 BlackRock Greater Europe (BRGE)
Rating: Positive
Russian exposure hurt performance in 2022, but Stifel reckons that was a ‘blip’ and is more comfortable with the fund since it transitioned away from emerging Europe exposure. More recently, BlackRock Greater Europe has reaped the rewards of the AI boom.
‘Returns have consistently been towards the top end of the peer group and have been ahead of the FTSE World Europe ex-UK in every calendar year since 2017 apart from 2022,’ the analysts said.
Holdings in the portfolio appear expensive with the fund having a price/earnings multiple of 28 times versus about 15 times for the comparative index and 21 times for staunch growth fund Baillie Gifford European Growth. However, Stifel says this reflects the quality focus of BlackRock Greater Europe and higher exposure to large caps. The look-through return on equity is higher than the comparative index at 34% versus 23%.
The fund de-rated from a premium in 2022 and tends to trade at about a 5% discount to net asset value (NAV), which it is at the narrow end of the peer group, which Stifel believes is warranted. ‘The discretionary semi-annual tender offer should keep the rating tighter than peers,’ the analysts added.
Shares in the trust, run by Stefan Gries and Alexandra Dangoor, are down 8.1% over three years but up 69.9% over five. |
In case you missed our webinar with BlackRock Greater Europe Investment Trust plc (BRGE), the recording can be found on our YouTube channel: |
ShareSoc is hosting a webinar with BlackRock Greater Europe Investment Trust plc (BRGE) on 04 October 2023, which may be of interest to current shareholders or potential investors. Stefan Gries (Managing Director) will be presenting. You can register here: |
I also have a holding. Like the investment philosophy for holding a relatively concentrated portfolio of high quality stocks. Shame about the recent performance and the complete write off of 6% of value due to holdings in Russia. |
yup, really like and trust the manager and holding this long term - performed very solidly bar the last 12 months. |
Does anyone invest in this IT .... |
NAV currently on rising trend after considerable volatility. Black-Scholes
model of option pricing gives value of BRGS as around 37p against current
Buyprice of 20p. Managers' estimate price will rise by 25% this year (this equates to a rise from 227p at year end 2014 to 283p at end of 2015) which with no premium of a subscription share with 4 months to run will give a break-even price of 40p.
Hard to believe that these are languishing to such an extent. |
Double top broken - at bottom of new rise, next break to around 270p will see BRGS, curently 23.5p to buy, break-even at 27p and a 3% premium to share price at 35p. |
Hitting double top on strong Eurozone recovery after falls on Wall Street on fears of increasing Interest rates. |
ECB unveils massive QE boost for eurozone
:-) |
Slowly moving up since the begining of the calendar year with a 3.8% increase in the share price during Q1. Be interesting to see their Q1 Portfolio Review next month. |
I agree - I also think that the fund managers here are fairly shrewd as is the case at MFM Slater Growth and CLIG. There is a positive view today on their fifth largest holding !
Questor share tip: Ryanair should fly through the economic turbulence
Trading on a March 2011 earnings multiple of 14.9 times falling to 11.1 next year, the shares do not look especially expensive and remain Questor's preferred airline play. The shares are a buy at this level for the 1bn-a-year free cash flow. |
Thanks for starting a thread on BRGE. All the focus on Europe recently has been on the problems on the fringe but there are many good businesses in the core and this management seems to have a handle on them. I hold both the Trust and the subscription shares currently priced around 26p to buy and offering conversion at 183p so not expensive if Europe has a better run.
MH |
Portfolio Update
16 December, 2010
Outlook
Our outlook for 2011 and beyond remains positive. We believe that core Europe is relatively healthy,
as reflected by rising consumer confidence and strong momentum in the industrial cycle. In addition, core Europe is less indebted than many other developed economies and has exceptional access to emerging market growth. Peripheral Europe clearly has structural issues, which have been well-publicised, but it is worth keeping in mind that this is a small part of the European economy and an even smaller portion of the European stock market. As such, we view the impact of further problems in the periphery on corporate earnings as limited.
Europe remains under-owned and valuations continue to look compelling on a relative and historic basis. The region offers a broad selection of well managed companies that are able to access the strongest areas of global growth through high quality product offerings. With European valuations low and many companies holding net cash on their balance sheets, we have begun to see an increase in M&A activity which we would expect to continue in coming months. |
Industrials drive BlackRock Greater Europe to relative outperformance
The managers of the £187m BlackRock Greater Europe investment trust have significantly outperformed their benchmark thanks to an overweight to industrials and an underweight to financials. The NAV of Vincent Devlin and Sam Vecht's portfolio rose 10.6% over the 12 months to 31 August, compared to a fall of 0.2% by the FTSE World Europe ex UK index. "Holdings within the industrial sector provided the strongest performance, as the company maintained a higher weighting to the sector relative to the index, and notably from holdings within transportation," the managers said.
Stocks in the trust include Swiss logistics company Kuehne + Nagel and Dutch oil and chemicals storage company Vopak. However, Devlin and Vecht have recently taken profits on their holdings within the industrials sector. Meanwhile, they plan to maintain their underweight to financials, although the sector received a boost from the Basel III rules. "Financials has remained an underweight sector position as the uncertainties continue to cast a shadow over the banking sector," they said.
Devlin and Vecht have also orientated the fund towards emerging markets through consumer brands. |
This is one of four small Funds that I currently rate, alongside MFM Slater Growth, City of London Investment Group and Better Capital. The first three have proven track records while BCAP (under the aegis of Jon Moulton) is a specialist turnaround fund seeking capital growth from investing in a portfolio of distressed businesses. All four funds have quality management. |
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