REG-BlackRock Throgmorton Trust Plc: Portfolio Update

Blackrock Throgmorton TrustAnnouncement

31/10/2025 08:30

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 THROGMORTON TRUST PLC (LEI: 5493003B7ETS1JEDPF59)                   
           
                      

All information is at                                  30 September 2025      
                         and                      unaudited                   
.                                         
                     Performance at month end is calculated on a cum income
basis

 

                  One        Three       One       Three      Five       
                   Month      months      year      years      years     
                   %          %           %         %          %         
 Net asset value  2.9        0.7         -0.7      30.8       20.8       
 Share price      1.5        1.0         0.9       26.2       13.2       
 Benchmark*       2.9        2.9         8.3       27.6       35.8       

            

Sources: BlackRock and Deutsche Numis

*With effect from 15 January 2024 the Numis Smaller Companies plus AIM
(excluding Investment Companies) Index changed to the Deutsche Numis Smaller
Companies plus AIM (excluding Investment Companies).

 

 At month end                                                         
 Net asset value capital only:                            653.84p     
 Net asset value incl. income:                            665.73p     
 Share price                                              599.00p     
 Discount to cum income NAV                               10.%        
 Net yield 1 :                                            3.0%        
 Total Gross assets 2 :                                   £503.7m     
 Net market exposure as a % of net asset value 3 :        105.4%      
 Ordinary shares in issue 4 :                             75,656,364  
 2024 ongoing charges (excluding performance fees) 5,6 :  0.56%       
 2024 ongoing charges ratio (including performance        0.82%       
  fees) 5,6,7 :                                                       

1. Calculated using the Final Dividend declared on 20 February 2025 paid on 11
April 2025, together with the Interim Dividend declared on 01 August 2025 paid
on 05 September 2025.

2. Includes current year revenue and excludes gross exposure through contracts
for difference.

3. Long exposure less short exposure as a percentage of net asset value.

4. Excluding 27,553,500 shares held in treasury.

5. 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
charges, VAT recovered, taxation and certain other non-recurring items for the
year ended 30 November 2024.

6. With effect from 1 August 2017 the base management fee was reduced from
0.70% to 0.35% of gross assets per annum. 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, including performance fees,
but excluding finance costs, direct transaction charges, VAT recovered,
taxation and certain other non-recurring items for the year ended 30 November
2023.

7. Effective 1st December 2017 the annual performance fee is calculated using
performance data on an annualised rolling two-year basis (previously, one
year) and the maximum annual performance fee payable is effectively reduced to
0.90% of two year rolling average month end gross assets (from 1% of average
annual gross assets over one year). Additionally, the Company now accrues this
fee at a rate of 15% of outperformance (previously 10%). The maximum annual
total management fees (comprising the base management fee of 0.35% and a
potential performance fee of 0.90%) are therefore 1.25% of average month end
gross assets on a two-year rolling basis (from 1.70% of average annual gross
assets).

 

 Sector Weightings       % of Total Assets  
                                            
 Industrials             31.3               
 Financials              27.4               
 Basic Materials         7.9                
 Technology              5.9                
 Consumer Staples        5.1                
 Consumer Discretionary  3.8                
 Health Care             3.4                
 Real Estate             2.5                
 Energy                  1.6                
 Telecommunications      1.3                
 Utilities               1.0                
 Communication Services  0.7                
 Net Current Assets      8.1                
                         -----              
 Total                   100.0              
                         =====              
                                            
 Country Weightings      % of Total Assets  
                                            
 United Kingdom          87.3               
 United States           9.8                
 Germany                 1.5                
 France                  0.7                
 Italy                   0.7                
                                            
                         -----              
 Total                   100.0              
                         =====              

 

 Market Exposure (Quarterly)                                     
                                                                 
                 30.11.24    28.02.25    31.05.25    31.08.25    
                  %           %           %           %          
 Long            111.9       117.8       108.4       113.2       
 Short           3.4         4.9         2.8         6.1         
 Gross exposure  115.3       122.7       111.1       119.3       
 Net exposure    108.5       112.9       105.6       107.1       

 

 Ten Largest Investments                           
                                                   
 Company                  % of Total Gross Assets  
                                                   
 Rosebank Industries      3.3                      
 XPS Pensions Group       3.2                      
 Boku                     3.1                      
 Morgan Sindall           3.0                      
 Tatton Asset Management  2.9                      
 Serco Group              2.9                      
 Rotork                   2.8                      
 IntegraFin               2.7                      
 JTC plc                  2.4                      
 Chemring Group           2.3                      
                                                   

 

Commenting on the markets, Dan Whitestone, representing the Investment Manager
noted:

 

The Company returned 2.9% in September, performing in-line with its benchmark,
the Deutsche Numis Smaller Companies +AIM (excluding Investment Companies)
Index, which also returned 2.9%.

