Investment trusts

About this investment trust

Capital at risk. The value of investments and the income from them can fall as well as rise and are not guaranteed. Investors may not get back the amount originally invested.

The Company aims to secure long-term capital growth and an attractive total return primarily through investing in quoted securities in Latin America.

Why choose it?

Latin American countries hold a wealth of opportunities for long-term investors keen to participate in the region's growth and diversity. Our experienced team draws on its extensive network in the region to uncover the most compelling opportunities across a variety of countries and sectors.

Diversification and asset allocation may not fully protect you from market risk.

Suited to…

Investors with a long-term horizon who want to include Latin American shares in their portfolio and are able to tolerate periods of market volatility in pursuit of capital growth. This means shares prices may rise and fall more frequently.

What are the risks?

• Capital at risk. The value of investments and the income from them can fall as well as rise and are not guaranteed. Investors may not get back the amount originally invested.
• Overseas investment will be affected by movements in currency exchange rates.
• Emerging market investments are usually associated with higher investment risk than developed market investments. Therefore the value of these investments may be unpredictable and subject to greater variation.
• Investment strategies, such as borrowing, used by the Trust can result in even larger losses suffered when the value of the underlying investments fall.

Useful information

Capital at risk. The value of investments and the income from them can fall as well as rise and are not guaranteed. Investors may not get back the amount originally invested.

Fees & Charges

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Fund manager commentary

31 May 2024

Comments from the Portfolio Managers

Please note that the commentary below includes historic information in respect of the performance of portfolio investments, index performance data and the Company’s NAV and share performance.

The figures shown relate to past performance. Past Performance is not a reliable indicator of current or future results.

The Company’s NAV fell -4.4% in May, outperforming the benchmark, MSCI Emerging Markets Latin America Index, which returned -4.7% on a net basis over the same period. All performance figures are in sterling terms with dividends reinvested.¹

Emerging Markets posted flattish returns (+0.6%) in May, significantly underperforming Developed Markets (+4.5%). Latin America (-3.1%) lagged all other regions on the Federal Reserve (the Fed) re-pricing overhang. Brazil was down -5.0% as the country grappled with concerns around severe floods affecting both inflation and fiscal stability. Mexico declined -2.5% amid pre-election nervousness although the Mexican Peso remained stable. On the other hand, Argentina, Colombia and Peru all posted positive returns. Rate cuts in the latter two countries were particularly well received.

At the portfolio level, our exposure to precious metals stocks in Mexico and Ecuador continue to be the key positive contributors to performance. On the other hand, having no exposure to Peru hurt performance over the month. So did our stock picking in Chile.

From a security lens, Mexican silver miner, Mag Silver, was the largest contributor, for the third month in a row. The stock was supported by an increase in silver prices, as the commodity continues to rally despite a more hawkish Federal Reserve. An underweight position to Brazilian oil and gas company, Petrobras, also helped performance as the stock declined following news of the dismissal of the company's CEO. An overweight position in Mexican airport operator, Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico (GAPB), was another contributor, for the second month in a row after delivering decent traffic numbers. Our overweight position in Brazilian integrated healthcare operator, Hapvida, also contributed positively to performance. The stock rallied ahead of their Q1 earnings call which confirmed robust earnings growth driven by new customer additions and favourable industry trends.

On the flipside, IRB, the Brazilian reinsurance company was the biggest detractor for performance in May, reversing gains seen in April. An overweight position in Brazilian Retailer, Lojas Renner, was another detractor during the month as their latest earnings report surprised to the downside. The company has struggled to stay competitive against cheap foreign imports while sticky rate policy continues to be a broader burden to Brazil's equity markets. Brazilian bank, Bradesco, also impacted performance over the month on the back of a deteriorating net interest income outlook.

We made few changes to the portfolio in May. We exited Chilean pulp and paper company, Empresas CMPC, on the back of relative performance. Pulp prices went up on supply disruptions and we believe the overall market should become more oversupplied going forward. We added to our holding in Mexican bank, Banorte, on the back of weakness going into the Mexican elections. We also initiated a position in Mexican highway operator, Pinfra. This is a well-run, conservative business that trades on low multiples.

Brazil is the largest portfolio overweight as of May end. Mexico is our second largest overweight. On the other hand, we remain underweight in Peru due to its political and economic uncertainty. The second largest portfolio underweight is Chile.

Outlook

We remain optimistic about the outlook for Latin America. Central banks have been proactive in increasing interest rates to help control inflation, which has fallen significantly across the region. As such we have started to see central banks beginning to lower interest rates, which should support both economic activity and asset prices. In addition, the whole region is benefitting from being relatively isolated from global geopolitical conflicts. We believe that this will lead to both an increase in foreign direct investment and an increase in allocation from investors across the region.

Brazil is the showcase of this thesis - with the central bank cutting the policy rate considerably. We anticipate further reductions, particularly if the Federal Reserve ceases its own rate hikes. The government’s fiscal framework being more orthodox than market expectations has helped to reduce uncertainty regarding the fiscal outlook and was key for confidence. We expect further upside to the equity market in the next 12-18 months as local capital starts flowing into the market.

