Merrill Lynch World Mining Tst PLC
10 December 2002
MONTHLY PERFORMANCE
MERRILL LYNCH WORLD MINING TRUST plc
All information is at 29 November 2002 and unaudited.
Performance at month end with net income reinvested
One Three One Three Five
month months year years years
Net asset value 5.8% 5.8% 23.6% 40.7% 110.1%
Share price 4.9% 4.6% 29.1% 41.2% 113.1%
HSBC Global Mining Index (capital only) 7.0% 2.3% -5.2% 3.4% 35.2%
MSCI World Metals & Mining Index (capital only) 8.3% 1.4% -11.6% -12.8% 0.4%
Sources: Merrill Lynch Investment Managers, HSBC Global Mining Index,
Datastream
At month end
Net asset value: 141.56p Discount to NAV: 16.3%
Share price: 118.50p Net historic yield: 2.7%
Total assets: £226.4m
Gearing: Nil Effective gearing: 0.4%
Ordinary shares in issue: 162,800,000
Sector Analysis % Total Assets Country Analysis % Total Assets
Diversified 30.2 South Africa 29.6
Gold 24.8 Europe 21.3
Base Metals 20.0 Latin America 15.5
Platinum 11.7 Australasia 13.2
Industrial Minerals 6.7 Canada 13.2
Silver/Diamonds 6.1 USA 5.5
Gold Bullion 0.9 China 1.2
Cash 1.7 Gold Bullion 0.9
Net current liabilities (2.1) Cash 1.7
Net current liabilities (2.1)
100.0 100.0
Ten Largest Equity Investments
Company % Investments Country of Risk
Impala Platinum 8.7 South Africa
Gold Fields 8.3 South Africa
BHP Billiton 6.6 Global
Minas Buenaventura 6.3 Peru
Harmony Gold Mining 5.7 South Africa
Rio Tinto 5.7 Global
CVRD 5.0 Brazil
Aber Diamond 4.7 Canada
Western Mining Corporation 4.1 Australia
Pechiney 3.8 France
58.9
Commenting on the markets, Graham Birch, representing the Investment Manager
noted:
Performance
November was a strong month for the Trust as optimism about the global economy
and a lowering of US interest rates helped general equity valuations to recover.
The mining sector participated in the global equity rally with the Trust's NAV
rising nearly 6%, only just behind the 7% increase in the HSBC Global Mining
Index. The reason for the poor relative performance was a fall in the value of
the Trust's gold holdings. Companies such as Gold Fields and Harmony, two of
the largest holdings in the portfolio, were down 6.2% and 5.5% respectively.
However, holdings in Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton helped to offset the fall in the
gold shares with increases of 12.7% and 9.3% respectively during the period.
The Trust also benefited from corporate activity related to its large holding in
MIM. During the period MIM announced it was in early stage talks with Xstrata
which could lead to an offer for the company. MIM shares rallied 37.5% during
the month.
Portfolio Changes
The largest transaction carried out during the month was the sale of the
portfolio's sizeable holding in the Peruvian tin mining company Minsur.
Following a lengthy negotiation we were able to exit the majority of our
position in this illiquid stock at a five year high in the share price. Minsur
had risen because of the recent sale of its stake in brewer Backus & Johnston at
a very good price.
Derivatives
We have continued to sell near-dated derivatives covering a number of our
holdings. At present, we have sold puts on Anglo American and MIM. We have
sold calls on Rio Tinto. If exercised, these would have the effect of
increasing the Trust's positions in Anglo American and MIM to 1.8% and 3.2% of
net asset value respectively and reduce the holding in Rio Tinto to 4.4% of net
asset value.
Outlook
Base metal prices seem to have passed the bottom of the commodity price cycle
and, with consumer demand and producer supply discipline all working towards
higher prices, it seems likely that 2003 will be a year of better prices for
most metals. The mining investments in the Trust are positioned to capture any
upward move in prices, especially in copper, nickel and iron ore. In addition,
despite trimming exposure to gold shares, the portfolio remains overweight and
should benefit considerably from the favourable price dynamics currently in
place in this sector.
Latest information is available by typing www.mlim.co.uk/its on the internet,
'MLIMINDEX' on Reuters, 'MLIM' on Bloomberg or '8800' on Topic 3 (ICV terminal).
10 December 2002
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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