 

Global markets fared well over September, particularly in the US, helped by
the continued flurry of AI (artificial intelligence) related news flow, from
company-specific earnings updates to strategic partnerships, as well as a more
resilient growth backdrop as the tariff impact has not proved to be as bad as
feared… yet. The Federal Reserve’s move to cut rates in September offered
further support for equities and for US Treasuries which in turn pushed gold
prices even higher. In the UK, it was a positive month for both small &
mid-caps, and the FTSE 100 Index, however, returns were very much driven by
miners, defence, and traditional value sectors. Meanwhile, concerns over the
UK’s fiscal position and growth outlook continue, along with the daily
speculation about potential areas of tax increases, none of which we think are
conducive to stimulating business and consumer confidence. Whilst many UK
domestic shares are undoubtedly cheap on a recovered or normalised earnings
basis, we worry about the direction of near-term forecasts, so we have
continued to pare exposures to domestic earners and utilise our ability to
invest in overseas shares, which combined with the actions from July/August
have benefitted the portfolio during the month.

 

Rambus                    , a US listed mid-cap supplier into the memory
industry, performed strongly in the month as industry data continued to
improve. Memory prices increased dramatically over the third quarter,
signalling that demand has finally caught up with supply after a long
post-Covid slump. Industry players also signalled higher unit demand across
the industry but particularly in server memory, where Rambus plays. Rambus has
been quietly taking share within this space and released new content which
could double its chipset value with its customers over the next few years.
Shares of Gertman listed                      Renk Group                    ,
performed well in the month, building on gains made in response to strong H1
results released in August. The company is exposed to positive demand dynamics
within European defence spending, most notably within its Vehicle Mobility
Solutions (VMS) segment, which saw a 66% increase in order intake, which
underpins its full year guidance and the company remains well placed to
continue to capture this increased demand.                      Rosebank      
             , a UK-listed but US industrial asset, with a buy/improve/sell
mantra has performed well on the back of sell-side initiation, plus supportive
3rd party external data suggesting consumer electronic volumes in Rosebank’s
relevant categories have not been impacted as much as had been feared by
tariffs. Rosebank (and its underlying asset) is not about top line improvement
(indeed forecasts assume a significant decline in volumes), but very much
about profit and cashflow improvement, but clearly everything is easier in a
world where volumes are better than expected.

 

Turning to detractors, the largest came from not owning                     
Greatland Resources                    , which performed well due to a
combination of solid operational results and positive performance of the
mining sector more broadly. A rally in the mining sector will always be a
challenging backdrop for the portfolio given we are typically underweight this
sector, and where we do have some exposure they are skewed to producing
assets, as opposed to exploration. Shares in                      Hilton Food
Group                     fell in the month following a profit downgrade
because of volatile trading conditions in the UK as customers have become more
price sensitive in their supermarket shopping as well as an issue shipping
into the US. We have reduced the position. The third largest detractor was    
                 a short in a UK-listed software company                    ,
which rallied after the company upgraded full year guidance as a result of
stronger than expected first half sales. We remain short the company, which we
believe is vulnerable to a slowdown in its core business, and exposed to
delays in government spending, meanwhile the shares trades on a lofty
valuation which looks vulnerable if trading disappoints.

 

The asset class remains in a bit of a holding patterns ahead of the budget at
the end of November, whilst active outflows continue (48th consecutive month
and counting…) further pressuring valuations of thinly traded shares. The
broader UK economic backdrop remains challenged, with softer growth, weaker
employment and higher inflation as the effects of Labour’s tax on jobs have
now transmitted into the economy. However, we remain of the view that there is
compelling value on offer in the UK small and mid-cap complex but concede
there are limited positive catalysts in the near term to stem the sector
outflows. M&A (mergers and acquisitions) activity is likely to continue at
pace as Private Equity and Corporates take advantage of this backdrop, whilst
the broader de-equitisation from company share buyback programmes continues.

 

We ended the month with the gross at c.116% and the net at c.108%.

 

We thank shareholders for your ongoing support.

 

1          Source: BlackRock as at 30 September 2025

 

31 October 2025

 

ENDS

 

Latest information is available by typing www.blackrock.com/uk/thrg 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.

 

 

 Release  (https://mb.cision.com/Main/22398/4258649/3756109.pdf)  



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