BlackRock Emerging Europe Plc - Portfolio Update

BLACKROCK EMERGING EUROPE PLC (LEI - 549300OGTQA24Y3KMI14)

All information is at 31 December 2017 and unaudited.

Performance at month end with net income reinvested

   

	One	Three		One				Three		Five		*Since
	Month	Months		Year				Years		Years		30.04.09
Sterling:
Share price	1.5	3.3		20.9				81.7		41.3		147.1
Net asset value	4.2	4.3		13.8				68.7		33.1		134.7
MSCI EM Europe	5.4	4.1		9.9				48.7		4.5		79.8
10/40(NR)
US Dollars:
Share price	1.4	4.1		32.3				57.6		17.6		125.6
Net asset value	4.1	5.2		24.5				46.3		10.8		114.3
MSCI EM Europe	5.4	5.0		20.3				29.0		-13.03		64.1
10/40(NR)
Sources: BlackRock, Standard & Poor’s Micropal
*BlackRock took over the investment management of the Company with effect from 1 May 2009
At month end
US Dollar:
Net asset value – capital only:							496.38c
Net asset value* – cum income:							512.68c
Sterling:
Net asset value – capital only:							366.93p
Net asset value* – cum income:							378.97p
Share price:							353.38p
Total assets^:							£136.1m
Discount (share price to cum income NAV):							6.8%
Net gearing at month end:							3.5%
Net yield^^^^:							1.7%
Gearing range as a % of Net assets:							0-20%
Issued Capital – Ordinary Shares^^							35,916,028
Ongoing charges^^^							1.2%
* Includes year to date net revenue equal to 12.04 pence per share.
^ Total assets include current year revenue.
^^ Excluding 5,000,000 shares held in treasury.
^^^ Calculated as at 31 January 2017, in accordance with AIC guidelines.
^^^^ Yield calculations are based on dividends announced in the last 12 months as at the date of release of this announcement, and comprise of the final dividend of 7.50 cents per share (announced on 28 March 2017, ex-dividend on 18 May 2017).
Sector Analysis		Gross assets (%)				Country Analysis					Gross assets        (%)
Financials		36.7				Russia					54.1
Energy		32.1				Poland					17.9
Consumer Staples		8.9				Turkey					7.9
Telecommunication Services		7.5				Greece					6.6
Health Care		6.3				Hungary					4.1
Materials		4.5				Ukraine					3.6
Information Technology		2.9				Kazakhstan					3.2
Industrials		1.2				Pan-Emerging Europe					2.7
Net current liabilities		(0.1)				Net current liabilities					(0.1)
		-----									-----
		100.0									100.0
		=====									=====
Short positions		(1.7)									(1.7)
Fifteen Largest Investments
(in % order of Gross Assets as at 31.12.17)
Company			Region of Risk						Gross assets
									(%)
Sberbank			Russia						8.6
Lukoil			Russia						8.5
Gazprom			Russia						8.3
PKO Bank Polski			Poland						7.3
Bank Pekao			Poland						5.1
Novatek			Russia						4.9
Lenta			Russia						4.1
Gedeon Richter			Hungary						4.1
PZU			Poland						3.8
Rosneft Oil Company			Russia						3.7
National Bank of Greece			Greece						3.4
Mobile Telesystems			Russia						3.2
KazMunaiGas Exploration Production			Kazakhstan						3.2
Alpha Bank			Greece						3.1
MHP			Ukraine						2.9
Commenting on the markets, Sam Vecht and Christopher Colunga, representing the Investment Manager noted;
The MSCI Emerging Europe 10/40 Index performed strongly in December, returning +5.4%* (in USD terms). The Company underperformed the index over the period, returning +4.1%* (in USD terms).
Greece (+16.6%)** was the best performer led by banks as the second rescue package from Europe was approved in principal and on continued signs of strengthening domestic economy.
Turkey (+13.2%)** performed strongly too with Lira strengthening 3.2% over the month.*** The Central Bank of Turkey hiked rates at its 14th December meeting by 50 bps to 12.75% in its late liquidity window, although less than the consensus expectations of 100 bps.***
In Central Europe, Hungary (+4.8%)**, Poland (+3.5%)** and Czech (+3.3%)** were also up as the domestic economies continue to benefit from a normalising European economic cycle.
Russia (+3.0%)** was lagged as domestic stocks failed to react positively to an increasing oil price. Brent gained and closed the month at US$ 66.8 per barrel, which marked its highest level since 2014.*** The Central Bank of Russia cut rates by 50 bps (vs consensus expectations of 25 bps) at its 15th December meeting, continuing the monetary easing cycle and supporting the economy further.***
Focus on: Gedeon Richter
Gedeon Richter is generic pharmaceuticals producer in Central Eastern Europe and Russia that is currently in the process of transforming itself into a specialty pharma company. In the past, it has largely developed APIs (Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients) and generics, but it is now starting to generate an increasing share of its profits from higher margin, innovative drugs both for women’s health care and the central nervous system.
Our investment case is based on the premise that these higher margin and faster growing specialty drugs will drive up both the company’s revenues and margins. Management has already increased its 2017 operating margin guidance twice this year and we believe further upgrades are likely. The stock offers a very attractive high-double-digit earnings growth for the next couple of years and with strong cash conversion these earnings can either be distributed to shareholders or reinvested into the business via M&A transactions. With $300m in cash on its balance sheet and a strong management team the company appears well placed into the new year.*
*Source: BlackRock, data as at end December 2017.
**Source: BlackRock, MSCI, data as at end December 2017.
***Source:  Bloomberg, JPM, data as at end December 2017.
16 January 2018
ENDS
Latest information is available by typing www.blackrock.co.uk/beep 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.

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