Merrill Lynch Greater Europe IT PLC
24 August 2006
MERRILL LYNCH GREATER EUROPE INVESTMENT TRUST plc
All information is at 31 July 2006 and unaudited.
Performance at month end with net income reinvested
One Three One Since launch
Month Months Year (20Sep04)
Net asset value 0.8% -5.6% 21.8% 58.3%
Share price -1.0% -8.0% 21.8% 50.4%
FTSE World Europe ex UK 0.3% -4.1% 16.4% 46.6%
Sources: Merrill Lynch Investment Managers and Datastream.
At month end
Net asset value: 156.44p Includes net revenue of 2.63p
Share price: 148.50p
Discount to NAV: 5.1%
Gearing: 1.3%
Net yield: 1.1%
Total assets: £202.9m
Ordinary shares in issue: 130,238,932
Benchmark
Sector Analysis Total Assets Index Country Analysis Total Assets
(%) (%) (%)
Financials 28.7 33.8 Germany 20.0
Industrials 12.6 10.5 France 18.1
Basic Materials 9.5 5.4 Switzerland 9.7
Telecoms 9.1 6.1 Italy 9.4
Oil and Gas 8.4 6.4 Sweden 6.8
Utilities 7.7 7.1 Netherlands 6.4
Healthcare 7.0 8.3 Ireland 5.7
Consumer Services 6.7 5.3 Spain 4.9
Consumer Goods 6.2 12.8 Russia 4.7
Technology 3.6 4.3 Belgium 4.5
Other Investments 2.4 - Finland 2.4
Net current liabilities (1.9) - Israel 2.0
Norway 1.9
Poland 1.9
Turkey 1.8
UK 1.7
Net current liabilities (1.9)
----- ----- -----
100.0 100.0 100.0
----- ----- -----
Ten Largest Equity Investments
Company Country of Risk
AXA France
BBVA Spain
Fortum Finland
Ing Groep Netherlands
Nestle Switzerland
Novartis Switzerland
RWE Germany
Siemens Germany
Total France
Unicredito Italiano Italy
Commenting on the markets, James Macmillan, representing the Investment Manager
noted:
During July equity markets behaved in a similar pattern to that of June, with a
weak start to the month giving way to recovery. The FTSE World Europe ex UK
(net) returned 0.3% and the MSCI Emerging Europe index returned 4.5% in sterling
terms. The Federal Reserve Chairman hinted that rate rises were having the
desired effect on the US economy and that the current interest rate cycle may be
close to its peak. This caused a rally in world markets in the second half of
the month. The second quarter results season has generally been positive with
many companies demonstrating strong earnings growth.
The Company's NAV returned 0.8% during July outperforming the reference index by
0.5%. The contribution from the Emerging Europe region was positive, with
strong stock selection in Russia, Poland and Turkey benefiting performance.
Flexible gearing had no performance impact, having been significantly reduced in
June to neutralise market exposure.
During July the Company benefited from a number of holdings across a range of
sectors. The best performing stocks were those with leverage to the oil price,
which rose sharply during the month. These included refiner PKN, and power
utilities Fortum and RWE. The Company's position in low cost airline Ryan Air
was also beneficial after the company announced strong results which were ahead
of market expectations. The stocks which detracted from performance were car
manufacturer Peugeot, industrial conglomerate Siemens, and Telecom Italia, all
falling on disappointing results.
During the month the Company took profits in Israeli bank Hapoalim and
established a new position in Turkish media company Hurriyet, due to its
attractive valuation.
The Company continues to have a bias towards the financials, mainly through
banks, capital goods, telecoms and materials. Exposure to Emerging Europe
marginally decreased during the month to finish at 10.4%. The Company ended the
month with a net market exposure of 101%.
Recent surveys continue to suggest that both business and consumer confidence is
rising strongly in Continental Europe signalling that economic growth is
accelerating significantly in 2006. Unlike in previous years, growth is not
simply driven by strong export demand: after many years of weakness there are
signs that domestic demand is now picking up in countries such as Germany and
Italy; growth rates in peripheral countries such as Denmark, Greece, Ireland,
Norway, Spain and Sweden and emerging Europe remain buoyant. Meanwhile the
operating performance of European listed companies remains highly satisfactory
as a result of strenuous cost control and restructuring efforts. This provides
a very favourable backdrop for corporate profits in Europe and we remain
positive in the medium term. However, the prospect of further interest rate
rises, combined with geopolitical uncertainty could lead to further market
volatility over the next few months.
Latest information is available by typing www.mlim.co.uk/its on the internet,
'MLIMINDEX' on Reuters, 'MLIM' on Bloomberg or '8800' on Topic 3 (ICV terminal).
24 August 2006
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
*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.