BLACKROCK FRONTIERS INVESTMENT TRUST PLC
All information is at 30 November 2013 and unaudited.
Performance at month end with net income reinvested
One Three Six One Since
month months months year launch*
Sterling:
Share price -1.8% 2.8% 6.1% 44.6% 21.9%
Net asset value 1.2% 2.4% 2.7% 33.0% 20.5%
MSCI Frontiers Index (NR) -0.2% 1.8% -3.1% 23.0% 5.5%
MSCI EM Markets (NR) -3.4% 3.9% -5.3% 1.4% -6.0%
US Dollars:
Net asset value 3.2% 8.5% 11.1% 36.1% 26.8%
MSCI Frontiers Index (NR) 1.8% 7.8% 4.7% 25.8% 10.9%
MSCI EM Markets (NR) -1.5% 10.0% 2.3% 3.7% -1.2%
Sources: BlackRock and Standard & Poor's Micropal
* 17 December 2010.
At month end
US Dollar:
Net asset value - capital only: 178.26c
Net asset value - cum income: 178.26c
Sterling:
Net asset value - capital only: 108.74p
Net asset value - cum income: 108.74p
Share price: 112.00p
Total assets (including income): £163.8m
Premium to cum-income NAV: 3.0%
Gearing: nil
Gearing range (as a % of gross assets): 0-20%
Net yield: 3.1%
Ordinary shares in issue: 150,621,621
Benchmark
Sector Analysis Gross assets(%)* Country Analysis Gross assets(%)*
Financials 33.2 United Arab Emirates 11.1
Energy 15.7 Nigeria 10.6
Consumer Staples 13.4 Saudi Arabia 10.2
Health Care 9.5 Qatar 9.9
Telecommunication 8.7 Bangladesh 7.1
Industrials 8.6 Kazakhstan 5.9
Materials 6.5 Iraq 5.7
Consumer Discretionary 2.9 Kuwait 4.8
Utilities 2.0 Pakistan 4.5
Ukraine 3.8
----- Sri Lanka 3.6
Total 100.5 Oman 3.3
----- Vietnam 3.2
Short positions -1.6 Turkmenistan 2.9
===== Panama 2.6
Slovenia 2.3
Pan Africa 2.1
Kyrgyzstan 1.7
Romania 1.4
Estonia 1.4
Croatia 1.3
Argentina 1.1
-----
100.5
=====
Short positions -1.6
=====
*reflects gross market exposure from contracts for difference (CFDs)
Market Exposure
31.12 31.01 28.02 31.03 30.04 31.05 30.06 31.07 31.08 30.09 31.10 30.11
2012 2013 2013 2013 2013 2013 2013 2013 2013 2013 2013 2013
% % % % % % % % % % % %
Long 103.4 105.1 104.1 99.5 99.2 99.8 95.9 103.2 98.9 98.8 100.4 100.5
Short 5.2 3.5 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.1 2.5 3.0 3.3 1.4 1.6 1.6
Gross 108.6 108.6 105.3 100.7 100.4 100.9 98.4 106.2 102.2 100.2 102.0 102.1
Net 98.2 101.6 102.9 98.3 98.0 98.7 93.4 100.2 95.6 97.4 98.8 98.9
Ten Largest Equity Investments
Company Country of Risk % of gross assets
Zenith Bank Nigeria 5.2%
Emaar Properties United Arab Emirates 4.2%
Doha Bank Qatar 3.9%
Genel Energy Iraq 3.4%
Halyk Bank Kazakhstan 3.4%
Square Pharmaceuticals Bangladesh 3.2%
Qatar Gas Transportation Qatar 3.1%
Dragon Oil Turkmenistan 2.9%
Qatar National Bank Qatar 2.9%
First Gulf Bank United Arab Emirates 2.7%
Commenting on the markets, Sam Vecht, representing the Investment Manager noted:
Markets
The MSCI Frontier Market Index returned 1.8% in November. Frontier Markets
outperformed mainstream Emerging Markets which fell by 1.5% as investors
shifted their assets into European and US markets amid encouraging signs of
economic growth across developed markets (all percentages calculated on a US
Dollar basis with net income reinvested). Outflows from Emerging Markets were
led by ETFs which saw a combined outflow of around $3.5bn from Emerging
Markets over the month.
