Portfolio Update

BLACKROCK GREATER EUROPE INVESTMENT TRUST plc

All information is at 31 January 2016 and unaudited.

Performance at month end with net income reinvested

One

Three

One

Three

Launch

Month

Months

Year

Years

(20 Sep 04)

Net asset value* (undiluted)

-2.4%

1.8%

5.4%

22.2%

216.4%

Net asset value* (diluted)

-2.0%

1.7%

4.9%

21.6%

215.1%

Share price

-4.9%

1.4%

6.3%

22.3%

206.8%

FTSE World Europe ex UK

-3.1%

-2.2%

-2.1%

17.0%

137.2%

Sources: BlackRock and Datastream

At month end

Net asset value (capital only):

255.95p

Net asset value (including income):

255.79p

Net asset value (capital only)*:

254.63p

Net asset value (including income)*:

254.49p

Share price:

246.25p

Discount to NAV (including income):

3.7%

Discount to NAV (including income)*:

3.2%

Subscription share price:

7.00p

Net cash:

0.1%

Net yield**:

2.0%

Total assets (including income):

£263.7m

Ordinary shares in issue***:

103,075,838

Subscription shares:

20,542,076

Ongoing charges****:

0.89%

* Diluted for subscription shares and treasury shares. ** Based on a final dividend of 3.35p per share and an interim dividend of 1.65p per share for the year ended 31 August 2015. *** Excluding 6,725,825 shares held in treasury. **** Calculated as a percentage of average net assets and using expenses, excluding performance fees and interest costs, after relief for taxation for the year ended 31 August 2015.

Sector Analysis

Total Assets

Country Analysis

Total Assets

(%)

(%)

Financials

29.0

France

18.0

Industrials

18.3

Switzerland

15.6

Health Care

16.9

Germany

14.3

Consumer Goods

12.4

Netherlands

8.9

Technology

8.6

Denmark

8.2

Consumer Services

7.0

Italy

7.8

Telecommunications

4.2

Ireland

6.7

Basic Materials

3.5

Sweden

5.4

Net current assets

0.1

Finland

5.1

-----

Belgium

2.8

100.0

Turkey

2.4

=====

Spain

1.7

Poland

1.5

Russia

1.5

Net current assets

0.1

-----

100.0

=====

Ten Largest Equity Investments

% of

Company

Country

Total Assets

Novo Nordisk

Denmark

5.2

Novartis

Switzerland

4.6

Bayer

Germany

3.5

Heineken

Netherlands

2.9

AXA

France

2.8

Ryanair

Ireland

2.7

Deutsche Telekom

Germany

2.7

Adidas

Germany

2.7

RELX

Netherlands

2.7

Capgemini

France

2.7

Commenting on the markets, Vincent Devlin, representing the Investment Manager noted:

During the month, the Company’s NAV fell by -2.4% and the share price decreased by -4.9%. For reference, the FTSE World Europe ex UK Index was down -3.1% during the period.

In January, markets continued to be dominated by concerns over global economic growth, experiencing significant volatility. This was global in nature and not specific to European equities, although the region was unable to detach itself from the broader market sell-off. As a result, the FTSE AW Europe ex UK returned -3.2% in GBP terms in January. The main drivers of uncertainty remain the Chinese economy and currency devaluation, as well as depressed commodity prices and fears over an earnings recession in the United States. On a more positive note, January saw further action from central banks: the Bank of Japan took action to move to a negative deposit rate and the European Central Bank (ECB) appears committed to provide more monetary support, if needed, after their meeting in March. On a sector basis, financials and basic materials were the worst performers in January. The former was led down by Italian banks after the ECB requested information on their non-performing loans. Defensive sectors such as utilities and consumer staples performed best, in particular food and beverages, and personal goods.

Stock selection drove the Company’s performance when compared with the reference index during January, whilst the contribution from sector allocation was negative. The losses incurred on a sector basis were primarily driven by the higher weighting towards financials and lower weighting in utilities. Utilities performed strongly as investors moved capital into more defensive assets as market sentiment turned risk-off. The Company benefited from a higher weighting towards technology and lower weighting in basic materials.

A holding in Adidas was the greatest contributor to performance over the month as news of a new CEO was taken well by the market. Going forward, it is likely the company will see stronger management of costs and an improved top line under this new guidance.

A number of positions within the industrials sector, where the Company has a high allocation, also contributed positively to returns. Assa Abloy, Thales and Vinci performed particularly strongly in this respect. The latter benefited from positive data points released for APRR, the fourth largest tolled motorway network in Europe, where both traffic and sales numbers increased in the fourth quarter.

Not holding Nestlé detracted from performance, as the asset continued to see capital flows as investors looked for perceived safety. In addition, a holding in Zurich Insurance, which issued a profit warning, also negatively impacted returns. The Q4 trading figures from the insurer highlighted US$275m of losses relating to UK floods, as well as losses suffered from a tornado in Australia. Despite these losses, the company has stated that their capital position remains very strong across all key metrics.

At the end of the period, the Company had higher weightings when compared with the reference index to financials, technology, consumer services, industrials and health care. The Company had lower exposure to consumer goods, basic materials, oil & gas, utilities and telecoms.

Outlook

In the face of the uncertain macroeconomic outlook in 2016 across different regions, we believe that European equities continue to offer the most appealing relative prospective returns in the developed world. The incremental support from the ECB through expansion of the current quantitative easing programme will, in our view, have a further positive impact on European GDP growth and the credit cycle. While there are widespread global macro concerns which could curtail earnings growth in 2016, it is the combination of the relative depth of the recent Eurozone recession, together with its late recovery and a weaker Euro, that offers some base for optimism. However, investor nervousness and market volatility is likely to remain elevated whilst the path of economic activity in the US and China remains unclear.

Despite the tightening by the Federal Reserve at the end of 2015, central banks across the world remain generally accommodative, with the ECB notably hinting at being prepared to do more if growth slows. This is supportive for equities in our view, despite the generally uncertain macro environment.

Stock selection, as in 2015, remains a key focus during this period of increased volatility and risk aversion. The main risks to the favourable European scenario come from a bigger than expected slowdown in the US and China, and a subsequent global recession. This is not our core scenario at this stage.

11 February 2016

ENDS

Latest information is available by typing www.brgeplc.co.uk 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.