REG-BlackRock Greater Europe Investment Trust Plc: Portfolio Update

Blackrock Greater Europe Investment TrustAnnouncement

Thu 15:00

The information contained in this release was correct as at                   
              30 September 2025                               . Information on
the Company’s up to date net asset values can be found on the London Stock
Exchange website at:

 

https://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/news/market-news/market-news-home.html
                              .           

 

 

 

BLACKROCK GREATER EUROPE INVESTMENT TRUST PLC (LEI - 5493003R8FJ6I76ZUW55)

All information is at                                  30 September 2025      
                         and unaudited.          
          
                     Performance at month end with net income reinvested      
             
           

                              One  Month  Three  Months  One  Year  Three  Years  Launch  (20 Sep 04)  
                                                                                                       
 Net asset value (undiluted)  3.7%        -0.8%          -0.4%      44.6%         774.0%               
 Share price                  4.2%        0.2%           1.1%       49.1%         748.3%               
 FTSE World Europe ex UK      2.5%        5.1%           15.5%      60.4%         538.1%               

Sources: BlackRock and Datastream                    
           

 

At month end

 Net asset value (capital only):      614.33p     
 Net asset value (including income):  620.22p     
 Share price:                         594.00p     
 Discount to NAV (including income):  4.2%        
 Net gearing:                         1.8%        
 Net yield 1 :                        1.2%        
 Total assets (including income):     £585.5m     
 Ordinary shares in issue 2 :         94,398,269  
 Ongoing charges 3 :                  0.95%       
                                                  

 

1                      Based on a final dividend of 5.25p per share for the
year ended 31 August 2024 and an interim dividend of 1.75p per share for the
year ended 31 August 2025.

2                      Excluding 23,530,669 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 2024.

 

                         
 Sector Analysis         Total Assets (%)  
 Industrials             40.3              
 Technology              16.1              
 Consumer Discretionary  14.6              
 Financials              12.7              
 Health Care             7.5               
 Basic Materials         5.4               
 Net Current Assets      3.4               
                         -----             
                         100.0             
                         =====             
                                           
                                           
                                           
                                             
 Country Analysis        Total Assets (%)  
 France                  22.2              
 Switzerland             16.1              
 Germany                 12.7              
 Netherlands             8.5               
 Ireland                 6.2               
 Italy                   4.7               
 Belgium                 4.2               
 United States           4.1               
 United Kingdom          3.8               
 Finland                 3.5               
 Denmark                 3.2               
 Spain                   2.5               
 Sweden                  2.5               
 Norway                  2.4               
 Net Current Assets      3.4               
                         -----             
                         100.0             
                         =====             
                                           

 


 

 Top 10 holdings                 Country        Fund %  
 Safran                          France         8.2     
 Schneider Electric              France         5.1     
 Ferrari                         Italy          4.9     
 Hermès                          France         4.7     
 Compagnie Financiere Richemont  Switzerland    4.7     
 Allied Irish Banks (AIB)        Ireland        4.6     
 SAP                             Germany        4.6     
 Belimo                          Switzerland    4.4     
 KBC Groep                       Belgium        4.3     
 Linde                           United States  4.3     
                                                        

 

 

Commenting on the markets, Stefan Gries and Alexandra Dangoor, representing
the Investment Manager noted:

 

During the month, the company’s NAV rose by 3.7% and the share price rose
4.2%. For reference, the Europe ex UK market returned 2.5% during the period.

 

September was another positive month for European equities, though felt
quieter in the context of the year’s market volatility and uncertainty from
persistent news headline. Throughout the month, the team attended several
conferences where we had the chance to hear from company management teams.
Messaging was mixed yet largely confirmed trends we’ve seen throughout the
year – a two-speed economy where anything with structural support continues
to provide positive messages while recovery has been illusive in end-markets
exposed to general industrial production, consumers and autos.

 

A backdrop of lower enthusiasm for key themes this year such as German
stimulus was notable coming away from our visit to the German corporate
conference. Fiscal spend that excited the market in the first half of 2025 is
not expected to be seen in corporate results before the second half of 2026.
Meanwhile, the US macro picture is becoming more of a dichotomy where
accelerating GDP growth and resilient retail sales are hard to reconcile
against a weakening employment picture as seen in official data as well as
messaging from staffing businesses. It would suggest a sizeable gain in
productivity, which may happen from AI in time, but current adoption levels by
corporates do not explain the immediate effect. A more likely explanation may
be the wealth effect of US equity markets given the high equity ownership
across the US population.

 

Sector allocation effects were positive over the month, driven by the
portfolio’s overweight positioning to technology and underweight positioning
to consumer staples.

 

Thales contributed positively to active returns. The defence sector has
regained momentum after a temporary slowdown as Russia-Ukraine resolution
talks took place. However, it is now clear that there is no quick solution to
the conflict and European defence capabilities will need to extend beyond the
immediate conflict. Thales also benefitted from supportive management
messaging at recent roadshows suggesting that with an approved French budget,
spending on defence would increase high single to low-double digits next year.

 

A position in Richemont was positive. There were no company specific updates,
though encouraging consumer spending data for Richemont’s brands through
July and August likely contributed to share price strength.

 

Shares in Chemometec rose over the month as the company confirmed strong
FY24/25 financial results including 22% growth and 52% gross margins. The
management team remains confident as new launches have gained good traction
and the potential for further margin expansion remains. An opportunity to gain
market share in the automatic cell counter market adds another tailwind for
long term growth prospects.

 

Semi-cap shares responded favourable to hopes for a recovery spurred by the
Oracle/Open AI deal, rising memory chip prices and the perceived need for
capacity build out. This contributed to the fund’s holdings in Schneider
Electric and BE Semiconductor gaining over the month. However, the improved
sentiment for AI beneficiaries was the source of negative attribution for ASML
which bounced off recent weakness after the fund’s holding was reduced to
underweight earlier in the year.

 

Nemetschek continued to drag on performance on the theme of AI disruption that
featured heavily when introduced in August. While we recognise advancements
being made in generative AI tools, we do not see them as an existential threat
to this business. We think the moves have largely been overdone; however,
we’re not rushing to add here, managing risk through the position size as we
must be humble in how fast moving this emerging field of technology has been.

 

IMCD detracted as reduced manufacturing activity persisted in the market.
Subdued volumes in both industrial and consumer end markets remain a difficult
operating environment for specialist chemical companies. However, pricing
remains positive, positioning the company well for an eventual recovery in
volumes.

 

Outlook

 

We expect to see inflation on a continued path of normalisation, central banks
that provide easing financial conditions, a declining oil price – equivalent
to a tax cut for global consumers – as well as employment levels that remain
healthy both in the US and Europe. Adding to this, increased fiscal spend in
Europe’s largest economy in Germany and a trade agreement between Europe and
the US all points to a much-improved investment environment for corporates
over the coming quarters. Drawing a line under tariff related volatility and
removing trade uncertainty should equally result in market leadership finally
broadening out, which would be welcome news after a long period of
exceptionally narrow markets.

            

Europe remains home to many world-class franchises, companies owning core
technologies that make them the enablers of some of the large transformational
changes going on around us. We aim to align shareholder capital to those
businesses that are exposed to large and enduring spending streams. Overall,
we retain our core exposure to companies with predictable business models,
higher than average returns on capital, strong cash flow conversions and
opportunities to reinvest that cash flow into future growth projects at high
incremental returns.

                       

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.

 

 

23 October 2025



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