Blackrock Strategic Funds Unaudited Interim Report and Accounts
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BlackRock Strategic Funds Unaudited Interim Report and Accounts 30 November 2010 BlackRock Strategic Funds, SICAV Investment Fund incorporated under Luxembourg Law R.C.S. Luxembourg: B 127481 Contents Chairman’s Shareholder Letter 2 Investment Manager’s Report 3 Board of Directors 5 Management and Administration 5 Statement of Net Assets 6 Three year summary of Net Asset Values 10 Statement of Operations and Changes in Net Assets 14 Statement of Changes in Shares Outstanding 16 Portfolio of Investments 20 BlackRock European Absolute Return Fund 20 BlackRock European Opportunities Absolute Return Fund 22 BlackRock European Opportunities Extension Strategies Fund 25 BlackRock European Diversified Equity Absolute Return Fund 28 BlackRock Fixed Income Strategies Fund 43 BlackRock Fund of iShares - Conservative 48 BlackRock Fund of iShares - Dynamic 49 BlackRock Fund of iShares - Growth 50 BlackRock Fund of iShares - Moderate 51 BlackRock Global Currency Absolute Return Fund 52 BlackRock Latin American Opportunities Fund 53 Notes to the Financial Statements 54 General Information 59 Appendix I: Total Expense Ratio 60 Appendix II: Portfolio Turnover Rates 61 Appendix III: Performance 62 Subscriptions may be made only on the basis of the current Prospectus, together with the most recent audited annual report and accounts and unaudited interim report and accounts. Copies are available from the Investor Services Centre, the Transfer Agent, the Manager or any of the Distributors. Unaudited Interim Report and Accounts 1 Chairman’s Shareholder Letter November 2010 Dear Shareholder I am writing to update you on the activities of BlackRock Strategic Funds (BSF / the Company), our Luxembourg UCITS Fund range providing clients with access to BlackRock investment products which seek to take full advantage of the investment powers incorporated in the UCITS III directive. This report covers the first half of the Company’s year, the six months to the end of November 2010. Over that period, equity markets have continued to show volatility, yet with increased investor confidence this has settled in recent months into a more generally positive trend for equity markets. The performance of the Funds is covered in more detail in the separate Investment Manager’s report. In that report, we also set out some of our views regarding the investment outlook. Six new funds were launched during the period. Two of these commenced operations in early-August: the BSF European Diversified Equity Absolute Return Fund (EDEAR) and the BSF European Opportunities Absolute Return Fund (EOAR). Both seek to generate absolute returns regardless of market conditions through investing in European equity markets either directly or through derivatives’. The EDEAR fund uses a quantitative investment approach, with a highly diversified range of all-cap stocks, and operates with market leverage levels often above 500%. The EOAR fund is fundamentally driven, with a smaller range of stocks, tending towards a small/mid cap bias. It usually operates with market leverage levels close to 150%. The EDEAR fund has raised €63,887,194 since launch, and the EOAR fund has raised €19,495,199. Additionally, a suite of four ‘Funds of iShares’ were launched in September. Each of these funds is managed with a different risk profile (Conservative, Moderate, Growth and Dynamic), and executes its asset allocation primarily via BlackRock’s market leading Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) platform, known as iShares. During the period, there was good interest in a number of the BSF funds, reflecting strong inflows in the new funds and also into the BSF Latin American Opportunities Fund, which launched in November 2007. This fund increased in size by 133% from $77,520,379 at end-May to $180,608,371 since end-November. Overall, the assets under management (AUM) in the BSF range increased by 78% over the period under review, from $337,083,971 to $599,265,552. However, the picture is mixed at the individual fund level (individual fund AUM is stated in the base currency of the relevant fund). In addition to the funds mentioned above, the BSF European Absolute Return Fund has increased in AUM from €80,583,277 to €103,742,123 over the period, an increase of 29%; the BSF Fixed Income Strategies Fund has remained fairly flat over the period, increasing slightly from €39,100,014 to €39,532,648; the BSF Global Currency Absolute Return Fund has seen an increase in AUM of 24%, from $59,851,587 to $74,009,406. On the other hand despite good investment performance, the BSF European Opportunities Extension Strategies Fund decreased in AUM, from €42,598,490 at end-May to €31,855,661 at end- November. Four of the BSF funds received S&P Fund Management A ratings over the period, the BSF European Absolute Return Fund, the BSF European Diversified Absolute Return Fund, the BSF European Opportunities Extension Strategies Fund and the BSF European Opportunities Absolute Return Fund. Standard & Poor’s Fund Management Ratings are based on an evaluation