Summary of Investment Objective
The World Technology Fund seeks to maximise total return. The Fund invests globally at least 70% of its total assets in the equity securities of companies whose predominant economic activity is in the technology sector.
Fund Manager's Report (as at Jul 31, 2010)
The Fund underperformed its benchmark over the month.*
Positive contributors included Swedish positioning company Hexagon, SMA Solar of Germany, US software vendor Salesforce.com, the South African media group Naspers, and Britain’s design software company Aveva. On the negative side, Autonomy, SPS Commerce, SAP and Citizen were the holdings that detracted most from performance.
The Fund participated in the IPOs of SMART Technology and RealD, and the secondary of Monetise, as well as buying a new position in Hon Hai. We added to ReachLocal, Apple, Intel, Lenovo and Autonomy on weakness, and the Activision holding was increased substantially to reflect our conviction that investors over-emphasise its reliance on the flagging console cycle. Qualcomm, Convio, Konami and SPS Commerce were sold during the period. Several positions were trimmed following strong outperformance, including Cognizant, SMA, STR, MercadoLibre, Salesforce, Aveva, Hexagon, ARM and China Security.
We expect the sector to continue to be volatile, but with an upward trend through the second half of the year. Inventories remain controlled and capacity generally remains tight, so a recovery in corporate IT spending should lead to renewed improvement in newsflow and sentiment, as long as consumer spending holds up. The portfolio is therefore positioned to benefit from a continued recovery in the sector. The Fund ended the quarter overweight semiconductors, roughly neutral software and services, and underweight hardware.
*Reported Fund performance relative to its benchmark over the month was negatively affected by the timing differential between pricing of the Fund and its benchmark.
Fund Fact (as at Jul 31, 2010 )
| Status | Sub-Fund of Luxembourg SICAV |
| Fund Manager | William de Gale |
| Launch Date | Mar 3, 1995 |
| Base Currency | USD ($) |
| Additional Dealing Currencies | EUR (€), GBP (£) |
| Benchmark | MSCI AC World Info Tech (net) |
| Morningstar Sector | Sector - TMT Global |
| Total Fund Size (m) | USD ($) 128.0 |
| EUSD Fund Attributes | |
| EUSD Fund Status | out of scope |
| Fees | % |
| Annual Management Fee (A shares) | 1.50 |
| Initial Charge (A shares) | 5 |
| Codes | |
| ISIN | LU0056508442 |
| Bloomberg Equity Ticker | MERTEPI LX |
| Reuters Page Id | BLRKIU |
| Swiss Valoren Number | 346414 |
| CUSIP | L1049N115 |
| Fund Risk Statistics | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Name | 3 Years | 5 Years | Since Launch |
| Beta | 1.07 | 1.06 | 0.89 |
| Volatility (Annualised Standard Deviation) | |||
| World Technology Fund | 27.7% | 23.1% | 31.8% |
| MSCI AC World Info Tech (net) | 24.8% | 20.7% | 32.7% |
Risk Grading
Low
High
Non-distributing
Important Information
The information on this website is available to Qualified Investors and Professionals in some jurisdictions on a limited private placement basis subject to applicable laws and regulations in the country of distribution. The information is confidential and should not be reproduced or distributed to persons other than the recipient.
The investment objective stated above is a summary of the main objectives of the Fund. Please refer to the BGF prospectus for full details.
A limited range of BGF sub-funds have a distributor status A share class that seeks to comply with UK Distributor Status requirements. Please contact the Manager for more information.
The Fund is a sub-fund of BlackRock Global Funds (“BGF”), an open-ended investment company with variable capital (société d’investissement à capital variable) incorporated under the laws of Luxembourg. BGF has appointed BlackRock Asset Management Southeast Asia Limited (company registration number: 200010143N) as its Singapore representative and agent for service of process.
Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. The value of investments and the income from them can fluctuate and is not guaranteed. Where a Fund has a particularly concentrated portfolio and a particular investment declines or is otherwise adversely affected, it may have a more pronounced effect than if the Fund held a larger number of investments. The Fund invests in a limited number of market sectors. Compared to investments which spread investment risk through investing in a variety of sectors, share price movements may have a greater affect on the overall value of this Fund.
These and other risks are described in the Prospectus. Before making an investment decision, investors should read the Prospectus carefully including the investment objective and risk factors relating to the Fund. Subscriptions in BGF are valid only if made on the basis of the current Prospectus and the most recent financial reports which are available on our website.
Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future performance. Performance of the Fund is calculated on NAV to NAV price basis with income reinvested. Also, where indicated, performance of the Fund is shown including the effect of assumed 5% front end load (FEL), which an investor might or might not pay. Accordingly, these returns may not represent actual returns to an investor. Returns denominated in a currency other than the base currency of the Fund may increase or decrease as a result of foreign exchange currency fluctuations.
Sources: Fund - BlackRock Investment Management (UK) Limited (BIM(UK)L), Indices - Datastream, BIM(UK)L. Quartile Ranking - © 2010 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. BIM(UK)L Risk Grading: High Risk (on a scale of Low, Medium, Medium/High and High). This grading applies to Funds with emerging market, small capitalisation, or narrowly focused/concentrated equity mandates, which may restrict liquidity and increased the volatility of returns. It should only be used for comparison with other sub-funds of BGF and, in particular, should not be used in comparison with Funds not provided by BIM(UK)L. The grading is indicative of the level of risk of a particular Fund and is not supposed to be a guarantee of likely returns. If you are in any doubt as to the level of risk that you should take, you should seek Independent Advice.