BlackRock Frontiers Investment Trust Plc - Portfolio Update
All information is at
Performance at month end with net income reinvested.
One Three One Three Five Since
month months year years years Launch*
% % % % % %
Sterling:
Share price 2.3 1.2 5.3 43.6 27.3 145.9
Net asset value 0.6 0.8 7.3 44.0 36.1 171.2
Benchmark (NR)** 1.7 -0.1 2.5 21.7 3.0 87.4
MSCI Frontiers Index (NR) 0.2 3.0 7.1 0.3 5.7 80.8
MSCI Emerging Markets Index (NR) -1.3 2.2 6.4 -0.4 12.7 65.6
US Dollars:
Share price 3.9 3.8 5.2 32.8 33.6 103.6
Net asset value 2.2 3.4 7.1 33.1 42.9 124.2
Benchmark (NR)** 3.4 2.5 2.3 12.4 8.0 55.5
MSCI Frontiers Index (NR) 1.9 5.7 7.0 -7.3 10.8 48.9
MSCI Emerging Markets Index (NR) 0.3 4.8 6.3 -8.0 18.3 36.5
Sources: BlackRock and Standard & Poor’s Micropal
*
** The Company’s benchmark changed from MSCI Frontier Markets Index to MSCI Emerging ex Selected Countries + Frontier Markets + Saudi Arabia Index (net total return, USD) effective 1/4/2018.
At month end US Dollar Net asset value - capital only: 201.85c Net asset value - cum income: 206.58c Sterling: Net asset value - capital only: 157.14p Net asset value - cum income: 160.82p Share price: 147.00p Total assets (including income): £304.5m Discount to cum-income NAV: 8.6% Gearing: Nil Gearing range (as a % of gross assets): 0-20% Net yield*: 4.5% Ordinary shares in issue**: 189,325,748 Ongoing charges***: 1.38% Ongoing charges plus taxation and performance fee****: 3.78%
*The Company’s yield based on dividends announced in the last 12 months as at the date of the release of this announcement is 4.5%, and includes the 2023 final dividend of
** Excluding 52,497,053 ordinary shares held in treasury.
***The Company’s ongoing charges are calculated as a percentage of average daily net assets and using the management fee and all other operating expenses excluding performance fees, finance costs, direct transaction costs, custody transaction charges, VAT recovered, taxation and certain non-recurring items for Year ended
**** The Company’s ongoing charges are calculated as a percentage of average daily net assets and using the management fee and all other operating expenses and including performance fees but excluding finance costs, direct transaction costs, custody transaction charges, VAT recovered, taxation and certain non-recurring items for Year ended
Sector Gross market value Country Gross market value
Analysis as a % of net assets Analysis as a % of net assets
Financials 45.8 Saudi Arabia 18.6
Industrials 12.6 Indonesia 14.0
Materials 11.2 United Arab Emirates 9.5
Real Estate 10.1 Philippines 8.6
Energy 9.7 Kazakhstan 8.1
Consumer Staples 8.3 Hungary 6.8
Communication 7.3 Poland 5.8
Services
Consumer 5.0 Turkey 5.1
Discretionary
Information 4.9 Thailand 4.2
Technology
Health Care 0.9 Pakistan 3.8
Utilities 0.3 Qatar 3.5
----- Kenya 3.4
116.1 Vietnam 2.9
----- Greece 2.9
Short Positions -3.5 Georgia 2.5
Malaysia 2.4
Singapore 2.2
Colombia 2.1
Multi-International 2.0
Czech Republic 1.8
Egypt 1.8
Chile 1.6
Cambodia 1.0
Romania 0.8
Bangladesh 0.7
-----
116.1
-----
-3.5
Short positions
----
*reflects gross market exposure from contracts for difference (CFDs).
Market Exposure
31.08 30.09 31.10 30.11 31.12 31.01 29.02 31.03 30.04 31.05 30.06 31.07
2023 2023 2023 2023 2023 2024 2024 2024 2024 2024 2024 2024
% % % % % % % % % % % %
Long 113.3 114.9 118.8 113.4 116.6 119.5 121.4 120.4 120.8 118.1 118.4 116.1
Short 3.0 3.0 3.1 4.6 4.7 3.6 3.5 2.7 2.3 2.4 2.9 3.5
Gross 116.3 117.9 121.9 118.0 121.3 123.1 124.9 123.1 123.1 120.5 121.3 119.6
Net 110.3 111.9 115.7 108.8 111.9 115.9 117.9 117.7 118.5 115.7 115.5 112.6
Ten Largest Investments
Company Country of Risk Gross market value as a % of net
assets
Bank Central Asia Indonesia 4.8
Emaar Properties United Arab Emirates 4.6
Saudi National Bank Saudi Arabia 4.6
Kaspi.Kz JCS Kazakhstan 3.9
FPT Vietnam 2.9
PT Bank Negara Indonesia Indonesia 2.8
Etihad Etisalat Saudi Arabia 2.7
Turkiye Is Bankasi Turkey 2.7
PZU Poland 2.6
Ayala Land Philippines 2.6
Commenting on the markets,
The Company’s NAV rose by 2.2% in July, underperforming its benchmark the MSCI Emerging ex Selected Countries + Frontier Markets + Saudi Arabia Index (“Benchmark Index”) which returned +3.4%. For reference, the MSCI Emerging Markets Index was up by 0.3% while the MSCI Frontier Markets Index gained 1.9% over the same period. All performance figures are on a US Dollar basis with net income reinvested.
Emerging markets(EM) was flat over the month, underperforming developed markets (+1.7%) despite an improving macroeconomic backdrop. Whilst dollar weakness and increasing likelihood of the federal reserve easing in
Although stock selection had a negative impact on the overall portfolio returns, certain stocks performed well. The largest contributor to returns was our holding in Bank of Georgia (+19.6%). The stock sold off in
On the flipside, Hungarian low-cost carrier Wizz Air (-13.1%) was the largest detractor after cutting its profit forecast. The company has been impacted by engine issues at their engine supplier
We made few changes to the portfolio in July. In
As higher global rates continue to feed through into the real economy, we expect some moderation of demand in developed markets. We note slowing credit growth in particular in the US. In contrast, we continue to see improving activity levels in some frontier and smaller emerging markets. With inflation falling across many countries within our universe, rate cuts have started to materialize in some countries. This is a good set up for domestically oriented economies to see a cyclical pick up. We remain positive on the outlook for small emerging and frontier markets relative developed markets, and we find significant value in currencies and equity markets across our investment opportunity set. Our investment universe, in absolute and relative terms, remains under-researched and we believe this should enable compelling alpha opportunities.
Sources:
1
BlackRock as at
2
MSCI as at
ENDS
Latest information is available by typing www.blackrock.com/uk/brfi on the internet, "BLRKINDEX" on Reuters, "BLRK" on Bloomberg or "8800" on Topic 3 (ICV terminal). Neither the contents of the Manager’s website nor the contents of any website accessible from hyperlinks on BlackRock’s website (or any other website) is incorporated into, or forms part of, this announcement.
Release
