Portfolio Update
BLACKROCK GREATER EUROPE INVESTMENT TRUST plc
All information is at 28 February 2011 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* 2.0% 12.8% 25.4% 33.9% 139.4%
(Undiluted)
Net asset value* 1.7% 10.8% 22.4% 30.8% 133.7%
(Diluted)
Share price 0.8% 10.1% 26.5% 29.3% 125.0%
FTSE World Europe ex UK 1.2% 11.8% 12.4% 11.7% 89.9%
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): 214.11p
Net asset value (including income): 214.66p**
** Includes net revenue of 0.55p
Net asset value (capital only)***: 209.08p
Net asset value (including income)***: 209.54p
Share price: 201.00p
Discount to NAV (capital only): 6.1%
Discount to NAV (including income): 6.4%
Discount to NAV (capital only)***: 3.9%
Discount to NAV (including income)***: 4.1%
Subscription share price: 27.75p
Gearing (including income): 2.5%
Net yield: 1.6%
Total assets (including income): £214.0m
Ordinary shares in issue: 97,208,326#
Subscription shares in issue: 18,742,451
*** Diluted for subscription shares.
# Excluding 2,898,166 shares held in treasury.
Benchmark
Sector Analysis Total Assets Index (%) Country Analysis Total Assets
(%) (%)
Financials 22.0 23.8 France 27.7
Industrials 20.7 13.7 Switzerland 13.1
Consumer Goods 15.1 14.8 Germany 10.7
Oil & Gas 10.1 10.5 Finland 8.8
Basic Materials 9.5 8.2 Denmark 7.6
Health Care 6.1 8.4 Netherlands 5.5
Consumer Services 5.7 4.7 Spain 4.7
Utilities 2.9 6.6 Italy 4.1
Technology 2.9 3.3 Norway 3.7
Telecommunications 2.3 6.0 Sweden 3.0
Net current assets 2.7 - Russia 1.7
----- ----- Ireland 1.5
100.0 100.0 Portugal 1.0
===== ===== Belgium 0.9
Czech Republic 0.9
Other 2.4
Net current assets 2.7
-----
100.0
=====
Ten Largest Equity Investments (in alphabetical order)
Company Country of Risk
Banco Santander Spain
Eutelsat France
Intesa Sanpaolo Italy
Legrand France
Novo Nordisk Denmark
Schneider Electric France
Swatch Switzerland
Syngenta Switzerland
Technip France
Vopak Netherlands
Commenting on the markets, Vincent Devlin, representing the Investment Manager
noted:
Fund Performance & Attribution
During the month the Company returned 2.0%, performing better than the
reference index, the FTSE World Europe ex UK Index (net), which gained 1.2%.
Following January's sector rotation, February saw a continuation of
macroeconomic uncertainty in the European region. Political unrest in North
Africa and the Middle East caused the oil price to touch US$120 per barrel as
concerns over supply prevailed. However, the fourth quarter earnings
announcements allowed company fundamentals to reassert themselves in many
cases. European companies continued to see strong demand through the quarter,
although margins were squeezed in some sectors by rising input costs.
At a sector level, the Company's lower weighting in the financials sector
detracted from returns, as did the higher weighting in consumer services as the
sector underperformed. However, the Company did somewhat benefit from its lower
weighting in utilities and a higher weighting in the oil & gas sector.
Positions that performed well during the month included CGG Veritas, the
seismic services company which benefited after reporting very strong fourth
quarter earnings and Dogan Sirketler, a Turkish company operating in the energy
sector. In addition, positions in pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk and
Finnish winter tyre company Nokian Renkaat both continued to perform well.
However, stock selection in the industrials sector went against us as Swedish
ballbearing manufacturer SKF reported disappointing earnings at the beginning
of the month.
In terms of positioning, the Company remains overweight industrials, basic
materials, oil & gas and consumer services and underweight technology,
financials, healthcare, utilities, telecoms and consumer goods.
Outlook
Following January's significant rotation, we remain positive on the outlook for
European equities in 2011. 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. 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.
18 March 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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