BRGE Blackrock Greater Europe Investment Trust Plc

 
TIDMBRGE 
 
The information contained in this release was correct as at 30 November 2023. 
 
BLACKROCK GREATER EUROPE INVESTMENT TRUST PLC (LEI - 5493003R8FJ6I76ZUW55) 
 
All information is at 30 November 2023 and unaudited. 
Performance at month end with net income reinvested 
 
                             One    Three   One    Three  Launch 
 
                             Month  Months  Year   Years  (20 Sep 04) 
 
Net asset value (undiluted)  11.1%  1.4%    13.0%  15.2%  682.3% 
Share price                  12.5%  0.6%    10.7%  9.3%   638.1% 
FTSE World Europe ex UK      6.3%   2.0%    10.3%  24.0%  394.4% 
 
Sources: BlackRock and Datastream 
 
At month end 
 
Net asset value (capital only):      563.12p 
Net asset value (including income):  563.29p 
Share price:                         525.00p 
Discount to NAV (including income):  6.8% 
Net gearing:                         7.2% 
Net yield1:                          1.3% 
Total assets (including income):     £567.9m 
Ordinary shares in issue2:           100,812,161 
Ongoing charges3:                    0.98% 
 
1  Based on an interim dividend of 1.75p per share and a final dividend of 5.00p 
per share for the year ended 31 August 2023. 
 
2  Excluding 17,116,777 shares held in treasury. 
3  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 finance costs, direct transaction costs, custody transaction charges, 
VAT recovered, taxation, write back of prior year expenses and certain non 
-recurring items for the year ended 31 August 2023. 
 
Sector Analysis        Country Analysis         Total Assets (%) 
Total Assets (%)       France                   21.2 
Technology             Netherlands              18.2 
25.0                   Switzerland              17.9 
Industrials            Denmark                  15.4 
24.0                   United Kingdom           7.1 
Consumer               Sweden                   6.3 
Discretionary   22.7   Ireland                  5.8 
Health Care            Italy                    3.9 
14.7                   Spain                    2.3 
Financials             Belgium                  1.7 
8.3                    Germany                  1.1 
Consumer Staples       Net Current Liabilities  -0.9 
3.3                                             ----- 
Basic Materials                                 100.0 
2.9                                             ===== 
Net Current 
Liabilities  -0.9 
 
----- 
 
100.0 
 
===== 
 
Top 10 holdings     Country         Fund % 
Novo Nordisk        Denmark         9.1 
RELX                United Kingdom  6.3 
ASML                Netherlands     6.0 
LVMH                France          5.1 
BE Semiconductor    Netherlands     4.8 
Hermès              France          4.2 
STMicroelectronics  Switzerland     4.0 
Ferrari             Italy           3.8 
Safran              France          3.7 
ASM International   Netherlands     3.4 
 
Commenting on the markets, Stefan Gries and Alexandra Dangoor, representing the 
Investment Manager noted: 
 
During the month, the Company's NAV rose by 11.1% and the share price was up by 
12.5%. For reference, the FTSE World Europe ex UK Index returned 6.3% during the 
period. 
 
November was an incredibly strong month for European ex UK markets. Economic 
data released in November showed a continued fall in inflation: Eurozone 
inflation dropped sharply to 2.4% from 2.9% in the previous month, which was the 
lowest annual inflation number since July 2021. Lower energy, food and services 
prices were the main drivers behind the improving inflation numbers. This led 
investors to gain confidence that central banks have likely reached the peak of 
their tightening cycles without causing significant damage to the economy. 
Hence, markets rallied from oversold levels after having lost ground from August 
to October. 
 
The market was led by bond proxies such as real estate and risk assets including 
IT, industrials, financials and consumer discretionary. Energy, health care and 
consumer staples were the weakest performers in the market. 
 
The Company outperformed its reference index during the month, driven by both 
positive sector allocation and stock selection. In sector terms, the portfolio's 
overweight allocation to IT and industrials aided returns. A lower weight to 
commodities including energy and materials was also positive for relative 
returns. Our zero exposure to real estate detracted during the month. 
 
Semiconductor names BESI, STMicroelectronics and ASML rallied through the month. 
Despite limited stock specific news, shares performed well given improving 
smartphone demand data and a better environment for risk assets in general. An 
update from American Nvidia also showed continued strong demand, particularly in 
data centre end markets. 
 
Speciality chemical distributor IMCD was amongst the top contributors. The 
company guided to an improvement in end markets and IMCD specifically noted that 
they expected to see an increase in volumes in Q4 versus Q3. 
 
Shares in Partners Group performed strongly over the month, benefiting from an 
improved rate environment and outlook for fundraising activity. We have spoken 
to the company's CEO over the month, with management noting funding more readily 
available and an optimistic outlook for deal making. 
 
Royal Unibrew was the worst performer during the period. The company reported 
weak Q3 results, with sales declining -1% versus expectations of 8% growth. This 
was driven by much weaker volumes than anticipated, which the company attributed 
to weather and price increases in Northern Europe in particular. The company 
also marginally lowered guidance for the rest of the year in part due to a lower 
contribution from the recently acquired Vrumona (soft drinks manufacturing) 
business, bringing the reliability of the management team's execution into 
question. We are monitoring the developments closely as part of a reassessment 
of our investment thesis. 
 
DSV also continued to underperform following the news of a CEO transition and 
the announcement of a logistics joint venture with Saudi's NEOM city project, as 
we discussed in last month's report. We would however note that management have 
done a decent job explaining the potential of the project and the protection 
mechanisms DSV have. 
 
Outlook 
 
The noise around market moves seems to increase with every passing year. We make 
no attempt to predict to the basis point next quarters' GDP, inflation, or 
unemployment number. Nor do we pay much heed to top-down indicators or what they 
may reveal about the health of the global economy. From our point of view, the 
world finds itself currently in the midst of several transitions: Covid to post 
Covid, inflation to disinflation, low interest rates to high interest rates. 
 
These dynamics must be considered when assessing the health of the global 
economy and the prospects for equity markets. Various end markets may continue 
to imply weak demand as inventories are run down, while others - perhaps those 
associated with Chinese real estate - may have more prolonged problems. 
 
However, assessing the economy from the bottom-up, company by company, we see no 
reason for investors with a reasonable time horizon to be alarmed. Corporate 
balance sheets are strong after 15 years of deleveraging, margins remain at 
healthy levels and we may be at the foothills of an increase in capex spending 
resulting in a `modern era industrial revolution'. Similarly, household debt 
relative to assets is low in large economies, interest rate sensitivity is lower 
than in previous cycles and real wages are growing. 
 
As investors we must be forward looking, we must anticipate areas of enduring 
demand and identify those special companies whose characteristics enable them to 
capitalise on this demand and, in doing so, benefit their stakeholders and 
shareholders. We remain optimistic about the prospects of companies held in our 
portfolio. 
 
29 December 2023 
 
ENDS 
 
Latest information is available by typing www.blackrock.com/uk/brge 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. 
 
 
This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com 
 
 
END 
 
 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 29, 2023 12:20 ET (17:20 GMT)

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