PR Newswire
London, June 16
| BLACKROCK SMALLER COMPANIES TRUST PLC All information is at 31 May 2015 and unaudited. | |||||||
| Performance at month end is calculated on a capital only basis | |||||||
| One | Three | One | Three | Five | |||
| month | months | year | years | years | |||
| % | % | % | % | % | |||
| Net asset value* | 5.8 | 9.5 | 12.1 | 84.7 | 160.2 | ||
| Share price* | 10.5 | 13.5 | 13.1 | 95.9 | 185.3 | ||
| Numis ex Inv Companies + AIM | 3.9 | 6.2 | 2.6 | 49.2 | 65.5 | ||
| *performance calculations based on a capital only NAV with debt at par, without income reinvested. Share price performance calculations exclude income reinvestment. | |||||||
| Sources: BlackRock and Datastream | |||||||
| At month end | |||||||
| Net asset value Capital only (debt at par value): | 1032.86p | ||||||
| Net asset value Capital only (debt at fair value): | 1025.44p | ||||||
| Net asset value incl. Income (debt at par value)**: | 1041.40p | ||||||
| Net asset value incl. Income (debt at fair value)**: | 1033.97p | ||||||
| Share price | 921.50p | ||||||
| Discount to Cum Income NAV (debt at par value): | 11.5% | ||||||
| Discount to Cum Income NAV (debt at fair value): | 10.9% | ||||||
| Net yield^^^: | 1.6% | ||||||
| Gross assets^: | £538.5m | ||||||
| Gearing range as a % of net assets: | 0-15% | ||||||
| Net gearing including income (debt at par): | 8.5% | ||||||
| 2015 Ongoing charges ratio^^ | 0.7% | ||||||
| 2015 Ongoing charges ratio (including performance fees): | 1.0% | ||||||
| Ordinary shares in issue#: | 47,879,792 | ||||||
| **includes net revenue of 8.54p ^includes current year revenue ^^ As reported in the Annual Financial Report for the year ended 28 February 2015, the ongoing charges ratio is calculated as a percentage of net assets and using operating expenses, excluding performance fees, finance costs and taxation. ^^^Yield calculations are based on dividends announced in the last 12 months as at the date of release of this announcement, and comprise of the interim dividend of 5.50 pence per share, (announced on 24 October 2014, gone ex-dividend on 6 November 2014) and the final dividend of 9.00 pence per share (announced on 27 April 2015 and going ex-dividend on 21 May 2015) excludes 2,113,731 shares held in treasury. | |||||||
| Sector Weightings | % of portfolio | ||||||
| Industrials | 26.9 | ||||||
| Consumer Services | 18.6 | ||||||
| Financials | 18.4 | ||||||
| Consumer Goods | 9.7 | ||||||
| Basic Materials | 8.3 | ||||||
| Health Care | 7.6 | ||||||
| Technology | 6.5 | ||||||
| Oil & Gas | 3.4 | ||||||
| Telecommunications | 0.6 | ||||||
| ------- | |||||||
| Total | 100.0 | ||||||
| ==== | |||||||
| Ten Largest Equity Investments | |||||||
| Company | % of portfolio | ||||||
| CVS Group | 1.9 | ||||||
| 4imprint Group | 1.8 | ||||||
| Savills | 1.8 | ||||||
| Workspace Group | 1.7 | ||||||
| Hutchison China Meditech | 1.7 | ||||||
| Lookers | 1.6 | ||||||
| Avon Rubber | 1.6 | ||||||
| Headlam Group | 1.5 | ||||||
| Ted Baker | 1.5 | ||||||
| Rathbone Brothers | 1.5 | ||||||
| Commenting on the markets, Mike Prentis, representing the Investment Manager noted: | |||||||
| During May the Company's NAV per share rose by 5.8% on a capital only basis whilst the benchmark index rose by 3.9%; the FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.7%. Outperformance was derived from mainly from stock selection but sector allocation and gearing also contributed. | |||||||
| The major positive contributors to stock selection during the month were our holdings in Topps Tiles and Savills. Topps Tiles announced interim results showing like-for-like revenue growth of 5.3% and earnings per share growth of 14%.Trading remains good and management were on confident form when we met them. Savills held their AGM and indicated that trading was slightly ahead of expectations and substantially ahead of the corresponding period in 2014. | |||||||
| The largest detractor from relative outperformance during the month was, for the second month running, Northbridge Industrial Services. Northbridge is being impacted by the decline in the oil price. This is affecting their loadbank rental operations in Singapore and Dubai, and their oil tools business in Australia. Forecasts have been substantially reduced. | |||||||
| Turning to sector allocation, our overweight position in housebuilders and household goods was positive. | |||||||
| We added a holding in SSP Group, a leading operator of food and beverage outlets in travel outlets worldwide. The holding was taken in a placing during which SSP's private equity backers sold their remaining stake. SSP is a significant business which recently reported interim revenues of £859 million, like-for-like revenue growth of 3.0%, and operating profits up 35% at £25 million. | |||||||
| 16 June 2015 | |||||||
| ENDS | |||||||
| Latest information is available by typing www.blackrock.co.uk/brsc 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. | |||||||
