BARING EMERGING EUROPE PLC
Interim Management Statement
Review of the period from 1 April 2014 to 30 June 2014
This Interim Management Statement for the period from 1 April 2014 to 30 June
2014 contains information which covers that period, unless otherwise stated.
INVESTMENT OBJECTIVE
The investment objective of the Company is to achieve long-term capital growth,
principally through investment in Emerging European securities.
MATERIAL EVENTS OR TRANSACTIONS DURING THE PERIOD
The directors confirm the following material events and transactions which have
occurred since 1 April 2014.
Share Capital:
At 30 June 2014 the Company's issued share capital consisted of 19,498,043
ordinary shares (excluding the 3,318,207 ordinary shares held in treasury). No
shares were bought back by the Company during the period from 1 April 2014 to
30 June 2014. During the period from 1 July 2014 to 8 August 2014 250,000
shares have been repurchased for cancellation.
The directors are not aware of any other significant events or transactions up
to the date of this report which would have a material impact on the financial
position of the Company other than as described in the investment manager's
review, which follows.
Discount:
The share price discount to net asset value at 30 June 2014 was 12.2% (31 March
2014: 10.9%)
AIFM:
In order to comply with AIFMD, the Company has appointed Baring Fund Managers
Limited ("BFM") to act as its Alternative Investment Fund Manager ("AIFM")
pursuant to an Alternative Investment Fund Management Agreement entered into by
the Company and the AIFM on 21 July 2014 (the "AIFM Agreement"). BFM has been
approved as an AIFM by the UK's Financial Conduct Authority. The investment
management agreement entered into by the Company and Baring Asset Management
Limited ("BAM") on 12 November 2002 (the "IMA") has been terminated although
BFM has delegated the portfolio management of the Company's portfolio of assets
to BAM. The AIFM Agreement is based on the IMA and differs to the extent
necessary to ensure that the relationship between the Company and BFM is
compliant with the requirements of AIFMD. The fees payable to BFM and the
notice period under the AIFM Agreement are unchanged from the IMA. The Company
and BFM have also entered into a depositary agreement with State Street
Trustees Limited ("State Street") pursuant to which State Street has been
appointed as the Company's depositary for the purposes of AIFMD.
Portfolio:
Emerging Europe recovered from the first quarter sell-off, returning 4.5% in
Sterling terms. The Company had a strong quarter, returning 7.6% in Sterling
terms. Both asset allocation and stock selection added to performance.
In terms of countries, the Company's underweight position in Greece and
overweight positions in Russia and Turkey added to relative returns. In terms
of stocks, the best relative returns were from Turkish, Russian and Polish
stock selection. Of note is the positive relative return from our holdings in
selected financials in Turkey, while the relative preference for Sistema in
Russia also added to outperformance. In Poland, the position in the utility
Energa added to relative returns. It is worth noting that MSCI added Energa to
the index during the period.
In terms of sectors, material stocks showed very strong performance during the
quarter and the holdings in Norilsk Nickel in Russia and KGHM in Poland added
to relative returns. We reduced the Polish Bank exposure to reflect our
expectation that long-term interest rates will remain low and that, in this
environment, this may reduce the sector's core profitability. We also
participated selectively in the recapitalisation of the Greek banking sector,
in particular through an investment in the National Bank of Greece. Russian oil
and gas stocks also had a very strong quarter; high oil prices were supported
by the unrest in Iraq and attractive valuations helped them to recover from the
sell-off suffered in the first quarter, induced by the situation in Ukraine.
Although politics remained a driver of the markets and has induced volatility,
we believe the attractive combination of inexpensive valuations and
unrecognised growth prospects will attract attention from investors. This, we
believe, is the case in Russia, which despite the strong recovery, especially
in June, remains one of the cheapest markets globally. We remain overweight in
this market, and we have taken profits in some stocks in Turkey as they reached
price targets. Examples include the hard discount retailer BIM, the industrial
conglomerate Sabanci Holding and the steel company Eregli.
Over the course of the quarter the Russian stock market remained the largest
country exposure and overweight versus the index. The position in Turkish
equities was reduced to underweight versus the index while the portfolio's
weighting in Greek stocks was increased by participating in secondary offerings
in the Greek banking sector.
COMPANY STATISTICS
30 June 2014 8 August 2014
Gross Assets £150.4million £135.4million
Net Asset Value Per Ordinary Share 771.18p 703.70p
Share Price 677.00p 613.50p
Discount to Net Asset Value 12.2% 12.8%
CUMULATIVE PERFORMANCE TO 30 JUNE 2014 (Total Return in percentage terms)
Performance Over 3m 1 Year 3 Years
Share Price* +5.9% -4.6% -19.9%
Net asset Value# +7.5% -5.4% -17.2%
Benchmark+ +4.5% -4.5% -19.1%
* Source - AIC using Morningstar
# Source - Barings
+ Source - Barings. MSCI EM Europe 10/40.
PORTFOLIO INFORMATION AT 30 June 2014
Ten largest holdings: Geographical breakdown
% of Total Assets %
Lukoil Holdings 11.1% Russia 59.2
Sberbank 8.0% Turkey 16.3
Gazprom 5.9% Poland 10.6
Sistema 4.3% Greece 5.1
Turkiye Halk Bankasi 4.2% Hungary 2.9
Mobile Telesystems 3.9% Ukraine 2.0
PZU 3.9% Romania 1.1
MMC Norilsk 3.5% Cash 2.8
OTP 2.9%
Haci Omer Sabanci 2.8% Total 100.0
12 August 2014
