MERRILL LYNCH WORLD MINING TRUST plc
All information is at 31 July 2007 and unaudited.
Performance at month end with net income reinvested
One Three One Three Five
month months year years years
Net asset value* (undiluted) 2.4% 14.9% 47.6% 250.0% 490.1%
Net asset value* (diluted) 2.1% 12.9% 42.0% 224.8% 448.3%
Share price* 6.8% 14.3% 54.9% 236.1% 511.8%
HSBC Global Mining Index 2.8% 14.2% 38.9% 193.6% 342.2%
Sources: BlackRock Investment Management (UK) Limited, HSBC Global Mining
Index, Datastream
*Net asset value and share price performance includes the warrant reinvestment,
assuming the 2004 and 2006 bonus warrant entitlements per share were sold and
the proceeds reinvested on the first day of trading.
At month end
Net asset value Including Income Capital Only
Undiluted: 686.83p 682.80p
Diluted: 653.79p 650.40p
Share price: 609.00p
Discount to NAV*: 6.4%
Warrant price: 143.00p
Total assets: £1,103.48m
Net yield: 0.41%
Gearing: 1.86%
Ordinary shares in issue: 158,666,602
Warrants in issue: 29,814,855
Ordinary shares held in Treasury: 13,476,677
*Discount to NAV based on capital only, fully diluted NAV.
During the month a further 413,246 ordinary shares were bought back to be held
in treasury for a total consideration of £2,456,000.
Sector % Total Country % Total
Analysis Assets Analysis Assets
Diversified 46.5 Latin America 24.0
Base Metals 28.0 Global 20.2
Platinum 7.3 Australasia 11.9
Gold 5.6 South Africa 11.8
Industrial Minerals 5.6 Canada 9.7
Silver/Diamonds 5.1 Other Africa 6.9
Other 3.0 USA 6.7
Net current liabilities (1.1) India 3.5
----- China 2.4
100.0 Kazakhstan 1.2
----- Europe 1.1
Indonesia 1.1
Laos 0.6
Net current liabilities (1.1)
-----
100.0
-----
Ten Largest Equity Investments
Company Region of Risk
Alcoa USA
Anglo American Global
BHP Billiton Global
CVRD Latin America
First Quantum Minerals Zambia
Impala Platinum South Africa
Minas Buenaventura Latin America
Rio Tinto Global
Teck Cominco Canada
Zinifex Australasia
Commenting on the markets, Graham Birch, representing the Investment Manager
noted:
Performance
The Company had another good month in absolute terms with the NAV rising by
2.4% versus the Index return of 2.8%. The major news over the month was Rio
Tinto's US$38.1 billion bid for Alcan, the Canadian aluminium producer, topping
a previous hostile bid for the company by Alcoa. The tie-up will give the
group the capability to produce around 4.4 million tonnes of aluminium
annually, making it by far the world's largest producer. Demand for metals and
minerals remains robust with China, the largest consumer of most commodities
globally, announcing during July that its GDP grew by 11.9% during the 2nd
quarter; this should remain very supportive of metal prices going forward. The
supply side continues to look constrained with a lack of quality projects
coming into production and delays from industrial action occurring frequently
(during July alone Codelco, Xstrata and Southern Copper Corp all had issues
with protests and strikes).
Among the strongest contributors to performance over the month were the
Company's holdings in Rio Tinto and Alcan which both gained following the
announcement of Rio's bid. Another strong performer was the Company's holding
in China Shenhua Energy, a Chinese coal mining company, which gained on the
back of a strong Asian coal price outlook, analyst upgrades and positive
results for the first half of 2007.
Strategy/Outlook
We believe that the Rio Tinto/Alcan transaction may well be the catalyst for
further consolidation within the sector and a possible re-rating of the mining
sector as a whole. We expect commodity prices to remain above their historical
averages for the medium term as demand growth continues to outstrip supply-side
growth, a factor that the market is waking up to but has not yet fully
recognised.
Latest information is available by typing www.blackrock.co.uk/its on the
internet, "BLRKINDEX" on Reuters, "BLRK" on Bloomberg or "8800" on Topic 3 (ICV
terminal).
13 August 2007
END
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