REG-BlackRock Frontiers Investment Trust Plc: Portfolio Update
19/03/2025 15:15
BLACKROCK FRONTIERS INVESTMENT TRUST PLC (LEI: 5493003K5E043LHLO706)
All information is at 28 February 2025 and unaudited.
Performance at month end with net income reinvested.
One Three One Three Five Since
month months year years years Launch*
% % % % % %
Sterling:
Share price 0.6 8.5 7.7 41.4 87.5 171.4
Net asset value -0.7 4.0 6.2 40.0 85.9 190.5
Benchmark (NR)** -2.5 3.0 2.9 8.0 31.5 94.0
MSCI Frontiers Index (NR) 0.5 6.1 14.1 9.1 23.6 96.3
MSCI Emerging Markets Index (NR) -0.8 3.1 10.6 8.0 25.0 72.3
US Dollars:
Share price 2.0 7.6 7.2 32.8 85.1 120.4
Net asset value 0.7 3.1 5.8 31.5 83.4 135.5
Benchmark (NR)** -1.2 2.0 2.4 1.3 29.6 57.9
MSCI Frontiers Index (NR) 1.9 5.1 13.6 2.4 21.9 58.5
MSCI Emerging Markets Index (NR) 0.5 2.1 10.1 1.4 23.2 39.2
Sources: BlackRock and Standard & Poor’s Micropal
* 17 December 2010.
** 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: 210.08c
Net asset value - cum income: 210.85c
Sterling:
Net asset value - capital only: 166.84p
Net asset value - cum income: 167.46p
Share price: 157.50p
Total assets (including income): £316.9m
Discount to cum-income NAV: 5.9%
Gearing: Nil
Gearing range (as a % of gross assets): 0-20%
Net yield*: 4.8%
Ordinary shares in issue**: 189,270,248
Ongoing charges***: 1.41%
Ongoing charges plus taxation and performance fee****: 2.33%
*The Company’s yield based on dividends announced in the last 12 months as
at the date of the release of this announcement is 4.8%, and includes the 2024
interim dividend of 3.50 cents per share, declared on 31 May 2024, and paid to
shareholders on 01 July 2024 and the final dividend of 6.00 cents per share,
declared on 5 December 2024 paid to shareholders on 14 February 2025.
** Excluding 52,552,553 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 30 September 2024.
**** 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 30 September 2024.
Sector Gross market value as a % of net assets Country Gross market value as a % of net assets
Analysis Analysis
Financials 44.9 Saudi Arabia 15.6
Industrials 12.6 United Arab Emirates 11.3
Real Estate 12.5 Indonesia 10.8
Consumer Discretionary 11.3 Turkey 8.1
Communication Services 10.3 Poland 8.1
Materials 9.8 Hungary 6.7
Information Technology 8.4 Kazakhstan 6.6
Consumer Staples 5.5 Philippines 5.8
Health Care 4.0 Multi-International 5.7
Energy 1.7 Pakistan 5.5
----- Thailand 5.0
121.0 Greece 4.6
----- Kenya 4.3
Short Positions -3.9 Vietnam 4.2
Bangladesh 3.2
Malaysia 2.9
Singapore 2.3
Czech Republic 2.2
Georgia 2.1
Chile 2.0
Romania 1.6
Egypt 1.6
Cambodia 0.8
-----
121.0
-----
Short positions -3.9 ----
*reflects gross market exposure from contracts for difference (CFDs).
