Portfolio Update

BLACKROCK GREATER EUROPE INVESTMENT TRUST plc All information is at 31 December 2010 and unaudited. Performance at month end with net income reinvested One Three One Three Since Launch Month Months Year Years (20 Sep 04) Net asset value* (Undiluted) 10.3% 11.0% 21.0% 15.6% 134.0% Net asset value* (Diluted) 8.6% 9.6% 18.5% 13.2% 129.1% Share price 7.3% 10.5% 17.3% 13.3% 119.1% FTSE World Europe ex UK 8.6% 4.6% 5.8% -1.6% 84.5% Sources: BlackRock and Datastream * Net asset value and share price performance includes the subscription share reinvestment, assuming the subscription share entitlement per share was sold and the proceeds reinvested on the first day of trading. At month end Net asset value (capital only): 209.31p Net asset value (including income): 209.81p** ** Includes net revenue of 0.50p Share price: 195.75p Discount to NAV (capital only): 6.5% Discount to NAV (including income): 6.7% Subscription share price: 24.50p Gearing (including income): 4.7% Net yield: 1.7% Total assets (including income): £213.5m Ordinary shares in issue: 96,972,875*** Subscription shares in issue: 18,977,902 *** Excluding 2,898,166 shares held in treasury. Benchmark Sector Analysis Total Assets Index (%) Country Analysis Total Assets (%) (%) Industrials 22.7 13.8 France 24.5 Consumer Goods 15.8 16.3 Switzerland 19.1 Financials 14.7 22.1 Germany 11.6 Basic Materials 13.3 8.6 Denmark 8.6 Consumer Services 10.1 4.9 Finland 8.6 Health Care 8.9 8.7 Netherlands 5.9 Oil & Gas 8.1 9.8 Norway 3.6 Technology 2.8 3.3 Spain 3.3 Utilities 2.8 6.5 Sweden 3.2 Telecommunications 0.9 6.0 Portugal 3.1 Net current liabilities (0.1) - Russia 2.3 ----- ----- Israel 1.9 100.0 100.0 Ireland 1.8 ===== ===== Czech Republic 0.9 Turkey 0.9 Belgium 0.8 Net current liabilities (0.1) ----- 100.0 ===== Ten Largest Equity Investments (in alphabetical order) Company Country of Risk Legrand France Nokian Renkaat Finland Novartis Switzerland Novo Nordisk Denmark Schneider Electric France Société Générale France Swatch Switzerland Syngenta Switzerland Technip France Vopak Netherlands Commenting on the markets, Vincent Devlin, representing the Investment Manager noted: Fund Performance & Attribution The Company returned 10.3% in December, regaining the losses sustained in November and continuing to perform better than the reference index, the FTSE World Europe ex UK Index, which gained 8.6%. Following November's losses, the European equity markets saw strong gains in December as concerns over the solvency of the peripheral European countries experienced a hiatus and investors rotated into more cyclical sectors. In this context, stocks in the basic materials, industrials and oil & gas sectors all performed well, and more 'defensive' sectors such as consumer services and telecoms underperformed the broader market. The majority of the Company's relative performance in the month was driven by strong stock selection, particularly within the oil & gas and financials sectors. The Company also benefited from having higher allocations to the industrials and basic materials sectors, which led the market gains. The portfolio's positions in emerging Europe also contributed well to returns, with positions in the chemicals sector performing particularly well. In a rising market, the portfolio's gearing helped to magnify the positive returns. Within the oil & gas sector, two positions within the oil services industry performed particularly well. CGG Veritas, which operates in the seismic survey industry, and Technip, which supplies high-technology industrial installations such as subsea equipment and platforms, both performed well as expectations for future capital expenditure within the sector continued to rise. Relative to the reference index, the Company ended the period with higher relative weightings in the industrials, consumer services and basic materials sectors and lower relative weightings in the financials, utilities and telecoms sectors. Outlook Looking further into 2011, our outlook for European equities remains positive. Whilst the peripheral debt concerns within the region have not yet subsided, we believe that much of the potential downside associated with a peripheral default is reflected in valuations and, as we have previously mentioned, it is important to recognise that peripheral Europe is a small part of the European economy and a smaller part of the Europe ex UK stock market. Indeed, in contrast with the periphery, we believe that the predominant core and Northern European region is one of the healthiest parts of the developed world, as reflected by both rising consumer confidence and strong momentum in the industrial cycle. Europe remains under-owned and valuations continue to look compelling: on a price-to-earnings basis, Europe is currently trading at a 20% discount to its historical average. The region offers a broad selection of well-managed companies that are able to access the strongest areas of global growth through high quality product offerings, and we believe that European equities have the ability to deliver mid-teens earnings growth in 2011. 17 January 2011 ENDS Latest information is available by typing www.blackrock.co.uk/its 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.
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