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 -1.0 -0.8 5.4 33.0 36.6 143.4 Net asset value -1.0 2.0 5.8 32.6 45.5 168.6 Benchmark (NR)** 0.9 4.4 5.1 13.9 9.2 89.0 MSCI Frontiers Index (NR) -0.3 0.6 6.1 -3.4 6.5 80.2 MSCI Emerging Markets Index (NR) -0.7 2.6 10.9 -4.6 17.164.5 US Dollars: Share price 1.3 2.4 9.3 27.1 47.5 106.2 Net asset value 1.3 5.3 9.7 26.7 57.1 127.2 Benchmark (NR)** 3.2 7.7 9.0 8.7 17.8 60.5 MSCI Frontiers Index (NR) 2.0 3.9 10.1 -7.8 14.9 51.9 MSCI Emerging Markets Index (NR) 1.6 5.9 15.1 -8.9 26.3 38.7
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: 203.94c Net asset value - cum income: 209.30c Sterling: Net asset value - capital only: 155.17p Net asset value - cum income: 159.25p Share price: 145.50p Total assets (including income): £301.5m 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 46.5 Indonesia 15.5 Industrials 11.8 Saudi Arabia 15.4 Real Estate 11.0 Philippines 9.2 Materials 10.5 United Arab Emirates 8.5 Consumer Staples 8.2 Kazakhstan 7.9 Communication 8.0 Poland 5.8 Services Energy 5.2 Hungary 5.6 Consumer 5.1 Thailand 5.4 Discretionary Information 4.3 Turkey 4.8 Technology Health Care 1.5 Pakistan 3.5 Utilities 0.2 Kenya 3.4 ----- Bangladesh 3.1 112.3 Georgia 2.5 ----- Qatar 2.5 Short Positions -3.6 Vietnam 2.5 Greece 2.4 Singapore 2.3 Czech Republic 1.9 Multi-International 1.9 Egypt 1.8 Malaysia 1.7 Chile 1.6 Colombia 1.5 Cambodia 0.8 Romania 0.8 ----- 112.3 ----- -3.6 Short positions ----
*reflects gross market exposure from contracts for difference (CFDs).
Market Exposure
30.09 31.10 30.11 31.12 31.01 29.02 31.03 30.04 31.05 30.06 31.07 31.08 2023 2023 2023 2023 2024 2024 2024 2024 2024 2024 2024 2024 % % % % % % % % % % % % Long 114.9 118.8 113.4 116.6 119.5 121.4 120.4 120.8 118.1 118.4 116.1 112.3 Short 3.0 3.1 4.6 4.7 3.6 3.5 2.7 2.3 2.4 2.9 3.5 3.6 Gross 117.9 121.9 118.0 121.3 123.1 124.9 123.1 123.1 120.5 121.3 119.6 115.9 Net 111.9 115.7 108.8 111.9 115.9 117.9 117.7 118.5 115.7 115.5 112.6 108.7
Ten Largest Investments
Company Country of Risk Gross market value as a % of net assets Bank Central Asia Indonesia 5.0 Emaar Properties United Arab Emirates 4.4 Saudi National Bank Saudi Arabia 4.1 Kaspi.Kz JCS Kazakhstan 3.9 Ayala Land Philippines 3.2 PT Bank Negara Indonesia Indonesia 3.1 CP ALL Thailand 2.8 Etihad Etisalat Saudi Arabia 2.6 OTP Bank Hungary 2.6 PZU Poland 2.6
Commenting on the markets,
The Company’s NAV rose by 1.3% in August, underperforming its benchmark the MSCI Emerging ex Selected Countries + Frontier Markets + Saudi Arabia Index (“Benchmark Index”) which returned +3.2%. For reference, the MSCI Emerging Markets Index was up 1.6% while the MSCI Frontier Markets Index gained 2.0% over the same period. All performance figures are on a US Dollar basis with net income reinvested. 1
Emerging markets posted modest gains of 1.6%, continuing to underperform Developed Markets (+2.5%). The month began with a sharp equity sell-off driven by two macro events: a weaker-than-expected US labour market report, raising recession fears, and a
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 Ayala Land (+24.4%), the Philippine's based property developer. The stock price rose as a result of a beat on Q2 presales. Another positive contributor was our holding in
On the flipside, Hungarian low-cost carrier Wizz Air (-28.6%) extended its losses from July and was the largest detractor for the second month in a row. Turkish commercial bank Türkiye İş Bankası (-14.3%) also fell alongside the Turkish market. Frontken (-10.3%), a
We made few changes to the portfolio in August. We increased our exposure to
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
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