Portfolio Update

BLACKROCK FRONTIERS INVESTMENT TRUST PLC (LEI: 5493003K5E043LHLO706)

All information is at 31 March 2024 and unaudited.

Performance at month end with net income reinvested.

	One month %	Three months %	One year %	Three years %	Five years %	Since  Launch* %
Sterling:
Share price	-0.5	9.7	18.6	38.7	43.1	150.8
Net asset value	0.6	6.6	19.7	51.4	52.1	175.2
Benchmark (NR)**	0.3	3.4	6.8	24.1	13.3	89.0
MSCI Frontiers Index (NR)	4.3	6.2	11.5	12.3	19.7	79.3
MSCI Emerging Markets Index (NR)	2.6	3.3	5.9	-6.5	15.1	59.9
US Dollars:
Share price	-0.6	8.7	21.2	27.1	38.8	104.2
Net asset value	0.5	5.6	22.3	38.7	47.5	123.8
Benchmark (NR)**	0.1	2.5	9.1	13.6	9.8	54.3
MSCI Frontiers Index (NR)	4.2	5.3	14.0	2.8	16.0	45.3
MSCI Emerging Markets Index (NR)	2.5	2.4	8.2	-14.4	11.6	29.6

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:	206.48c
Net asset value - cum income:	209.77c
Sterling:
Net asset value - capital only:	163.45p
Net asset value - cum income:	166.06p
Share price:	152.75p
Total assets (including income):	£314.4m
Discount to cum-income NAV:	8.0%
Gearing:	Nil
Gearing range (as a % of gross assets):	0-20%
Net yield*:	4.1%
Ordinary shares in issue**:	189,325,748
Ongoing charges***:	1.38%
Ongoing charges plus taxation and performance fee****:	3.78%

*The Company’s yield based on dividends announced in the last 12 months as at the date of the release of this announcement is 4.1% and includes the 2023 interim dividend of 3.10 cents per share, declared on 6 June 2023, and paid to shareholders on 7 July 2023 and the 2023 final dividend of 4.90 cents per share, declared on 30 November 2023, and paid to shareholders on 14 February 2024.

** Excluding 52,497,053 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 2023.

**** 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 2023.

Sector Analysis	Gross market value as a % of net assets		Country Analysis	Gross market value as a % of net assets
Financials	44.7		Saudi Arabia	17.7
Industrials	15.0		Indonesia	14.3
Energy	12.1		Philippines	10.1
Materials	10.0		Kazakhstan	8.0
Consumer Staples	9.3		United Arab Emirates	6.9
Real Estate	8.2		Hungary	6.8
Consumer Discretionary	8.1		Greece	5.9
Communication Services	6.5		Vietnam	5.2
Information Technology	5.8		Poland	4.8
Health Care	0.7		Chile	4.8
	-----		Thailand	4.6
	120.4		Qatar	4.0
	-----		Czech Republic	3.9
Short positions	-2.7		Georgia	2.6
	=====		Argentina	2.6
			Multi-International	2.5
			Kenya	2.5
			Colombia	2.3
			Malaysia	2.1
			Turkey Pakistan Romania Nigeria Cambodia Bangladesh Egypt Total	2.1 1.8 1.5 1.3 0.9 0.7              0.5 ----- 120.4
				----
			Short positions	-2.7
				=====

*reflects gross market exposure from contracts for difference (CFDs).

Market Exposure
 

	30.04  2023     %	31.05  2023     %	30.06  2023     %	31.07  2023     %	31.08  2023     %	30.09  2023     %	31.10  2023     %	30.11  2023     %	31.12  2023     %	31.01  2024     %	29.02  2024     %	31.03  2024     %
Long	108.5	112.9	116.9	113.0	113.3	114.9	118.8	113.1	116.6	119.5	121.4	120.4
Short	3.8	3.6	4.0	3.0	3.0	3.0	3.1	4.6	4.7	3.6	3.5	2.7
Gross	112.3	116.5	120.9	116.0	116.3	117.9	121.9	118.0	121.3	123.1	124.9	123.1
Net	104.7	109.3	112.9	110.0	110.3	111.9	115.7	108.8	111.9	115.9	117.9	117.7

