Merrill Lynch World Mining Tst PLC
10 June 2004
MERRILL LYNCH WORLD MINING TRUST plc
All information is at 31 May 2004 and unaudited.
Performance at month end with net income reinvested
One Three One Three Five
month months year years years
Net asset value (undiluted) 3.9% -11.0% 38.7% 55.7% 171.3%
Share price 5.3% -12.3% 50.9% 71.9% 188.8%
HSBC Global Mining Index 1.8% -9.8% 30.4% 19.4% 85.3%
Sources: Merrill Lynch Investment Managers, HSBC Global Mining Index,
Datastream
At month end
Net asset value
Undiluted: 200.64p Includes current year net revenue of: 1.14p
Fully diluted: 203.70p
Share price: 183.00p Discount to undiluted NAV: 10.2%
Warrant price: 8.50p Net yield: 0.9%
Total assets: £354.46m
Gearing: 9.1% Effective gearing: 10.1%
Ordinary shares in issue: 162,800,000
Warrants in issue: 32,559,564
Sector % Total Assets Country % Total Assets
Analysis Analysis
Diversified 43.3 Canada 23.4
Base Metals 28.0 Europe 20.6
Gold 15.3 Latin America 18.2
Silver/Diamonds 6.5 South Africa 17.4
Platinum 5.1 Australasia 11.5
Industrial Minerals 3.5 China 6.0
Net current liabilities (1.7) USA 3.5
India 0.8
Africa 0.3
Net current liabilities (1.7)
100.0 100.0
Ten Largest Equity Investments
Company % of Investments Country of Risk
CVRD 7.0 Brazil
Minas Buenaventura 6.6 Peru
Rio Tinto 6.4 Global
BHP Billiton 5.7 Global
Falconbridge 5.3 Canada
Aber Diamond 4.6 Canada
Impala Platinum 4.3 South Africa
Alumina 4.2 Australia
Noranda 4.0 Canada
Inco 3.4 China
Total 51.5
Commenting on the markets, Graham Birch, representing the Investment Manager
noted:
April was the fourth worst month for mining share performance in the past twenty
years so it was not altogether surprising that May saw a bounce. Most metal
prices rebounded after the April sell off too.
The April fall had been sparked off by cyclical concerns about rising interest
rates and the possibility of a hard landing in China. Both of these fears may
have been overdone. While speculators may have reduced their exposure to natural
resources there is little evidence of a slowdown in demand from the 'real'
world. Most of the companies that we talk to are reporting strong demand and
expecting good profitability.
There have been no significant changes to portfolio strategy. The Trust suffered
when markets moved lower and the gearing in the portfolio has been unhelpful for
much of this year. However we believe that mining shares are attractively priced
at the moment and we see scope for improvement in portfolio performance later in
the year.
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 June 2004
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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