PR Newswire
LONDON, United Kingdom, April 28
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 Three One Three Launch
Month Months Year Years (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 yield1: 1.4%
Total assets (including income): £517.5m
Ordinary shares in issue2: 91,913,141
Ongoing charges3: 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 (%) Country Analysis Total Assets (%)
Industrials 38.7 France 25.0
Financials 18.3 Netherlands 15.9
Technology 16.3 Switzerland 12.8
Consumer Discretionary 13.0 Ireland 7.0
Health Care 6.2 Germany 6.1
Utilities 3.6 Spain 5.6
Basic Materials 2.3 Sweden 4.3
Net Current Assets 1.6 Finland 3.8
—– Belgium 3.6
100.0 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.
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