Ten Largest Investments

Company	Country of Risk	Gross market value as a % of net assets
Saudi National Bank	Saudi Arabia	4.8
Bank Central Asia	Indonesia	4.7
Kaspi.Kz JCS	Kazakhstan	3.8
Emaar Properties	United Arab Emirates	3.4
FPT	Vietnam	3.2
Abdullah Al Othaim Markets	Saudi Arabia	3.0
Ayala Land	Philippines	2.9
Etihad Etisalat	Saudi Arabia	2.7
Wizz Air Holdings	Hungary	2.6
Bank Of Georgia	Georgia	2.6

Commenting on the markets, Sam Vecht, Emily Fletcher and Sudaif Niaz, representing the Investment Manager noted:
 

The Company’s NAV rose by 0.5% in March, outperforming its benchmark the MSCI Emerging ex Selected Countries + Frontier Markets + Saudi Arabia Index (“Benchmark Index”) which returned 0.1%. For reference, the MSCI Emerging Markets Index was up 2.5% while the MSCI Frontier Markets Index was up 4.2% over the same period. All performance figures are on a US Dollar basis with net income reinvested.

Emerging markets more broadly continued their strong run from February, gaining +2.5% in March. Latin America finished the month up by 1.1%, with Argentina outpacing the rest of the region, climbing 12.7%. EMEA finished the month flat at +0.2%, with Central Europe pulling back after a strong February and Czech Republic (+3.3%) leading the region. Egypt was the worst performing market across EM, down -33.0% in USD terms on heels of currency devaluation that we had been anticipating.

March was yet another good month for the fund where several stocks picks across a variety of different markets did well. Our Kazakhstan exposure continued to add to performance with e-commerce company Kaspi (+24.3%) being the single best performing stock over the period. Turkey exposure through gold mine operator Eldorado Gold (+35.3%) also helped performance, reversing February losses. In Asia, Vietnamese IT services provider FPT Corp (+6.3%) and Philippines based port management company International Container Terminal Services (ICTSI, +12.9%) both did well. ICTSI delivered a slight beat on underlying revenues for 4Q 2023 and the free cash flow generation remains solid.

On the flipside, Polish clothing manufacturer LPP (-13.9%) was the largest detractor over the month following a short seller report released by Hindenburg Research claiming the company has continued its operations in Russia, despite the company's communication with the market suggesting otherwise. Another detractor over the month was Jeronimo Martins (-17.0%), a Polish supermarket chain. The stock sold off on week food inflation prints in Poland. Ukrainian iron ore pellet producer Ferrexpo (-44.2%) continued to weigh on performance in March. In addition to cancellation of the dividend announced in January, the company communicated that they needed more time to finalize FY results, following potential proceedings related to one of their mining units in Ukraine.

Over the course of March, we made some changes to the portfolio. We locked in profits by exiting our holding in Peruvian bank Credicorp, which has done very well. We added to our holding in Philippines based resort and casino operator Bloomberry Resorts. The stock sold off after having paid $300mn to settle a decade long dispute with casino management firm Global Gaming Philippines LLC. This remains a high conviction stock as we are positive on the new property outlook. Elsewhere, we also exited our holding in Ferrexpo. The ongoing court proceedings in Ukraine will likely put the operating company in creditor administration.

We believe global markets are starting to feel the impact of higher interest rates, noting slowing credit growth in particular as evidence that a demand slowdown is imminent in developed markets. When combined with a Chinese economy which is struggling to find its footing we find it difficult to see where a meaningful pick up in global growth will come from. In contrast we see better fundamentals in frontier and smaller emerging markets. Monetary tightening across much of our universe was ahead of that in developed markets, particularly in Latin America and Eastern Europe. With inflation falling across many countries within our universe, rate cuts have started to materialize. This is a good set up for domestically oriented economies to see a cyclical pick up. Our investment universe, in absolute and relative terms, remains under-researched and we believe this should enable compelling alpha opportunities.

Sources:

1BlackRock as at 31 March 2024

2MSCI as at 31 March 2024

16 April 2024

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.

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Release

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