of quantitative (historic performance, volatility, and portfolio construction) and qualitative (management, corporate status and investment process) factors that contribute to long-term performance. The fund can then be awarded an A, AA or AAA if it passes both the quantitative and qualitative tests. BlackRock is fully committed to remaining at the forefront of the European mutual funds industry by bringing innovative investment products to our clients. We are actively working on adding other funds to the range as our product development process brings forward appropriate investment opportunities for clients. Should you have any questions on any of this material, please contact us via our website: www.blackrockinternational.com. Yours faithfully, Nicholas C.D. Hall Chairman 2 BlackRock Strategic Funds Investment Manager’s Report 1 June 2010 – 30 November 2010 2010: disaster avoided again...but some concerns over macro 1.5% gain since inception. Meanwhile, the BlackRock Global vulnerabilities persist Currency Absolute Return Fund, launched on 14 August 2009, Looking back, it may seem that 2010 has simply been another struggled to a six-month return of -1.8%, although stronger year of material economic challenges as the aftershocks of performance in earlier months sees its since-launch numbers the 2008/9 crisis continue to reverberate, most recently in at +3.5%. Southern Europe and Ireland where the sovereign debt crisis continues. However, in many respects the global economy has New funds enhancing the BSF Range moved further away from the abyss threatened by Lehman’s The reporting period saw six funds added to the BSF range, failure over the past year. Data is likely to show that the global starting with the BSF European Opportunities Absolute Return economy has expanded around 5% this year. This shows a very Fund and the BSF European Diversified Equity Absolute similar outturn to the first full calendar year of recovery in the Return Fund (EDEAR), which both launched on 6 August 2010. last cycle (2004), and a material improvement over 2009, when the global economy contracted slightly. The former aims to produce positive performance utilising long and synthetic-short positions in a portfolio of predominantly Recession concerns intensified in the middle of the year, but small and mid-cap European stocks, while delivering lower fears did not become reality in the form of a double-dip. In fact, volatility of returns compared to a traditional long only fund. towards the end of the year, there is much clearer evidence To 30 November 2010, the Fund has delivered on this objective of a discernible acceleration in the global economy. To some with a credible return of 1.7%. extent robust growth has been the result of strong conditions in emerging economies, but there have also been surprisingly The launch of EDEAR, meanwhile, was designed to encapsulate firm outturns in some developed economies. While it is true an existing, strong-performing market-neutral strategy, of that the US economy will have expanded by only around 2.5% the BlackRock European Scientific Active Equity team, within in 2010, average growth in other larger developed economies a UCITS-III fund wrapper. The result has seen since-launch (Germany, Japan and the UK) has been between 3% and 4% in performance of 8.1%, along with a desired level of volatility and recent quarters. low correlation to other asset classes, driven by a broad range of fundamental, behavioural and technical themes, covering BSF Fund Range Performance different time horizons, through a quantitative investment Equities generally recorded good performance over the six- approach. month reporting period, with the MSCI World index returning 5.1% in euro terms (11.5% in US dollar terms; 4.0% in sterling Finally, mid-September 2010 saw the launch of the BSF Funds terms). We are pleased to confirm that all of the equity-based of iShares Range, offering investors four diversified, multi- funds within the BSF range recorded respectable performance, asset class funds that focus on maximising returns for different both in absolute terms, and relative to associated markets and/ risk appetites. The funds’ strategies range from “Conservative” or benchmarks. to “Dynamic” and deliver their objectives via a combination of the asset-allocation expertise of BlackRock utilising the award- Most notably, the BSF Latin American Opportunities Fund led winning BlackRock iShares Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) the range higher over six months, gaining by 43.4% (in US dollar range as building blocks. terms, versus a return of +16.5% for the MSCI EM Latin America index), as Latin American markets performed well and The financial market background: no irrational exuberance in 2011 small/mid-cap stocks, featured within the Fund, outperformed the overall market, assisted by the global economic recovery. There is a widespread perception in financial markets that this positive outturn represents only a stay of execution, and Elsewhere, our established European equity-based that the fundamental weaknesses in the global economy will offerings performed encouraginly.