REG-BlackRock Greater Europe Investment Trust Plc: Portfolio Update

Blackrock Greater Europe Investment TrustAnnouncement

28/04/2026 09:45

The information contained in this release was correct as at                   
              31 March 2026                               . Information on the
Company’s up to date net asset values can be found on the London Stock
Exchange website at:

 

https://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/news/market-news/market-news-home.html
                              .           

 

 

 

BLACKROCK GREATER EUROPE INVESTMENT TRUST PLC (LEI - 5493003R8FJ6I76ZUW55)

All information is at                                  31 March 2026          
                     and unaudited.          
          
                     Performance at month end with net income reinvested      
             
           

                              One  Month  Three  Months  One  Year  Three  Years  Launch  (20 Sep 04)  
                                                                                                       
 Net asset value (undiluted)  -11.4%      -8.1%          -1.0%      3.0%          700.6%               
 Share price                  -13.1%      -9.5%          -1.0%      2.7%          658.3%               
 FTSE World Europe ex UK      -8.7%       -2.0%          16.5%      37.6%         566.1%               

Sources: BlackRock and Datastream                    
           

 

At month end

 Net asset value (capital only):      558.40p     
 Net asset value (including income):  563.08p     
 Share price:                         526.00p     
 Discount to NAV (including income):  6.6%        
 Net gearing:                         3.1%        
 Net yield 1 :                        1.4%        
 Total assets (including income):     £517.5m     
 Ordinary shares in issue 2 :         91,913,141  
 Ongoing charges 3 :                  0.95%       
                                                  

 

1                      Based on an interim dividend of 1.75p per share and a
final dividend of 5.40p per share for the year ended 31 August 2025.

2                      Excluding 26,015,797 shares held in treasury.         

          3                      The Company’s ongoing charges are
calculated as a percentage of average daily net assets and using the
management fee and all other operating expenses excluding finance costs,
direct transaction costs, custody transaction charges, VAT recovered,
taxation, write back of prior year expenses and certain non-recurring items
for the year ended 31 August 2025. With effect from 1 September 2025, the
Company’s annual management fee was reduced from 0.85% per annum of net
asset value on net assets up to £350 million and 0.75% per annum of net asset
value above £350 million to 0.65% of net assets up to and including £400
million, 0.60% of net assets in excess of £400 million up to and including
£1 billion and 0.525% of net assets in excess of £1 billion. This will
result in lower ongoing charges for the Company, estimated at 0.775% (based on
average net assets for the year ended 31 August 2025).

 

                         
 Sector Analysis         Total Assets (%)  
 Industrials             38.7              
 Financials              18.3              
 Technology              16.3              
 Consumer Discretionary  13.0              
 Health Care             6.2               
 Utilities               3.6               
 Basic Materials         2.3               
 Net Current Assets      1.6               
                         -----             
                         100.0             
                         =====             
                                           
                                           
                                           
                                           
                                           
                                           
                                           
                                             
 Country Analysis        Total Assets (%)  
 France                  25.0              
 Netherlands             15.9              
 Switzerland             12.8              
 Ireland                 7.0               
 Germany                 6.1               
 Spain                   5.6               
 Sweden                  4.3               
 Finland                 3.8               
 Belgium                 3.6               
 United Kingdom          2.9               
 Italy                   2.7               
 Norway                  2.7               
 United States           2.3               
 Austria                 2.1               
 Denmark                 1.6               
 Net Current Assets      1.6               
                         -----             
                         100.0             
                         =====             

 

 Top 10 holdings                 Country      Fund %  
 ASML                            Netherlands  6.4     
 Schneider Electric              France       4.7     
 Compagnie Financiere Richemont  Switzerland  4.6     
 BE Semiconductor                Netherlands  4.5     
 Safran                          France       4.5     
 Allied Irish Banks (AIB)        Ireland      4.0     
 Lonza Group                     Switzerland  4.0     
 Kone                            Finland      3.9     
 KBC Groep                       Belgium      3.7     
 MTU Aero Engines                Germany      3.7     
                                                      

 

Commenting on the markets, Benjamin Moore and Brian Hall, representing the
Investment Manager noted:

                       

During the month, the Company’s NAV fell by -11.4% and the share price fell
by -13.1%. For reference, the FTSE World Europe ex UK market returned -8.7%
during the period.

