BLACKROCK THROGMORTON TRUST PLC - Portfolio Update

BLACKROCK THROGMORTON TRUST PLC (LEI: 5493003B7ETS1JEDPF59)
 

All information is at 31 January 2017 and unaudited.
Performance at month end is calculated on a cum income basis

	One Month %	Three months %	One year %	Three years %	Five years %
Net asset value	2.5	10.2	18.9	32.9	119.3
Share price	2.9	13.1	12.6	20.3	120.8
Benchmark*	0.7	6.7	18.6	19.9	80.1

Sources: BlackRock and Datastream

*With effect from 1 December 2013 the Numis Smaller Companies excluding AIM (excluding investment companies) Index replaced the Numis Smaller Companies plus AIM (excluding investment companies) Index as the Company’s benchmark. The five year period indices have been blended to reflect this.

At month end
Net asset value capital only:	434.08p
Net asset value incl. income:	440.93p
Share price	359.63p
Discount to cum income NAV	18.4%
Net yield1:	2.1%
Total Gross assets2:	£322.5m
Net market exposure as a % of net asset value5:	112.2%
Ordinary shares in issue3:	73,130,326
2016 ongoing charges (excluding performance fees4:	1.1%
2016 ongoing charges ratio (including performance fees):	1.3%

1. Calculated using 2016 interim dividend paid on 19 August 2016 and 2016 final dividend declared on 6 February 2016.
2. Includes current year revenue and excludes the gross exposure through contracts for difference.
3. Excluding 7,400,000 shares held in treasury.
4. Calculated as a percentage of average net assets and using expenses, excluding performance fees and interest costs for the year ended 30 November 2016.
5. Long positions less short positions as a percentage of net asset value.

Sector Weightings			% of Total Assets
Industrials			30.0
Consumer Services			22.2
Financials			16.9
Consumer Goods			11.3
Basic Materials			9.2
Health Care			4.1
Oil & Gas			3.6
Technology			3.5
Net current liabilities			-0.8
			-----
Total			100.0
			=====
Market Exposure (Quarterly)
	29.02.16 %	31.05.16 %		31.08.16 %	30.11.16 %
Long	118.2	114.4		114.3	116.9
Short	11.2	8.3		8.3	8.5
Gross exposure	129.4	122.7		122.6	125.4
Net exposure	107.0	106.1		106.0	108.4

   

Ten Largest Investments
Company	% of Total Gross Assets
CVS Group	3.3
JD Sports Fashion	2.9
4imprint Group	2.9
Cineworld Group	2.8
Dechra Pharmaceuticals	2.7
Berkeley Group	2.2
Hill & Smith	2.0
Big Yellow	2.0
Bellway	1.9
Avon Rubber	1.9

Commenting on the markets, Mike Prentis and Dan Whitestone, representing the Investment Manager noted:

During January the Company’s NAV per share rose by 2.5% to 440.93p on a cum income basis whilst our benchmark index rose by 0.7%; the FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.6%.

Outperformance was largely driven by good stock selection, although sector allocation was also positive.

The biggest positive contributors to stock selection were our holdings in Polar Capital Holdings, JD Sports and KAZ Minerals. Polar Capital announced that in Q4 2016 net funds under management increased by more than £300m, a welcome increase after a number of quarters of net outflows.  JD Sports announced a further strong trading update indicating that pre-tax profit was expected to exceed expectations by up to 15%. KAZ Minerals is executing well as it ramps up production at its two large mines in Eastern Kazakhstan. The increase in the copper price is timely for KAZ and should help it achieve significant improvement in cash flow in 2017.

The largest detractors from relative performance during the month were our two largest holdings, CVS Group and 4imprint, and Derwent London. CVS succumbed to some modest profit taking after a strong run in the shares which followed a good trading update. 4imprint announced that 2016 revenues increased by 13%, all organic, with profit before tax expected to be towards the top end of market expectations. We continue to see the shares as attractive and a good play on the likely continuing strength of the US economy. Derwent London shares slipped further with continuing worries about BREXIT potentially impacting on demand for London office space. We see the shares as offering good long term value.

Sector allocation was modestly positive, helped by overweight sector weightings in media, general industrials and industrial engineering companies.

We continued to reduce or sell a number of smaller and lower conviction holdings. We added a holding in Countryside Properties which builds houses both on land owned or controlled by itself, and also on land owned by public bodies including local authorities. The latter approach avoids the need to buy land in these situations and helps Countryside to generate good returns on investment on such long term developments, and also provides visibility of revenues. We believe the Company looks set for good earnings growth.

17 February 2017

ENDS

Latest information is available by typing www.blackrock.co.uk/thrg 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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