BlackRock Frontiers
Company Notes
Managers excited about current valuations
BlackRock Frontiers Investment Trust* aims to achieve long-term capital growth by investing in companies listed or operating in less developed countries. This ‘Frontier universe’ includes any country that is neither part of the MSCI World Index of Developed Markets nor one of the eight largest countries by market capitalisation in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index as at 1 April 2018, being Brazil, China, India, Korea, Mexico, Russia, South Africa and Taiwan. The fund has been managed by Sam Vecht and Emily Fletcher since inception in December 2010. There is a commitment to offering shareholders an opportunity to realise the value of their shares at NAV less costs every five years. The next opportunity will be early next year, subject to shareholder approval at a general meeting to be held in February 2021.
Since launch the fund has delivered a NAV total return of +77.5%, outperforming the +57.9% return of the MSCI Frontier Markets Index and the +65.2% return of the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, although it has underperformed the 87.5% of the broader Global Emerging Markets peer group. However, the fund has underperformed the MSCI Frontier Markets Index and the peer group over the last three and five years, albeit relative performance has improved in recent months.
In the latest financial year to 30 September 2020 BlackRock Frontiers delivered a NAV total return of -23.8%, underperforming the -19.6% return of its benchmark (the MSCI Emerging Markets Index ex Selected Countries + MSCI Frontier Markets Index + MSCI Saudi Arabia Index) and the -2.7% return of the MSCI Frontier Markets Index. The key detractors from relative performance were the portfolio’s overweight allocations to Indonesia and the Philippines, as well as stock selection in Malaysia. Revenue return per share amounted to 5.05 cents, down from 8.24 cents in the year to 30 September 2019. Total dividends declared in respect of the financial year amount to 7.00 cents per share, representing a decrease of 10% from the 7.75 cents per share paid for the previous year. The Board anticipates that dividends for the 2021 financial year will also total 7.00 cents per share, to be supported by distributable reserves if necessary.
*Denotes a corporate broking client of Winterflood Securities
To see this content in full, please log in to your account.
Client log in
Please note that this website is part of Winterflood's research service and therefore only available to MiFID II compliant research clients. For further information please e-mail research@winterflood.com