BHUE : BlackRock Hedge Selector – UK Emerging Companies Share Class, reports a 7.7% fall in NAV during the first half of 2014
BlackRock Hedge Selector‘s recent interims report a 7.7% fall in NAV for the UK Emerging share class during the first half of 2014, whilst the share price fell by 5.4%. The backdrop to this performance was one of rising equity markets (the FTSE 100 Index rose by 1.9% over the period whilst the FTSE Small Cap Index increased by 1.5% and the FTSE All-Share Index by 1.6%). The long-only portfolio provided the largest negative contribution to returns. The manager ascribes this to the quality companies in the UK Emerging portfolio underperforming lower quality ‘value stocks’ during the period. However, the manager believes that the bias towards higher quality companies should deliver returns over the longer term.
The UK Emerging share class provides investors with exposure to the performance of the BlackRock UK Emerging Companies Hedge Fund, a Cayman Islands domiciled fund managed by BlackRock. The investment objective of the Hedge Fund is to seek to maximise total returns by investing primarily in mid and small cap UK equities, whilst limiting correlation with the UK equity market by maintaining a short portfolio.