 

European markets were driven primarily by geopolitical developments in March,
with the escalation of conflict involving Iran dominating sentiment. Energy
markets reacted sharply to increased supply disruption risk, with oil prices
rising significantly and Energy the only sector to deliver positive returns.

 

The resulting increase in energy prices reignited inflation concerns and
introduced volatility across European equities. Higher oil prices raised fears
of a slowdown in economic activity, as potential for elevated input costs
weigh on both consumers and corporates. This created a challenging backdrop
for cyclically exposed sectors, while more defensive areas of the market fared
better.

 

In this environment, market movements were largely driven by macro
developments rather than company-specific fundamentals. While the underlying
backdrop for companies had been supportive prior to the escalation, the shift
to a more risk-off environment led to broad-based de-risking across equities.
The situation remains highly uncertain, with market conditions likely to
evolve quickly depending on the trajectory of the conflict and any potential
escalation or resolution.

 

Sector allocation effects were negative in March with sector and industry
level impacts aligned with the macro fears of the war in Iran. Primary drags
on relative returns came from an underweight position to Energy, as oil and
gas prices rose on the effective closure of the strait of Hormuz, and
overweight to industrials such as aerospace which are heavily reliant on
energy as an input cost. These were partially offset by being underweight
consumer staples where worries of inflation put further pressure on an already
depressed sector.

 

With the market heavily focused on the uncertainty caused by the war in Iran,
there were limited stock specifics driving share prices in March.

 

Not holding TotalEnergies was negative for relative returns as the Iran war
escalated into an effective closure of the strait of Hormuz, causing higher
energy prices on restricted supply.

 

Positions in Civil Aerospace holdings – Safran, MTU – detracted from
performance on worries an extended conflict in the Middle East may disrupt the
ongoing recovery in air travel and impact demand for the aftermarket services
of these businesses.

 

Several industrial cyclicals, including Belimo and Schnieder Electric,
detracted with shares down on the market’s rotation towards energy and
defensives.

 

AIB was the top contributor over the month. Shares were up following H2’25
results that showed NII and Fee based revenues ahead of consensus expectations
while costs were also better, resulting in a 5% beat on profit before tax
(PBT). Their 2026 guide – which was given on conservative assumptions –
implied a 3% upgrade to PBT.

 

Holdings in defence companies Kongsberg and Thales was positive for relative
returns as the war in Iran has drawn a focus to the importance of their
products such as air defence systems and radars for customers in the Middle
East.

 

Outlook

 

From here, we remain observant of buying opportunities presented by a volatile
market backdrop. In these environments of rising dispersion, we find there is
often opportunity for alpha and we’re using the full scale of a leading team
to identify change. The portfolio remains cyclically tilted with key exposures
across areas we believe remain well underpinned over the mid to long term such
as defence, select industrials, civil aerospace, banks and semiconductor cycle
exposure.

 

Europe remains home to many world-class franchises, companies owning core
technologies that make them the enablers of some of the large transformational
changes going on around us. We aim to align shareholder capital to those
businesses that are exposed to large and enduring spending streams. Overall,
we retain our core exposure to companies with predictable business models,
higher than average returns on capital, strong cash flow conversions and
opportunities to reinvest that cash flow into future growth projects at high
incremental returns.

 

28 April 2026

 

ENDS

 

Latest information is available by typing                                 
www.blackrock.com/uk/brge                                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.

 Release  (https://mb.cision.com/Main/22396/4340836/4062171.pdf)  



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