Merrill Lynch Greater Europe IT PLC
26 January 2006
MERRILL LYNCH GREATER EUROPE INVESTMENT TRUST plc
All information is at 31 December 2005 and unaudited.
Performance at month end with net income reinvested
One Three One Since launch
Month Months Year (20Sep04)
Net asset value 6.6% 8.2% 31.9% 46.9%
Share price 5.1% 6.7% 37.8% 40.5%
FTSE World Europe ex UK 4.7% 6.2% 24.1% 37.5%
Sources: Merrill Lynch Investment Managers and Datastream.
At month end
Net asset value: 145.10p Includes net revenue return of 0.06p
Share price: 138.75p
Discount to NAV: 4.4%
Gearing: 10.8%
Net yield: 1.2%
Total assets: £213.2m
Ordinary shares in issue: 132,705,096
Benchmark
Sector Analysis Total Assets (%) Index (%) Country Analysis Total Assets (%)
Financials 36.2 32.9 Germany 21.8
Resources 10.3 7.0 France 16.0
Basic Industries 9.4 7.4 Switzerland 12.1
Non Cyclical Consumer Goods 7.4 15.0 Italy 9.7
Utilities 7.6 6.5 Russia 5.9
Cyclical Services 6.5 6.6 Netherlands 5.1
Capital Goods 5.1 6.2 Sweden 5.1
Non Cyclical Services 4.5 1.2 Scandinavia 4.7
Technology 4.2 4.9 Ireland 4.5
Telecoms 3.5 7.0 Belgium 3.6
Cyclical Consumer Goods 2.6 5.3 Israel 3.4
Other Investments 3.1 - Greece 3.0
Net Current Liabilities (0.4) - Spain 2.0
Poland 1.9
Turkey 1.0
Hungary 0.3
Other Countries 0.3
Net Current Liabilities (0.4)
----- ----- -----
100.0 100.0 100.0
----- ----- -----
Ten Largest Equity Investments
Company Country of Risk
AXA France
ING Groep Netherlands
New Century Holdings Eagle LP Russian Federation
Novartis Switzerland
RWE Germany
Siemens Germany
Total France
UBS Switzerland
Unicredito Italiano Italy
Zurich Financial Services Switzerland
Commenting on the markets, James Macmillan, representing the Investment Manager
noted:
European equity markets continued their upward trend in December, reaching a
fresh 4 year high. The FTSE World Europe ex UK and MSCI Emerging Europe
returned 4.7% and 4.6% in sterling terms respectively. Investors were encouraged
by falling energy prices and indications that the pace of monetary policy
tightening in the US was likely to slow following the 3% increase in the Federal
Funds rate during the last two years. The 0.25% increase in the European Central
Bank's official interest rates in early December was generally shrugged off as a
non-event. Business confidence continued to rise on the back of better than
expected economic data and optimism that earnings growth would continue into
2006. In Germany, business confidence rose to a five year high.
The Company's NAV returned 6.6% during December outperforming the reference
index by 1.9%. The contribution from the Emerging Europe region was positive
with strong stock selection in Israel and Turkey. The use of flexible gearing
was also beneficial and the Company benefited from being positively geared in a
rising market.
The Company benefited from strong stock selection within the banking sector with
a number of stocks experiencing strong appreciation. These included Greek bank
Emporiki which rose by 20% following a successful rights issue, Anglo Irish Bank
up 11% following an excellent set of results and positive outlook statement, and
Deutsche Postbank (+12%) after buying a large number of branches from the German
post office on attractive terms. Other strong performers included Irish stocks,
Ryan Air and Grafton Group, both benefiting from the continued strong growth of
the Irish economy, and industrial conglomerate Siemens.
The stocks which detracted from performance were car manufacturers Peugeot (-4%)
and Porsche (-3%). In addition, the Funds holding in Telenet (-3%) also had a
negative impact on performance.
During the month the Company increased its exposure to the telecoms sector
through the purchase of Deutsche Telekom and Mobilcom. This was funded by
selling Spanish oil company Repsol which, after strong performance, reached its
target price.
The Company continues to have a bias towards the financials, mainly through
banks but also diversified financials and insurance. Other key sector weights
include utilities and energy. Exposure to Emerging Europe increased slightly
during the month to finish at 12.5%. The Company ended the month with a net
market exposure of 110.8%.
During December business confidence in Continental Europe continued to rise
signalling that economic growth has picked up after the slowdown in the first
half of the year. However, concerns still remain that the continued high oil
price and a slowdown in global economic growth levels will impact profit
margins. The corporate sector is now in good shape after years of restructuring
(ongoing); companies have been focused on cost cutting and corporate efficiency
but are increasingly looking for suitable acquisition candidates now that
balance sheet strength has been regained. The third quarter results season has
seen strong earnings performance especially in the financial sector.
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).
26 January 2006
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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