We remain positive on the outlook for the Mexican economy as it is a key beneficiary of the friend-shoring of global supply chains. Mexico remains defensive as both fiscal and the current accounts are in order. The outcome of the presidential elections in early June has created a lot of volatility for Mexican financial assets, with the peso depreciating significantly. Investors are concerned that the landslide win of president-elect Sheinbaum and the Morena party will result in reduced checks and balances for the government and potentially detrimental judicial reforms. We have visited Mexico in the week after the election to meet with investors, business owners and political advisors. Our conclusion from that trip is that we believe the government will remain relatively pragmatic and fiscally prudent, as it has been during AMLO’s term. We have therefore used the market correction to add to certain positions.

In light of this, we have been taking advantage of the recent weakness to add to the country, as we believe the market reaction to the election outcome is unwarranted.

We continue to closely monitor the political and economic situation in Argentina, after libertarian Javier Milei unexpectedly won the presidential elections in November. Milei is facing a very difficult situation, with inflation around 290% year-on-year, FX reserves depleted and multiple economic imbalances. To further gauge sentiment on the ground, we travelled to the country in January. The trip further instilled our cautious view on the economic outlook for the country, and we see no fundamental reasons as to why we would want to buy this market now.

We acknowledge the strengths of the data in the United States, but we believe that, ultimately, the domestic economic outlook in the Latin American countries will be the key driver of local interest rates. We therefore maintain conviction in the funds positioning in rate-sensitive domestic stocks. In addition, our view of a softer US labour market and further disinflation seems to be playing out, as evidenced by the recent rise in jobless claims and the relatively benign May inflation data. As a result, the pressure from higher rates in the US is easing.

Source: Unless otherwise stated all data is sourced from BlackRock as at 31 May 2024.

¹Source: BlackRock as at 31 May 2024

Any opinions or forecasts represent an assessment of the market environment at a specific time and are not intended to be a forecast of future events or a guarantee of future results.

This information should not be relied upon by the reader as research, investment advice or a recommendation.

Risk: Reference to the names of each company mentioned in this communication is merely for explaining the investment strategy, and should not be construed as investment advice or investment recommendation of those companies.

Portfolio manager biographies

Capital at risk. The value of investments and the income from them can fall as well as rise and are not guaranteed. Investors may not get back the amount originally invested.

Sam Vecht is lead manager of the BlackRock Latin American Investment Trust plc. He is Head of the Emerging Europe, Frontiers and LatAm team within the Fundamental Active Equity division of BlackRock's Active Equities Group and is responsible for managing long-only and long/short portfolios in both Emerging and Frontier markets. He is also co-manager of the BlackRock Frontiers Investment Trust plc. Sam joined BlackRock in 2000 in the Global Emerging Markets Team. He has a degree in International Relations and History.

Christoph Brinkmann is deputy manager of the BlackRock Latin American Investment Trust plc. He is Vice President in the Global Emerging Markets Equities Team who has covered multiple sectors and countries across the Latin American region. He joined BlackRock in 2015 after graduating from the University of Cologne with a Masters in Finance and a CEMS Masters in International Management.

Board of directors

Carolan Dobson (Chairman) was appointed as a Director on 1 January 2016 and as Chairman on 2 March 2017. She is the former Head of UK Equities at Abbey Asset Managers and former Head of Investment Trusts at Murray Johnstone and therefore brings a wealth of industry experience to the Board. She is currently Non-Executive Chairman of Brunner Investment Trust plc and Baillie Gifford UK Growth Fund plc.

Craig Cleland was appointed as a Director on 1 January 2019 and Chairman of the Audit Committee from 31 March 2019. He is Head of Corporate Development/Investment Trusts at CQS (UK) LLP, a multi-asset asset management firm in London with a focus on credit markets, where his responsibilities include advising and developing the closed-end fund business. He is also a Director of Invesco Perpetual Select Trust plc and the CC Japan Income & Growth Trust plc and was formerly a Director of Martin Currie Asia Unconstrained Trust plc. He was previously at JPMorgan Asset Management (UK) Limited, latterly as Managing Director, and led their technical groups in the investment trust business. Prior to that, he was a Director and Senior Company Secretary at Fleming Investment Trust Management, transferring to JPMorgan Asset Management after Chase Manhattan Bank acquired Robert Fleming Holdings Limited.

Laurie Meister was appointed as a Director on 1 February 2020. Ms Meister has 32 years of financial markets experience, both in New York and in London, with 28 years dedicated to having led and developed Latin American equity and capital markets businesses and other emerging markets. Her most recent position was as the Director of Latin American equity sales for European institutional clients for Deutsche Bank from 2008 to 2018. Prior to this she worked for J.P. Morgan Chase as a Director with responsibility for rebuilding the Cemea (Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa) equity business and then became the Senior European Equity Director for their Latin American equity business. Her initial experiences in the Latin American equity arena included the European start up in the early 1990s of the Merrill Lynch Latin American research sales operation. She then moved as a Managing Director to Robert Flemings in 1995 where she co-led the start-up of their Latin American trading sales and research operations across the region. Ms Meister has a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.B.A. in Finance from the New York University Stern School.

Nigel Webber was appointed as a Director on 1 April 2017. Mr Webber’s broad investment experience has seen him lead the design of investment solutions for affluent and high-net-worth individuals across global markets and multiple asset classes. Most recently, he was Global Chief Investment Officer for HSBC Private Banking where he held global responsibility for all investment activity for Group Private Banking. During his time at HSBC, Mr Webber was also Chairman of the Global Investment Committee for Group Private Bank and Chairman for HSBC Alternative Investments Limited. Prior to this, he held a number of blue-chip executive positions around the world for investment and asset management businesses. He is also a qualified accountant.