BlackRock Frontiers Investment Trust Plc - Portfolio Update

 

BLACKROCK FRONTIERS INVESTMENT TRUST PLC (LEI: 5493003K5E043LHLO706)

 

All information is at 31 March 2025 and unaudited.

Performance at month end with net income reinvested.

 

 

Sources: BlackRock and Standard & Poor’s Micropal

* 17 December 2010.

** The Company’s benchmark changed from MSCI Frontier Markets Index to MSCI Emerging ex Selected Countries + Frontier Markets + Saudi Arabia Index (net total return, USD) effective 1/4/2018.
 

 

*The Company’s yield based on dividends announced in the last 12 months as at the date of the release of this announcement is 5.1%, and includes the 2024 interim dividend of 3.50 cents per share, declared on 31 May 2024, and paid to shareholders on 01 July 2024 and the final dividend of 6.00 cents per share, declared on 5 December 2024 paid to shareholders on 14 February 2025.

** Excluding 52,552,553 ordinary shares held in treasury.

***The Company’s ongoing charges are calculated as a percentage of average daily net assets and using the management fee and all other operating expenses excluding performance fees, finance costs, direct transaction costs, custody transaction charges, VAT recovered, taxation and certain non-recurring items for Year ended 30 September 2024.

**** The Company’s ongoing charges are calculated as a percentage of average daily net assets and using the management fee and all other operating expenses and including performance fees but excluding finance costs, direct transaction costs, custody transaction charges, VAT recovered, taxation and certain non-recurring items for Year ended 30 September 2024.

 

*reflects gross market exposure from contracts for difference (CFDs).

 

Market Exposure
 

 

 

Ten Largest Investments

 

 

Commenting on the markets, Sam Vecht and Emily Fletcher, representing the Investment Manager noted:
 

The Company’s NAV fell by 0.8% in March, underperforming its benchmark, the MSCI Frontier + Emerging Markets ex Selected Countries Index (“Benchmark Index”) which returned +1.6%. For reference, the MSCI Emerging Markets Index returned +0.6% while the MSCI Frontier Markets Index returned +2.9% over the same period. All performance figures are on a US Dollar basis with net income reinvested.

 

Emerging Markets were marginally positive in March 2025 (+0.6%) outperforming Developed Markets by 5.1%, the highest margin since November 2022. Initial gains were wiped out at month-end in anticipation of reciprocal tariffs to be announced on 2 April 2025. While EM Asia was flat, LatAm posted a return of +4.8%, standing at the top of the global performance table, only surpassed by Emerging Europe. Emerging Europe has been a significant beneficiary of policy shifts emanating from Germany/the EU which have resulted in GDP upgrades in the region and a resurgent EUR.

 

Although stock selection had a negative impact on the overall portfolio returns, certain stocks performed well. The largest contributor to returns was our off-benchmark position in Eldorado Gold (+21.8%), the Turkish gold mine operator. The rise in gold prices has pushed the stock higher. Our Financials exposure across region also did well. Indonesian Bank Mandiri (+13.2%), Kazakh Halyk Bank (+22.6%) and Czech Republic based Moneta Money Bank (+12.2%) were positive contributors. The latter performed well primarily on the back of strong lending volumes amid stable yields in the region.

 

On the flipside, our IT services exposure detracted. The sector sold off more broadly on the back of tariff concerns and their potential impact on US growth. All three, Vietnamese IT services company FPT (-13.9%), UK based Endava  Systems (-18.4%) and multi-national EPAM Systems (-18.1%) affected performance. Our holdings in Turkish banks Akbank (-24.1%) and Turkiye Is Bankasi (-20.8%) also detracted over the month given the recent political instability in the country.

 

We made a few changes to the portfolio in March 2025. We increased our exposure to banks to take advantage of recent weakness, particularly in Turkey where locals’ confidence in the orthodox monetary and fiscal policies sustained despite the political unrest. We also added to Lion Finance Group, Georgia’s second largest bank, as we expect positive earnings revisions for the bank. We trimmed our holdings in Lucky Cement, the Pakistani conglomerate with businesses in local cement production, locking in profits after recent strong performance. We exited our position in the Kenyan mobile network operator Safaricom to reduce exposure to Kenya amidst fiscal challenges.

 

We continue to see improving activity levels in some frontier and smaller emerging markets. With inflation falling across many countries within our universe, rate cuts should resume once US bond yields stabilise. This is a good set up for domestically oriented economies to see a cyclical pick up. We remain positive on the outlook for small emerging and frontier markets, and we find significant value in currencies and equity markets across our investment opportunity set. Our investment universe, in absolute and relative terms, remains under-researched and we believe this should enable compelling alpha opportunities.

 

Sources:

1BlackRock as at 31 March 2025

2MSCI as at 31 March 2025

 

24 April 2025

 

ENDS

 

Latest information is available by typing www.blackrock.com/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 BlackRock’s website (or any other website) is incorporated into, or forms part of, this announcement.