Market Exposure
31.03 2024 % 30.04 2024 % 31.05 2024 % 30.06 2024 % 31.07 2024 % 31.08 2024 % 30.09 2024 % 31.10 2024 % 30.11 2024 % 31.12 2024 % 31.01 2025 % 28.02 2025 %
Long 120.4 120.8 118.1 118.4 116.1 112.3 107.9 110.1 109.6 112.4 118.5 121.0
Short 2.7 2.3 2.4 2.9 3.5 3.6 3.9 3.6 3.3 4.0 4.2 3.9
Gross 123.1 123.1 120.5 121.3 119.6 115.9 111.8 113.7 112.9 116.4 122.7 124.9
Net 117.7 118.5 115.7 115.5 112.6 108.7 104.0 106.5 106.3 108.4 114.3 117.1
Ten Largest Investments
Company Country of Risk Gross market value as a % of net assets
Al Rajhi Bank Saudi Arabia 5.6
Emaar Properties United Arab Emirates 4.8
LPP Poland 4.6
FPT Vietnam 4.3
OTP Bank Hungary 4.3
Etihad Etisalat Saudi Arabia 3.8
Bank Mandiri Indonesia 3.7
Kaspi.Kz JCS Kazakhstan 3.5
CP All Thailand 3.5
PZU Poland 3.5
Commenting on the markets, Sam Vecht, Emily Fletcher and Sudaif Niaz,
representing the Investment Manager noted:
The Company’s NAV rose by 0.7% in February, outperforming its benchmark, the
MSCI Frontier + Emerging Markets ex Selected Countries Index (“Benchmark
Index”) which returned -1.2%. For reference, the MSCI Emerging Markets Index
returned +0.5% while the MSCI Frontier Markets Index returned +1.9% over the
same period. All performance figures are on a US Dollar basis with net income
reinvested.
Emerging Markets (+0.5%) significantly outperformed Developed Markets, which
dropped by 0.7% in February 2025. EMEA (+0.7%) outperformed as the region
experienced a significant uplift from a potential Russia-Ukraine ceasefire.
Notably, Poland ended the month up by 7.7%. While EM Asia (+1.1%)
outperformed, performance within the region was mixed. Thailand (-10%) was
amongst the bottom performers, as signs of economic slowdown, reflected in
earnings disappointment. LatAm underperformed, declining by 1.8% over the
month.
Stock selection across markets had a positive impact on portfolio returns in
February 2025. The largest contributor to returns was our off-benchmark
position in Lucky Cement (+20.3%), a Pakistani conglomerate with businesses in
local cement production, chemicals, passenger vehicle assembly, power
generation as well as international cement operations in the Middle-East and
Africa. The stock rose on the expectations of improved activity as interest
rates have come quite significantly in Pakistan. A collection of names exposed
to a potential resolution in the war between Ukraine and Russia also did well
including Wizz Air, the Hungarian low-cost carrier up by 31.6% and polish
clothing retailer LPP up by 12.6%. Our position in Philippines based gaming
conglomerate DigiPlus Interactive Corporation (+30.0%) also contributed to
returns driven by strong activity indicators and plans to expand into other
gaming verticals and new markets.
On the flipside, IT services company EPAM (-18.7%) was the largest detractor
over the month. In addition to a softer outlook for the broader Information
Technology sector, the stock also sold off following a soft set of results
which missed expectations. However, we maintain conviction in the name and
note stronger revenue guidance for next year. Vietnamese IT services company
FPT (-10.5%) also detracted from performance. Software Development company
Endava (-26%) was another detractor. While the company announced a decent set
of earnings results, they revised down their FY25 revenue forecast. Ciputra
Development (-21.1%), the Indonesian property developer, also detracted
alongside the Indonesian market as newsflow on fiscal and monetary policy
remains uncertain.
We made a few changes to the portfolio in February. In Indonesia, we rotated
our bank exposure from Bank Central Asia to Bank Mandiri due to the latter’s
attractive valuation. We also added to property developer Ciputra. The stock
looked oversold despite as company remains well positioned within the broader
real sector in Indonesia. Elsewhere, we took advantage of recent weakness to
top up our holding in Thai Real Estate name Amata. We trimmed our holding in
Raiffeisen Bank and Philippines based gaming conglomerate DigiPlus to lock in
profits. We also added to IT services company Endava, taking advantage of
recent weakness. The stock is trading at attractive valuations and should be
further supported by a $100m buyback expected through the year.
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 should resume once US bond yields settle down. 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, 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:
1BlackRock as at 28 February 2025
2MSCI as at 28 February 2025
19 March 2025
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 (https://mb.cision.com/Main/22403/4121378/3330887.pdf)
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