Throgmorton Trust Regulatory News (THRG)

BLACKROCK THROGMORTON TRUST PLC All information is at 31 January 2015 and unaudited. Performance at month end is calculated on a cum income basis One Three One Three Month Months Year YearsNet asset value 2.0% 7.4% -1.5% 62.5%Share price 2.2% 3.8% -8.8% 67.3%Benchmark* 0.4% 2.9% -2.6% 46.3% Sources: BlackRock and Datastream *With effect from 1 December 2013 the Numis Smaller Companies excluding AIM(excluding investment companies) Index replaced the Numis Smaller Companiesplus AIM (excluding investment companies) Index as the Company's benchmark. Thethree year period indices have been blended to reflect this. At month endNet asset value capital only: 331.81pNet asset value incl. income: 337.17pShare price: 283.00pDiscount to cum income NAV 16.1%Net yield: 1.4%*Total Gross assets: £249.5m**Net market exposure asa % of net asset value^: 108.5%Ordinary shares in issue: 73,130,326***2014 Ongoing charges: 1.1%****2014 ongoing charges ratio (includingperformance fees): 1.2% * Calculated using current year interim and prior year final dividends paid.** Includes current year revenue and excludes the gross exposure throughcontracts for difference.*** Excluding 7,400,000 shares held in treasury.**** Calculated as a percentage of average net assets and using expenses,excluding performance fees and interest costs for the year ended30 November 2014.^Long positions less short positions as a percentage of net asset value. Sector Weightings % of total gross assets Industrials 26.6Consumer Services 19.7Financials 18.3Consumer Goods 8.6Basic Materials 8.1Health Care 7.5Technology 7.2Oil & Gas 2.7Telecommunications 1.3Net current liabilities 0.0 -----Total 100.0 =====Market Exposure (Quarterly) 28.02.14 31.05.14 31.08.14 30.11.14Long 118.8% 116.9% 113.5% 117.4%Short 10.7% 12.4% 13.5% 9.8%Gross exposure 129.5% 129.3% 127.0% 127.2%Net exposure 108.1% 104.5% 100.0% 107.6% Ten Largest Investments Company % of Total Gross assets Workspace Group 2.6Senior Engineering 2.5Lookers 2.4Rathbone Brothers 2.44imprint 2.2CVS 2.2Savills 2.1Ted Baker 2.1Tyman 2.1Victrex 2.1 Commenting on the markets, Mike Prentis and Ralph Cox, representing theInvestment Manager noted: During January the Company's NAV per share rose by 2.0% on a cum income basiswhilst the benchmark index rose by 0.4%; the FTSE 100 Index rose by 2.9%. The CFD portfolio had an excellent month adding 0.9% to the NAV. Both the longand short portfolios added value, with the long portfolio accounting for justover half of the monthly gain. The largest contributor to relative outperformance was our holding in Lookers.Lookers is one of the largest car retailers in the UK, and has seen strongtrading over the last few years. UK car sales have remained good in recentmonths, and this is likely to have benefitted Lookers; the company's sharesremain attractively valued at just 12.5 times forecast earnings for the yearended December 2014. The largest detractors from relative performance were our holdings inSkyepharma and Boohoo. Skyepharma indicated that it 2014 results should bein-line with expectations, and in particular that sales of its key drug,flutiform, are developing well (as expected). Skyepharma has seen a rise incash reserves recently and is increasing its spending on research anddevelopment. This has inevitably led to reductions in previously forecastprofits as research costs are expensed. Boohoo announced that sales over thefour months to 31 December 2014 had grown by 25%, but this was behind marketexpectations and the shares fell. We feel that in absolute terms the growthrate remains good, and the company looks well set. We generally saw good trading updates from holdings during the month includingTed Baker and Workspace Group. Activity in the portfolios during the month was fairly limited althoughfollowing the sharp fall in the oil price and the share prices of oilproducers, we have added modestly to the sector. 16 February 2015 ENDS Latest information is available by typing www.blackrock.co.uk/thrg on theinternet, "BLRKINDEX" on Reuters, "BLRK" on Bloomberg or "8800" on Topic 3 (ICVterminal). Neither the contents of the Manager's website nor the contents ofany website accessible from hyperlinks on the Manager's website (or any otherwebsite) is incorporated into, or forms part of, this announcement.