
4.7 |
Italy |
4.2 |
Ireland |
2.0 |
Spain |
1.9 |
Poland |
1.5 |
Finland |
1.4 |
Germany |
1.1 |
Greece |
1.0 |
Net Current Liabilities |
-0.2 |
|
----- |
|
100.0 |
|
===== |
|
|
Top 10 holdings |
Country |
Fund% |
ASML |
Netherlands |
6.9 |
LVMH Moët Hennessy |
France |
6.6 |
Sika |
Switzerland |
5.4 |
Lonza Group |
Switzerland |
5.2 |
Novo Nordisk |
Denmark |
4.8 |
DSV Panalpina |
Denmark |
4.3 |
RELX |
United Kingdom |
4.2 |
Royal Unibrew |
Denmark |
3.2 |
IMCD |
Netherlands |
3.0 |
Hermès International |
France |
2.8 |
|
Commenting on the markets,
Stefan Gries, representing the
Investment Manager noted:
During the month, the Company’s NAV rose by 1.0% and the share
price fell by 0.3%. For reference, the FTSE World Europe ex UK
Index returned 3.8% during the period.
Europe ex UK markets were up
during December, finishing a year of exceptional returns. During
the month, markets were volatile and experienced their final
rotation of the year. Following a set-back in risk assets at the
end of November on the back of the emergence of the ‘Omicron’ Covid
variant, markets came back into favour towards the end of December
as studies suggested milder symptoms in most cases. Industrials,
basic materials and health care led the market, while consumer
services and telecommunications delivered weaker performance.
During December, the Company lagged its reference index, mainly
driven by its exposure to the semiconductor industry, as well as to
higher quality stocks particularly within the health care sector,
which pulled back on reduced Omicron fears. However, overall, 2021
was another strong performance for the Company.
In sector terms, the Company’s higher allocation to technology
detracted as we witnessed a reversal within the semiconductor
industry on worries over a potential end to the semiconductor
cycle. We do not share those fears and have so far failed to
identify any data points that would materially change our view on
the sector. Demand, in our view, comes from a diverse range of end
markets and the companies we own are typically the market leaders
in their respective parts of the semiconductor value chain.
A higher allocation to consumer services also detracted from
returns, as did a lower allocation to basic materials. The
Company’s overweight to industrials and a lower weighting towards
telecommunications and financials was positive.
The health care sector was the largest detractor from relative
performance during the month. A number of health care names had
performed strongly during November, largely driven by the new
Omicron variant, and shares pulled back in December on reduced
concerns over the virus. In more stock specific news, DiaSorin
experienced volatility following a weak Capital Markets Day where
management presented a weaker than expected financial outlook.
However, we continue to believe that DiaSorin remains one of the
best positioned life sciences firms in Europe.
As flagged, our exposure to the semiconductor industry was also
negative during December. BE Semiconductor, ASML and ASMi were all
amongst the largest detractors. Besides the above-mentioned market
jitters impacting shares during the month, we also saw a few
short-term stock specific issues as BE Semiconductor had to lower
its Q4 revenue guidance due to flooding in its main production
factory in Malaysia.
The Company’s holding in Russian e-commerce name Ozon fell on
geopolitical fears, as well as general weakness in the technology
sector during the month. Other quality names that sold off during
the December rotation on limited stock specific news included
Hermès, Adyen and IMCD.
The top performer over the period was our position in wealth
tech platform Allfunds, rebounding strongly following a short
period of weaker performance. Shares rose once it became clear that
a previously anticipated placing was not going to come through.
Owning National Bank of Greece was
also positive. Elsewhere, shares in combi oven producer Rational
and travel exposed Safran also rebounded on reduced Omicron fears
and a more positive outlook for the travel and leisure industry
generally.
At the end of the period the Company had a higher allocation
than the reference index towards technology, industrials, consumer
discretionary, health care and energy. The Company had an
underweight allocation to financials, consumer staples, utilities,
telecoms, real estate and basic materials.
Outlook
Markets delivered strong performance during 2021 on the back of
improving activity, vaccine rollouts and easy fiscal and monetary
policy. We believe that economic growth and aggregate market
earnings still remain underpinned as we head into 2022. We
particularly see strong spending coming through the EU Recovery
Fund as supportive for a number of global leading businesses
operating in areas like digitalization and energy transition which
we own in this Company.
Moreover, whilst we still see potential for greater
normalisation in certain segments of the market and positive
economic growth overall, some of the strong cyclical tailwinds, and
indeed policy support seen in 2021, should fade over the course of
2022. Whilst rate markets and inflation expectations are likely to
stay volatile, we do not expect policy in Europe to change meaningfully.
We expect greater dispersion between sector and stock outcomes
and with that a need for greater selectivity. As we find ourselves
in a situation where we see strong industrial and consumer demand,
combined with issues in supply chains, we more than ever focus on
companies with strong pricing power that have the ability to pass
on higher prices.
21 January 2022
ENDS
Latest information is available by typing
www.blackrock.com/uk/brge on the internet, "BLRKINDEX" on Reuters,
"BLRK" on Bloomberg or "8800" on Topic 3 (ICV terminal).
Neither the contents of the Manager’s website nor the contents of
any website accessible from hyperlinks on the Manager’s website (or
any other website) is incorporated into, or forms part of, this
announcement.