REG-BlackRock Frontiers Investment Trust Plc: Portfolio Update
20/05/2025 07:02
BLACKROCK FRONTIERS INVESTMENT TRUST PLC (LEI: 5493003K5E043LHLO706)
All information is at 30 April 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 1.9 -4.3 6.2 26.5 112.3 158.1
Net asset value -1.5 -5.4 2.8 19.9 108.9 176.8
Benchmark (NR)** -1.5 -4.8 1.0 -3.7 43.1 89.4
MSCI Frontiers Index (NR) -4.5 -3.7 7.1 0.7 40.5 88.0
MSCI Emerging Markets Index (NR) -2.1 -4.7 2.2 5.3 28.5 65.6
US Dollars:
Share price 5.4 2.9 13.3 34.7 125.0 122.3
Net asset value 1.9 1.7 9.7 27.7 121.5 138.0
Benchmark (NR)** 2.0 2.3 7.7 2.4 51.5 63.5
MSCI Frontiers Index (NR) -1.2 3.5 14.3 7.1 48.7 61.1
MSCI Emerging Markets Index (NR) 1.3 2.4 9.0 12.0 36.0 41.9
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: 208.08c
Net asset value - cum income: 213.07c
Sterling:
Net asset value - capital only: 155.79p
Net asset value - cum income: 159.52p
Share price: 149.75p
Total assets (including income): £301.9m
Discount to cum-income NAV: 6.1%
Gearing: Nil
Gearing range (as a % of gross assets): 0-20%
Net yield*: 5.1%
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 5.1%, 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 43.2 Saudi Arabia 15.0
Real Estate 13.0 Indonesia 11.3
Industrials 11.5 United Arab Emirates 11.1
Consumer Discretionary 11.2 Poland 7.6
Materials 9.1 Turkey 7.5
Information Technology 6.4 Greece 7.4
Communication Services 6.2 Hungary 6.7
Consumer Staples 5.4 Kazakhstan 6.1
Health Care 3.7 Multi-International 4.7
Energy 1.6 Pakistan 4.5
----- Thailand 4.4
111.3 Philippines 3.8
----- Vietnam 3.2
Short Positions -3.8 Bangladesh 3.0
----- Kenya 3.0
Malaysia 2.8
Georgia 2.8
Czech Republic 2.4
Chile 2.0
Egypt 1.2
Cambodia 0.8
-----
111.3
-----
Short Positions -3.8 ----
*reflects gross market exposure from contracts for difference (CFDs).
Market Exposure
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 % 31.03 2025 % 30.04 2025 %
Long 118.1 118.4 116.1 112.3 107.9 110.1 109.6 112.4 118.5 121.0 118.5 111.3
Short 2.4 2.9 3.5 3.6 3.9 3.6 3.3 4.0 4.2 3.9 4.3 3.8
Gross 120.5 121.3 119.6 115.9 111.8 113.7 112.9 116.4 122.7 124.9 122.8 115.1
Net 115.7 115.5 112.6 108.7 104.0 106.5 106.3 108.4 114.3 117.1 114.2 107.5
Ten Largest Investments
Company Country of Risk Gross market value as a % of net assets
Al Rajhi Bank Saudi Arabia 5.5
Emaar Properties United Arab Emirates 5.3
Bank Mandiri Indonesia 4.9
OTP Bank Hungary 4.1
PZU Poland 4.0
Etihad Etisalat Saudi Arabia 3.8
LPP Poland 3.6
CP All Thailand 3.4
Eldorado Gold Turkey 3.3
FPT Vietnam 3.2
Commenting on the markets, Sam Vecht and Emily Fletcher, representing the
Investment Manager noted:
The Company’s NAV rose by 1.9% in April, largely in line with its benchmark,
the MSCI Frontier + Emerging Markets ex Selected Countries Index (“Benchmark
Index”), which returned +2.0%. For reference, the MSCI Emerging Markets
Index returned +1.3% while the MSCI Frontier Markets Index returned -1.2% over
the same period. All performance figures are on a US Dollar basis with net
income reinvested.
The benign headline performance figures for the month hide what was a notably
volatile intramonth performance, with the MSCI Emerging Markets index being
down by nearly 10% at one point mid-month following the announcement of
significantly higher and broader tariffs than were expected by the US
administration on “liberation” day. Since that point, markets have
recovered strongly on the expectation that most countries, notably recently
including China, will be able to secure deals to reduce tariffs from high
starting levels. Emerging Markets (+1.3%) outperformed Developed Markets,
which returned +0.9%, in April 2025, aided by a weak USD which fell by 4.5%.
Relative performance over the month was driven by stock selection. Eldorado
Gold (+11.8%), the Turkish and Greek gold mine operator, benefited as gold
prices rose. Indonesian property developer, Ciputra (+22.3%), also contributed
to returns, rising as rate expectations for Indonesia fell. Very strong
passenger volumes benefited Athens International Airport (+14.6%), which was
also driven by news of an accelerated airport expansion. Lion Finance Group
(formerly Bank of Georgia) (+13.7%), one of the cheapest stocks in our
universe also did well after reporting strong 2024 results. Our overweight
position in the Greek mobile operator, Hellenic Telecommunications (+17.3%),
was another contributor, with their strong cash flow return program looking
relatively attractive in the face of an acceleration of European rate
reduction expectations.
On the flipside, our exposure to Vietnamese IT services company FPT (-11.4%)
was the largest detractor over the month. Near term weakness aside, we are
optimistic on the broader sector as the market rotates to focus on enterprise
AI and the data needs that accompany these solutions. Polish clothing retailer
LPP (-8.1%) also detracted after missing consensus estimates for both revenue
and margins in 4Q24. Our holding in Turkiye Is Bankasi (-17.1%) fell on
concerns of increased political instability following the imprisonment of
Istanbul mayor Imamoglu. We organised a very short notice trip to Turkey
following this news and came back still confident to hold our Turkish
positions.
In terms of changes to the portfolio in April, we re-initiated a position in
Greek Organisation of Football, the sports betting company, noting the very
strong trends they have seen in the online portion of their business. We took
profits and exited our position in e-commerce company SEA Ltd after
exceptional performance. We reduced exposure to OTP Bank, Eldorado Gold and
Lucky Cement to lock in profits and maintain position sizes following strong
outperformance. Elsewhere, we topped up our holdings in Akbank in Turkey to
take advantage of the recent weakness, and Lion Finance Group in Georgia as we
believe the stock is undervalued.
We continue to see improving economic activity in some frontier and smaller
emerging markets. With inflation falling across many countries within our
universe, rate cuts should resume once US bond yields stabilise. 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 30 April 2025
2MSCI as at 30 April 2025
20 May 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/22403/4152501/3457746.pdf)
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