Argentina was once again the strongest performer, rising by 21%. Investors
were encouraged by a proposed agreement between Spain, Argentina and Mexico to
resolve the dispute over the nationalised Argentinean energy company YPF.
Kazakhstan also performed strongly, led by Halyk Bank which rose by 22% over
the month after announcing strong third quarter results. Loan growth
accelerated to reach 8% quarter-on-quarter and 26% year-on-year which,
combined with an expansion of Net Interest Margin, led to the bank reporting a
rise in Net Income of 46% over the previous quarter.
Kuwait was a notable underperformer over the month, falling by 2.6%.
Portfolio
The BlackRock Frontiers Investment Trust's NAV increased by 3.2% in November,
outperforming the benchmark by 1.4%. Year to date, the Company's NAV has
returned 31.3% compared to the MSCI Frontier Markets Index return of 23.2%.
UAE Healthcare provider, NMC, outperformed in November. The stock rose sharply
following the announcement that under the new medical law all residents will
be required to have compulsory health insurance cover which will significantly
increase demand at NMCs facilities.
Caribbean stock, Cable and Wireless Communications rose following the
announcement that they had extended their mobile licence in Panama for 20
years at a cost of $100m, which removed some of the future uncertainty for the
company. The Iraqi oil stocks also contributed strongly to performance on the
expectation of imminent export sales through the pipeline to Turkey.
Kyrgyzstan miner, Centerra was the largest individual detractor from
performance over the month which continued to suffer over speculation that the
Kyrgyz government would renegotiate the terms of the company's mining licence.
Activity
In November, the Company initiated a new position in Romanian Energy firm,
Romgaz. The company successfully completed an Initial Public Offering (IPO) at
the beginning of the month. The government has undertaken to liberalise prices
in the energy sector as part of a reform agenda agreed with the IMF and on the
back of this the stock looks attractively valued.
The Company sold its position in Iraqi-focussed energy company DNO. The stock
has risen in excess of 100% in 2013 as the likelihood of oil exports from the
region has increased with the completion of the pipeline from Kurdistan to
Turkey. Whilst we remain positive on the region, we have taken the opportunity
to rotate our exposure into stocks where performance has been more muted this
year and have recently initiated a position in another Iraqi oil company,
Genel Energy.
Outlook
With dedicated Frontier AUM doubling in 2013 and investment banks devoting
resource to the area, we expect a raft of private frontier companies to come
to the market over the next 12 months, as their owners are allured by the
possibility of quantifying and crystallising wealth. This is an essential part
of the development phase of Frontier Markets, as the size of frontier country
stock markets is typically small relative to GDP. It will also provide some
great opportunities to invest in new businesses. However, a fully-fledged IPO
boom can be a bearish signal as surges in stock issuance often signal market
peaks. The good news is there have been very few IPOs in 2013 and a full scale
boom will likely need markets to move considerably higher first.
More than 2bn people live in Frontier Markets but until now they have
attracted little investor attention. With their strong GDP growth, positive
demographic profile, low debt burden and relatively low correlation to
developed and emerging markets, we think frontier markets are a great place to
invest for those who have both a long term horizon and wish to see capital and
income growth. In a changing world, we believe that opportunities abound for
unconventional investors.
17 December 2013
ENDS
Latest information is available by typing www.blackrock.co.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 the Manager's website (or any
other website) is incorporated into, or forms part of, this announcement.
*A Private Investor is a recipient of the information who meets all of the conditions set out below, the recipient:
Obtains access to the information in a personal capacity;
Is not required to be regulated or supervised by a body concerned with the regulation or supervision of investment or financial services;
Is not currently registered or qualified as a professional securities trader or investment adviser with any national or state exchange, regulatory authority, professional association or recognised professional body;
Does not currently act in any capacity as an investment adviser, whether or not they have at some time been qualified to do so;
Uses the information solely in relation to the management of their personal funds and not as a trader to the public or for the investment of corporate funds;
Does not distribute, republish or otherwise provide any information or derived works to any third party in any manner or use or process information or derived works for any commercial purposes.
Please note, this site uses cookies. Some of the cookies are essential for parts of the site to operate and have already been set. You may delete and block all cookies from this site, but if you do, parts of the site may not work. To find out more about the cookies used on Investegate and how you can manage them, see our Privacy and Cookie Policy
To continue using Investegate, please confirm that you are a private investor as well as agreeing to our Privacy and Cookie Policy & Terms.