BlackRock Greater Europe Investment Trust Regulatory News (BRGE)

15 Feb 2005 16:44

Merrill Lynch Greater Europe IT PLC15 February 2005 MERRILL LYNCH GREATER EUROPE INVESTMENT TRUST plc All information is at 31 January 2005 and unaudited. Performance at month end with net income reinvested One Three Since launch Month Months (20Sep04)Net asset value 0.0% 9.0% 11.4%Share price 3.7% 13.7% 12.5%FTSE World Europe ex UK -0.8% 7.0% 9.9% Sources: Merrill Lynch Investment Managers and Datastream. At month endNet asset value: 111.42p includes net revenue of 0.04pShare price: 105.75pDiscount to NAV: 5.1%Net yield: N/A Total assets: £184.8mOrdinary shares in issue: 164,841,285 BenchmarkSector Analysis Total Assets (%) Index (%) Country Analysis Total Assets (%)Financials 35.2 30.3 France 23.1Cyclical Services 10.9 6.2 Germany 12.7Resources 9.3 9.0 Italy 11.8Telecoms 7.0 8.9 Switzerland 10.7Non-Cyclical Consumer Goods 6.4 15.1 Netherlands 8.2Basic Industries 6.3 7.3 Sweden 4.6Technology 6.1 4.9 Belgium 3.8Cyclical Consumer Goods 5.8 4.7 Ireland 3.5Non Cyclical Services 4.7 1.4 Turkey 2.9Utilities 4.3 6.4 Spain 2.7Capital Goods 2.5 5.8 Scandinavia 2.6Other Investments 2.3 - Russia 2.6Net Current Liabilities (0.8) - Poland 2.3 Greece 2.3 Portugal 2.2 Other Countries 4.8 Net Current Liabilities (0.8) ----- ----- ----- 100.0 100.0 100.0 ----- ----- ----- Ten Largest Equity InvestmentsCompany % of Total Assets Country of RiskTotal 3.6 FranceE.On 3.2 GermanyUBS 3.2 SwitzerlandCapitalia 2.6 ItalyBelgacom 2.6 BelgiumAXA 2.5 FranceSociete Generale 2.5 FranceAllied Irish Bank 2.4 IrelandCredit Agricole 2.4 FranceRoche Holdings 2.4 Switzerland ----Total 27.4 ---- Commenting on the markets, James Macmillan, representing the Investment Managernoted: During January the FTSE World ex UK fell 0.8% while the Emerging Europeanmarkets rose by 3.9% in Sterling terms. After a strong Q4 equity marketsEuropean Equity markets continued to rise, despite anticipated potentialproblems in the run up to the first Iraqi elections and the Bush inauguration.The oil price once again rose sharply, and markets were dominated by M&Aactivity and speculation, together with mixed signals from the beginning of thefourth quarter earnings season, especially from the technology sector. The Trust's NAV was flat over the month out performing the benchmark index whichfell 0.8%. Market outperformers at the sector were more cyclical in nature andincluded capital goods, transport and commercial services and supplies, food andstaples retailing also did well. Underperformers were in the cyclical growthareas of the market such as technology hardware, semiconductors and softwareservices. Pharmaceuticals also lagged due to poor newsflow on the sector. During the month the Trust benefited from its exposure to Turkey with Denizbankand newspaper publisher Hurriyet having a positive contribution to performance.Other strong performers included highway operator Autostrade and constructiongroup Lafarge. The main detractors included sportswear manufacturer Puma, carmanufacturer BMW and Polish software company Prokom. During January the Trust switched its exposure within the telecoms sectorestablishing new positions in Nokia and KPN, and making significant reductionsto Deutsche Telekom and Telecom Italia. Other key transactions included thepurchase of Polish refiner PKN, and exiting our position in Polish bank PKO. The main bias of the portfolio remains towards financials, mainly through banks,and more defensively orientated sectors such as energy and telecoms, while themain country exposures are in France, Germany and Italy. Our exposure toEmerging Europe remained constant during the month at 10.2%, with Turkey, Polandand Israel being our preferred markets. The macroeconomic newsflow was mixed in January. Recent surveys suggest thatbusiness confidence has picked up in Europe in spite of a seemingly unfavourablemacroeconomic backdrop of a strong Euro and high energy prices. There are nowclear signs that liquidity is coming back to markets. Retail investors arereturning to risk assets while Europe shows the greatest potential for arecovery in M&A activity. European equity valuations look attractive on both anabsolute and relative basis and we continue to focus on companies thatdemonstrate sustainable earnings growth and strong cashflow generation. Our viewis that economic growth will remain below its potential rate for the foreseeablefuture. As a result we do not expect the European Central Bank to raiseinterest rates any time soon, while in the UK short term interest rates appearto have peaked for the time being. Latest information is available by typing www.mlim.co.uk/its on the internet,"MLIMINDEX" on Reuters, "MLIM" on Bloomberg or "8800" on Topic 3 (ICV terminal). 15 February 2005 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange