Portfolio Update

BLACKROCK THROGMORTON TRUST PLC All information is at30 November 2015 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 (undiluted)#			1.2		2.3		23.2	70.8			108.5
Net asset value (diluted)			1.2		2.3		23.2	70.8			96.1
Share price			5.8		1.6		27.7	83.6			124.7
Benchmark*			0.1		-0.8		11.9	46.3			65.2
Sources: BlackRock and Datastream #Prior to dilution arising on conversion of subscription shares. *With effect from 1 December 2013 the Numis Smaller Companies excluding AIM (excluding investment companies) Index replaced the Numis Smaller Companies plus AIM (excluding investment companies) Index as the Company’s benchmark. The three and five year period indices have been blended to reflect this.
At month end
Net asset value capital only:									384.57p
Net asset value incl. income:									391.55p
Share price									339.50p
Discount to cum income NAV									13.3%
Net yield									1.4%*
Total Gross assets									£286.3m**
Net market exposure as a % of net asset value^									106.0%
Ordinary shares in issue:									73,130,326***
2014 ongoing charges (excluding performance fees):									1.1%****
2014 ongoing charges ratio (including performance fees):									1.2%
* Calculated using the interim dividend paid for the year ended 30 November 2015, and final dividend paid for the year ended 30 November 2014. ** Includes current year revenue and excludes the gross exposure through contracts for difference. *** Excluding 7,400,000 shares held in treasury. **** Calculated as a percentage of average net assets and using expenses, excluding performance fees and interest costs for the year ended 30 November 2014. ^Long positions less short positions as a percentage of net asset value.
Sector Weightings				% of Total Assets
Industrials				26.0
Consumer Services				21.4
Financials				20.2
Technology				9.2
Health Care				8.6
Consumer Goods				8.3
Basic Materials				4.8
Oil & Gas				1.8
Telecommunications				0.4
Net current liabilities				-0.7
				-------
Total				100.0
				=====
Market Exposure (Quarterly)
	28.02.15	31.05.15				31.08.15				30.11.15
	%	%				%				%
Long	121.9	116.8				115.2				115.2
Short	10.3	9.6				9.0				9.2
Gross exposure	132.2	126.4				124.2				124.4
Net exposure	111.6	107.2				106.2				106.0
Ten Largest Investments
Company				% of Total Gross assets
CVS Group				2.8
4imprint Group				2.8
Workspace Group				2.5
Rathbone Brothers				2.4
JD Sports				2.4
Savills				2.1
Topps Tiles				2.1
Avon Rubber				2.1
Ted Baker				2.0
Dechra Pharmaceuticals				1.8
Commenting on the markets, Mike Prentis and Dan Whitestone, representing the Investment Manager noted: During November the Company’s NAV per share rose by 1.2% on a cum income basis whilst our benchmark index increased by 0.1%; the FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.3%. Outperformance was derived mainly from stock selection in the long only portfolio and by another good performance from the CFD portfolio. The long only portfolio increased in value by 0.7%, outperforming the benchmark by 0.6%. The CFD portfolio added a further 0.4% to the NAV. These individual portfolio returns are before costs. Within the long only portfolio the largest positive contributors to stock selection during the month were our holdings in Fevertree Drinks, CVS Group and Topps Tiles. Fevertree released a trading update, ahead of its December year end, which confirmed that Fevertree has continued to perform strongly during the second half of the year and the Board anticipates results for the full year to be materially ahead of expectations. CVS announced at its AGM that in the four months to 31 October 2015 like-for-like sales grew by 3.2%, and 31 surgeries had been acquired. There was no news from Topps Tiles which had updated the market on 30 September. In early December Topps released good full year results with earnings per share up by 23.2%. The largest detractor from relative performance in the long only portfolio was Gemfields. Shares in Gemfields were weak, hit as the precious stones sector has seen lower demand and lower prices. We reduced or sold holdings in several companies in the long only portfolio where our conviction about trading has weakened. We added two holdings in the IT sector, NCC Group and Softcat. NCC Group is a global information assurance specialist providing organisations worldwide with escrow, verification, security consulting and domain services. We took part in a placing to fund NCC’s acquisition of Fox-IT, based in the Netherlands. Fox is a leading provider of high-end cyber security solutions including advanced threat intelligence. Softcat provides organisations with software licensing, client computing, data centre infrastructure, networking and security combined with all the services they require to design, implement, support and manage these solutions, on premise or in the cloud. The company achieved an IPO during the month; we were impressed by management and the success they have had over a long period. Within the CFD portfolio, strong returns were generated in both the long and the short books, at 0.2% and 0.3% respectively. This was a month defined by stock specifics. No single short position made it into the top 5 contributors for the month, but did occupy 3 places in the top 10. The top 5 contributors were Fevertree, CVS Group, Safestore, Betfair and Howden Joinery, and NAV performance ranged from 0.05% to 0.07%. All 5 top contributors delivered positive updates during the month. The 5 biggest detractors comprised 3 long positions and 2 short positions (both industrials).
17 December 2015
ENDS
Latest information is available by typing www.blackrock.co.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.