BlackRock Throgmorton Trust Plc - Portfolio Update

BLACKROCK THROGMORTON TRUST PLC (LEI: 5493003B7ETS1JEDPF59)

All information is at 31 March 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	3.5	10.5	25.4	41.0	117.3
Share price	-1.3	9.5	21.8	28.2	111.7
Benchmark*	2.6	5.8	18.8	23.4	76.3

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:	467.29p
Net asset value incl. income:	468.87p
Share price	376.50p
Discount to cum income NAV	19.7%
Net yield1:	2.0%
Total Gross assets2:	£342.9m
Net market exposure as a % of net asset value5:	112.4%
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 paid on 29 March 2017.

2. Includes current year revenue and excludes 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			29.2
Consumer Services			22.7
Financials			16.1
Consumer Goods			12.1
Basic Materials			7.9
Health Care			5.1
Technology			3.5
Oil & Gas			2.9
Net current assets			0.5
			-----
Total			100.0
			=====
Market Exposure (Quarterly)
	31.05.16 %	31.08.16 %		30.11.16 %	28.02.17 %
Long	114.4	114.3		116.9	121.4
Short	8.3	8.3		8.5	6.7
Gross exposure	122.7	122.6		125.4	128.1
Net exposure	106.1	106.0		108.4	114.7

   

Ten Largest Investments
Company	% of Total Gross Assets
CVS Group	3.3
JD Sports Fashion	3.0
4imprint Group	2.9
Dechra Pharmaceuticals	2.8
Cineworld Group	2.5
Berkeley Group Holdings	2.3
Ascential	2.0
Derwent London	2.0
Hill & Smith	2.0
Bellway	2.0

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

During March the Company’s NAV per share rose by 3.5% to 468.87p on a cum income basis whilst our benchmark index, Numis Smaller Companies excluding AIM (excluding Investment Companies) Index, rose by 2.6%; the FTSE 100 Index rose by 1.1%.

Outperformance was largely driven by good stock selection although sector allocation also contributed positively.

London focussed property developer Berkeley Group provided a positive trading update during the month. Despite the wider impact on demand in the capital from Brexit and tax on the most expensive properties, Berkeley expect to post a c.40 percent rise in pre-tax profits for the 12 months to the end of April. Veterinary surgeries operator CVS reported strong organic growth, further acquisitions and significant margin expansion resulting in earnings upgrades. The pace of acquisitions has continued with 20 sites acquired in the last six months, including the first sites in The Netherlands; the company noted that the pipeline remains strong.

Stock specific disappointments during the month were limited, the largest detractor was RPC. The market has continued to show concern around RPCs acquisition strategy after the company announced the acquisition of Letica for $490m funded by a 1 for 4 rights issue. RPC’s management have an excellent track record and remain ambitious.

Sector allocation was helped by our overweight sector position in construction companies and housebuilders.

We continue to find opportunities in initial public offerings (IPO), and most recently invested in the IPO of Medica. The company is a leading independent UK provider of radiology reporting, delivering in excess of 1.3 million reports per annum, mainly to the NHS.

Performance within the long/short portfolio added +0.7% during the month, with long positions contributing positively, whilst shorts were a modest detractor. Long contributors included JD Sports, Costain and CVS, all of which continue to deliver. Despite some stock specific short successes in March, the short book in aggregate detracted from performance, impacted by a rising market and also a rally in some of our UK consumer shorts as the UK economy continues to defy most doomsayers’ predictions.

19 April 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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