Portfolio Update

BLACKROCK THROGMORTON TRUST PLC
All information is at31 May 2016 and unaudited.
Performance at month end is calculated on a cum income basis
One Three One Three Five
month months year years years
% % % % %
Net asset value (undiluted)# 3.4 7.4 4.8 42.6 78.3
Net asset value (fully diluted) n/a n/a n/a n/a 71.1
Share price 1.8 6.2 2.8 43.3 80.6
Benchmark* 1.1    7.2 -1.6 28.2 47.7

Sources: BlackRock and Datastream
#Prior to dilution arising on conversion of subscription shares.
*With effect from 1 December 2013 the Numis Smaller Companies excluding AIM (excluding investment companies) Index replaced the Numis Smaller Companies plus AIM (excluding investment companies) Index as the Company’s benchmark. The three and five year period indices have been blended to reflect this. 
At month end
Net asset value capital only: 389.23p    
Net asset value incl. income: 392.93p    
Share price 332.00p    
Discount to cum income NAV 15.5%    
Net yield 2.0%*   
Total Gross assets £288.4m**  
Net market exposure as a % of net asset value^ 106.1%    
Ordinary shares in issue: 73,130,326*** 
2015 ongoing charges (excluding performance fees): 1.1%****
2015 ongoing charges ratio (including performance fees): 2.3%    
* Calculated using prior year interim and final dividends paid.
** Includes current year revenue and excludes the gross exposure through contracts for difference.
*** Excluding 7,400,000 shares held in treasury.
**** Calculated as a percentage of average net assets and using expenses, excluding performance fees and interest costs for the year ended
30 November 2015.
^Long positions less short positions as a percentage of net asset value.
Sector Weightings % of Total Assets
Industrials 27.5
Consumer Services 22.2
Financials 16.9
Consumer Goods 9.5
Technology 9.2
Health Care 7.5
Basic Materials 4.5
Oil & Gas 2.0
Net current assets 0.7
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Total 100.0
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Market Exposure (Quarterly)
31.08.15 30.11.15 29.02.16 31.05.16
% % % %
Long 115.2 115.2 118.2 114.4
Short 9.0 9.2 11.2 8.3
Gross exposure 124.2 124.4 129.4 122.7
Net exposure 106.2 106.0 107.0 106.1
Ten Largest Investments
Company % of Total Gross Assets
JD Sports 3.0
4imprint Group 2.8
CVS Group 2.8
Dechra Pharmaceuticals 2.2
Workspace Group 2.2
Topps Tiles 1.9
Restore 1.8
Fevertree Drinks 1.8
Avon Rubber 1.7
Cineworld Group 1.7
Commenting on the markets, Mike Prentis and Dan Whitestone, representing the Investment Manager noted:

During May the Company’s NAV per share rose by 3.4% on a cum income basis whilst our benchmark index rose by 1.1%; the FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.3%.

The long only portfolio increased in value by 3.1%, outperforming the benchmark by 2.0%, whilst the CFD portfolio added 0.7% to the NAV during the month, both pre-costs of managing the Company.

Turning to the long only portfolio, relative performance was driven by good stock selection with sector allocation also adding value.

Looking at stock selection the most notable positive contributors to relative performance were our holdings in Avon Rubber and Fevertree Drinks. Avon Rubber announced interims which were better than the market had expected, with revenues up by 5% and EBITDA up by 9%. We had a good meeting with management which highlighted their confidence. Fevertree announced a trading update for the four months to end April 2016 which confirmed strong business momentum and indicated that full year 2016 results are expected to be materially ahead of expectations.

Other good contributors included Joules, which we bought into on IPO, CVS Group, Accesso and Topps Tiles.

There were no significant individual stock detractors from relative performance during the month.

Turning to sector allocation, our performance was helped by our underweight position in the mining sector. This sector had had a major negative impact on relative performance in April and we recovered a part of this in May.  

As mentioned above, we added the position in Joules on IPO. Joules is a UK retailer focussed on supplying good value, colourful country wear.

Turning to the CFD portfolio, this was a good month, with a positive return of 0.7% driven by the long CFDs adding 1%, whilst the short CFDs detracted 0.3% from performance. Performance benefitted from a combination of strong stock specific success, in addition to a more favourable backdrop with the tide of sentiment shifting back towards some of the higher quality UK consumer services growth names. This helps explain why the top 10 contributors to performance all came from the long CFD portfolio, with FeverTree, Just Eat and YouGov being the top 3 performers, all generating 6 basis points each. The top 10 detractors all came from the short CFDs across a range of sectors but not due to any stock specific reasons, and the biggest loss was only –5 basis points of performance.

17 June 2016

ENDS

Latest information is available by typing www.blackrock.co.uk/thrg 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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