BLACKROCK GREATER EUROPE INVESTMENT TRUST plc
All information is at 30 November 2013 and unaudited.
Performance at month end with net income reinvested
One Three One Three Since launch
Month Months Year Years (20 Sep 04)
Net asset value (undiluted) 0.4% 8.4% 28.0% 41.4% 196.2%
Net asset value (diluted) 0.4% 7.4% 26.7% 40.8% 193.2%
Share price -0.6% 7.0% 29.7% 42.2% 186.5%
FTSE World Europe ex UK -0.7% 8.2% 26.9% 35.8% 130.7%
Sources: BlackRock and Datastream
At month end
Net asset value (capital only): 248.72p
Net asset value (including income): 248.98p
Net asset value (capital only)*: 246.06p
Net asset value (including income)*: 246.28p
Share price: 239.50p
Discount to NAV (including income): 3.8%
Discount to NAV (including income)*: 2.8%
Subscription share price: 32.00p
Gearing: Nil
Net yield**: 1.9%
Total assets (including income): £272.9m
Ordinary shares in issue***: 109,591,474
Subscription shares in issue: 22,312,055
* Diluted for subscription shares.
** Based on an ordinary dividend of 4.5p per share (excluding a special dividend
of 1.0p) for the year ended 31 August 2013.
*** Excluding 5,718,353 shares held in treasury.
Benchmark
Sector Analysis Total Assets (%) Index (%) Country Analysis Total Assets (%)
Financials 28.4 22.9 France 21.5
Consumer Goods 19.2 17.7 Switzerland 20.1
Health Care 16.1 11.7 Germany 14.5
Consumer Services 13.2 5.6 Netherlands 13.8
Industrials 12.8 14.2 Denmark 6.7
Technology 4.4 3.9 Sweden 5.9
Basic Materials 3.8 8.6 Belgium 4.0
Telecommunications 3.5 4.3 Russia 3.1
Oil & Gas 1.5 7.2 Ireland 3.0
Utilities - 3.9 Spain 2.2
Net current liabilities (2.9) - Italy 1.9
----- ----- Portugal 1.5
100.0 100.0 Finland 1.5
===== ===== Hungary 1.2
Poland 1.1
Ukraine 0.9
Net current liabilities (2.9)
-----
100.0
=====
Ten Largest Equity Investments (in alphabetical order)
Company
Bayer Germany
Continental Germany
ING Netherlands
Novo Nordisk Denmark
Reed Elsevier Netherlands
Roche Switzerland
Sanofi France
Société Générale France
Swiss Re Switzerland
Zurich Insurance Switzerland
Commenting on the markets, Vincent Devlin, representing the Investment Manager
noted:
During the month, the Company's NAV gained 0.4% and the share price fell by
0.6%. For reference, the FTSE World Europe ex UK Index decreased by 0.7% during
the same period.
Peripheral markets, especially Spain and Italy, took a pause following a very
strong October but Germany posted a return of 4.1% in the month (in local
currency terms). Economic data for Europe remained broadly positive, with
Mario Draghi stating that the 'situation in the Euro area has improved'; despite
this, he took action earlier in the month to head off concerns over falling
inflation through a reduction in the benchmark interest rate to 0.25%. From a
sector perspective, basic resources struggled along with defensives such as food
and beverages and personal care & household goods. More cyclically exposed
sectors, including autos and technology, performed better.
Stock selection was the main driver of returns during the month. From a sector
perspective, the Company's underweight position to oil & gas proved profitable,
although sector allocation in other sectors was less profitable and an
underweight to basic materials detracted. As mentioned above, the German equity
market performed especially well during November, and positions in Germany
proved the most successful from a country perspective.
At a stock level, positions in German auto supplier Continental and German bank
Commerzbank proved the strongest performers. Continental benefited from
continuing evidence of a pick-up in both the tyre replacement cycle and general
domestic demand for new cars within domestic Europe. We believe that the
company remains one of the strongest opportunities within the consumer cyclical
space. Commerzbank performed as the company hinted at the accelerated run-down
of its troubled non-core asset book, which would be a catalyst for a re-rating
upwards. Selected health care names also performed well, including Spanish name
Grifols, German name Bayer and Danish insulin treatment business Novo Nordisk.
The Portuguese listed discount food retail company, Jeronimo Martins, also
performed well.
Positions in IT proved more challenging, with the decision to not own German
name SAP proving unsuccessful (when measured against the market return), and a
holding in semiconductor business ASML also detracting. Elsewhere, positions in
Irish betting business Paddy Power and Dutch food retailer Ahold both detracted
as 'defensives' underperformed in general.
At the end of the month, the Company was positioned with higher weightings in
consumer services, financials and health care and with lower weightings in
basic materials, telecoms, oil & gas, industrials and utilities.
Outlook
We now have a clear early indication of economic recovery in Europe, increasing
business and consumer confidence, a relatively stable scenario with regard to
sovereign debt sustainability in the periphery and a relatively stable
political environment ahead of us. Whilst we might see some short term
consolidation in the market, providing that the overall macro and political
picture does not change materially, we expect equity markets in Europe to
continue to progress as undemanding valuations, when compared with other asset
classes and investor flows, provide strong tailwinds for the market as a whole.
It is worth noting that there is risk surrounding this scenario, and at this
stage the recovery in Europe is only tentative; any significant disappointment
would no doubt see a rebasing downwards of expectations by a relatively bullish
investor community. However, notwithstanding some potential short term
consolidation after a strong run, we still see a decent upside potential in the
European equities market over the next twelve months, driven by supportive
macro, attractive valuation versus other asset classes and ongoing inflows into
the region from the still low levels compared to historic averages.
13 December 2013
ENDS
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