Portfolio Update

BLACKROCK GREATER EUROPE INVESTMENT TRUST plc All information is at 30 June 2014 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) -2.4% -3.1% 11.5% 19.7% 197.1% Net asset value* (diluted) -2.0% -1.5% 11.5% 23.5% 197.3% Share price -4.0% -3.8% 15.4% 25.3% 187.6% FTSE World Europe ex UK -2.3% 0.1% 16.4% 19.0% 139.3% Sources: BlackRock and Datastream At month end Net asset value (capital only): 245.17p Net asset value (including income): 248.30p Net asset value (capital only)*: 245.17p Net asset value (including income)*: 248.25p Share price: 239.00p Discount to NAV (including income): 3.7% Discount to NAV (including income)*: 3.7% Subscription share price: 19.50p Net cash: 1.5% Net yield**: 2.5% Total assets (including income): £270.2m Ordinary shares in issue***: 108,815,767 Subscription shares: 20,660,139 * Diluted for subscription shares and treasury shares ** Based on a final dividend of 4.5p per share for the year ended 31 August 2013 (excluding special dividend) and an interim dividend of 1.5p per share for the year ending 31 August 2014. *** Excluding 5,429,676 shares held in treasury Sector Analysis Total Assets (%) Country Analysis Total Assets (%) Financials 29.3 France 19.3 Industrials 24.8 Switzerland 16.7 Consumer Services 11.2 Germany 12.1 Health Care 9.9 Netherlands 9.3 Consumer Goods 8.3 Sweden 7.4 Basic Materials 6.5 Italy 6.4 Oil & Gas 3.2 Denmark 6.3 Technology 3.2 Spain 4.6 Utilities 2.1 Russia 3.3 Net current assets 1.5 Ireland 2.9 ----- Portugal 2.6 100.0 Turkey 2.6 ===== Belgium 2.2 Finland 1.6 Hungary 1.2 Net current assets 1.5 ----- 100.0 ===== Ten Largest Equity Investments (in alphabetical order) Company Adecco Switzerland Bayer Germany Compagnie de Saint France Continental Germany Holcim Switzerland Novo Nordisk Denmark Roche Switzerland Schneider Electric France Unicredit Italy Unilever Netherlands Commenting on the markets, Vincent Devlin, representing the Investment Manager noted: During the month, the Company's NAV returned -2.4% and the share price returned -4.0%. For reference, the FTSE World Europe ex UK Index returned -2.3% during the same period. European equities were down during June, with small caps continuing their underperformance. On a country basis, Spain continued its outperformance of the rest of the periphery (the IBEX posted a +1.5% gain); on a sector basis oil & gas outperformed (with geopolitical risk in Iraq causing the oil price to rise), with financials underperforming in spite of ECB policy announcements. From a broad market perspective, the most significant development during June was the ECB announcement of a range of stimulus measures designed to avoid deflation and stimulate nominal growth in the Eurozone. These measures were significant more in what they represented than their immediate impact: they indicated that Draghi is able to instigate creative easing measures (including Quantative Easing) and led to a (short lived) positive reaction in the market. Sector allocation was the principal driver of underperformance during the month. Specifically, an underweight position to the energy sector as the oil price rose; the sector was also buoyed by investor appetite for sectors that offer a higher dividend yield (oil & gas and utilities were, by far, the best two performing sectors in the European market during June). Financials also fared poorly, despite the supportive policy announcements at the ECB, and accounted for the four largest stock detractors over the month. Within financials, various positions based in both northern and southern Europe underperformed as the sector fell, including KBC, Société Générale and Unicredit. Positions in Hungarian OPT Bank, along with Turkish banks Garanti Bankasi and Halk Bankasi, also hindered returns over the month. Holdings in airline-related businesses Ryanair and Airbus also fell, with Ryanair falling as investors became concerned about the impact of the rising oil price on their cost base. We believe that the company is well equipped to deal with oil price volatility and has a strong track record of capacity discipline during such periods. The Company also lost ground due to not owning energy businesses Total and ENI. On a more positive note, a position in Novo Nordisk performed very well during the month: a well-attended pharmaceutical conference revealed further potential growth for their new long-lasting insulin treatment drug and potential to take market share in another of their main products. Also in health care, Danish hearing aid and headset business GN Store Nord benefited from strength in their recent product launch. Within technology, ASML performed well after the management team expressed confidence about the likelihood of success with their next-generation product, EUV. At the end of the month, the Company was positioned with higher weightings in industrials, consumer services, financials and health care and with lower weightings in consumer goods, oil & gas, basic materials, telecoms, utilities and technology. Outlook Despite a sluggish start to the year, global economic growth is expected to be positive for 2014 but there is a debate around momentum of that growth. The sharp contraction of the US economy during the first quarter, political tensions in the Ukraine and the slowdown in China have all delayed an expected pick-up in activity. We expect a stronger performance by the US from Q2 onwards and a slow recovery in the Eurozone during the second half of the year. Monetary policies remain accommodative globally and increasingly so in China where we expect small targeted stimuli in infrastructure to lead to a small increase in momentum, although challenges in transitioning the economy remain. The recent measures announced by the ECB are quite significant in our view and should provide a boost in liquidity which should ultimately be positive for the cost of debt notably in Southern Europe where business confidence, demand for credit and capital expenditure intentions have been improving. Whilst we do not expect the developments to be rapid, we think that the situation could potentially get better post the stress test and Asset Quality Review (AQR) exercise are completed, after which banks will have more visibility on their level of capitalisation. European valuations have re-rated over the last year and look to be in-line with their long term average. However, we think that earnings should recover from here in-line with the improvements in industrial output. Consensus earnings estimates have moderated since the beginning of the year in part due to unfavourable currency movements, but they are beginning to inflect upwards from a low base. European domestic earnings are now more realistic and have scope to benefit from a domestic recovery. We maintain our projection of 8% earnings growth this year in Europe. 15 July 2014 ENDS Latest information is available by typing www.brgeplc.co.uk 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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