Portfolio Update

The information contained in this release was correct as at 31 December 2021.  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 31 December 2021 and unaudited.
Performance at month end is calculated on a cum income basis

	One Month %	Three months %	One year %	Three years %	Five years %
Net asset value	4.0	1.0	30.0	103.6	141.5
Share price	4.3	3.2	29.0	133.8	204.3
Benchmark*	4.2	-0.1	19.8	53.5	52.8

Sources: BlackRock and Datastream

*With effect from 22 March 2018 the Numis Smaller Companies plus AIM (excluding Investment Companies) Index replaced the Numis Smaller Companies excluding AIM (excluding Investment Companies) Index as the Company’s benchmark. The performance of the indices have been blended to reflect this.

At month end
Net asset value capital only:	948.70p
Net asset value incl. income:	958.49p
Share price	975.00p
Premium to cum income NAV	1.7%
Net yield1:	1.1%
Total Gross assets2:	£984.5m
Net market exposure as a % of net asset value3:	117.0%
Ordinary shares in issue4:	102,713,464
2021 ongoing charges (excluding performance fees)5,6:	0.57%
2021 ongoing charges ratio (including performance fees)5,6,7:	1.38%

1. Calculated using the 2021 interim dividend declared on 26 July 2021 and paid on 27 August 2021, together with the 2020 final dividend declared on 10 February 2021 and paid on 1 April 2021.

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 0 shares held in treasury.

5. Calculated as a percentage of average net assets and using expenses, excluding performance fees and interest costs for the year ended 30 November 2021.

6. With effect from 1 August 2017 the base management fee was reduced from 0.70% to 0.35% of gross assets per annum.

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	28.4
Consumer Discretionary	24.1
Financials	18.7
Technology	8.6
Health Care	6.6
Consumer Staples	6.0
Telecommunications	3.1
Basic Materials	2.6
Net current assets	1.9
	-----
Total	100.0
	=====
Country Weightings	% of Total Assets
United Kingdom	92.3
United States	5.2
Sweden	1.2
France	1.0
Australia	0.7
Israel	-0.1
Germany	-0.3
	-----
Total	100.0
	=====

Market Exposure (Quarterly)
	28.02.21 %	31.05.21 %	31.08.21 %	30.11.21 %
Long	126.8	121.3	119.4	121.3
Short	1.5	1.5	2.4	2.7
Gross exposure	128.3	122.8	121.8	123.9
Net exposure	125.3	119.8	117.0	118.6

Ten Largest Investments
Company	% of Total Gross Assets
Electrocomponents	3.3
Impax Asset Management	3.0
Gamma Communications	3.0
Auction Technology	3.0
Oxford Instruments	3.0
Watches of Switzerland	2.8
Dechra Pharmaceuticals	2.6
YouGov	2.6
IntegraFin	2.5
Games Workshop	2.5

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

The Company returned 4.0%¹ in December, modestly underperforming its benchmark, the Numis Smaller Companies +AIM (ex Investment Companies) Index, which returned 4.2%¹. As referenced last month the investment environment remains febrile. December included widespread Covid-19 infections and a rapidly evolving pattern of restrictions across European countries. When combined with uncertainty over rising inflation and the policy response (and its effect on financial markets) this creates an ongoing level of uncertainty that is reflected in continued high volatility of equity markets. This is not unusual, indeed there are regular periods of high market volatility and macro uncertainty. Sadly, it is something that we believe should be seen as an inevitable part of equity market investing, but importantly we do not think it has to prevent good outcomes being achieved for investors.

The top contributor during the month was Auction Technology Group which reported strong results in December and increased its growth expectation in 2022 despite some extremely strong growth in 2020 and 2021. This is a great result for an emerging company that appears to be leading its industry in the transition to online auctions and we retain a large holding. There were also strong results from Baltic Classified Group another leading digital transition company with dominant brands, high margins and strong cash generation. Shares in Oxford Instruments performed strongly after reporting results ahead of expectations in November.

Detractors this month were fairly small individually, and in a number of cases the modest share price falls were a result of the market environment as opposed to a reaction to any stock specific news flow. Gamma Communications and IntegraFin for example were small detractors during the month. Shares in Domo fell as the market seemed disappointed that the company didn’t guide for more than 20% revenue growth in its next quarter. This to us seems somewhat churlish and we think that continued growth at these levels is good enough whilst forward looking indicators look supportive for a durable high growth outlook so we retain our holding.

December continued the trend of market volatility both across months and intra month, and we expect this type of behaviour will continue. Already at the start of January we are seeing yet another rotation, out of perceived “growth” shares and into perceived areas of “value” and “recovery”. These periods are always challenging but they do pass, and we are not changing the portfolio materially given the positive outlook for many of our long holdings and what we believe is a challenging outlook for many of our short positions or companies we seek to avoid. We will always continue our work to test if anything has changed at any company and will be disciplined in reacting where we conclude it has. But in terms of overall positioning, we remain positive on the opportunity set and retain a net of around 118%.

¹Source: BlackRock as at 31 December 2021

1 February 2022

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.