BlackRock Continental European Income D

Investment Process

The fund’s investment universe comprises around 300 to 350 continental European companies with a market value over £1billion. Zoellinger and his team select stocks from amongst buy-rated recommendations made by the BlackRock European team. The fund’s management team wants companies with reliable dividends, strong corporate governance, a strong competitive position, financial discipline, and earnings stability. Zoellinger and Hall avoid highly volatile stocks. The portfolio includes three types of business – ‘high yielding’ companies where the dividend is secure, ‘stable quality’ companies offering solid dividends and highly predictable dividend growth and ‘structural winners’ offering high dividend growth but lower current yields. There is no yield requirement for individual stocks, though the managers avoid stocks with no imminent dividend. Indeed, Zoellinger will consider selling stocks if there is uncertainty about the next dividend payment. He is not a fan of holdings who “won’t pay” rather than “can’t pay”. The portfolio is concentrated holding around 40 stocks with the typical weighting being around 4%.