BLACKROCK WORLD MINING TRUST plc
All information is at 31 October 2014 and unaudited.
Performance at month end with net income reinvested
One Three One Three Five
Month Months Year Years Years
Net asset value -13.2% -25.8% -24.9% -46.0% -25.5%
Share price -18.6% -28.7% -22.9% -40.4% -17.1%
Euromoney Global Mining Index -5.5% -15.7% -13.8% -37.5% -20.9%
(Total return)
Sources: BlackRock, Euromoney Global Mining Index, Datastream
At month end
Net asset value including income*: 382.03p
Net asset value capital only: 370.01p
*Includes net revenue of 12.02p
Share price: 349.00p
Discount to NAV**: 8.6%
Total assets: £781.5m
Net yield***: 6.0%
Net gearing: 12.7%
Ordinary shares in issue: 177,287,242
Ordinary shares held in treasury: 15,724,600
Ongoing charges****: 1.4%
** Discount to NAV including income.
*** Based on final dividend of 14.00p per share in respect of the year ended 31
December 2013 and interim dividend of 7.00p per share in respect of the year
ending 31 December 2014.
**** Calculated as a percentage of average net assets and using expenses,
excluding finance costs for the year ended 31 December 2013.
Sector % Total Country Analysis % Total
Assets Assets
Diversified 40.9 Global 53.4
Base Metals 25.9 Latin America 12.3
Gold 9.4 Other Africa 8.0
Silver & Diamonds 7.3 Australasia 6.9
Industrial Minerals 6.6 Canada 5.0
Other 4.1 South Africa 4.0
Energy Minerals 2.7 Emerging Europe 3.9
Platinum 0.6 China 2.7
Zinc 0.1 USA 1.1
Net current assets 2.4 Indonesia 0.3
Net current assets 2.4
----- -----
100.0 100.0
===== =====
Ten Largest Investments % Total
Assets
Company
Rio Tinto 9.5
BHP Billiton 9.1
First Quantum Minerals 8.4
GlencoreXstrata 8.2
Freeport-McMoRan 5.9
MMC Norilsk Nickel 3.8
Lundin Mining 3.7
Vale 3.4
Sociedad Minera Cerro Verde 3.2
China Shenhua Energy 2.7
Commenting on the markets, Evy Hambro, representing the Investment Manager
noted:
Performance
October was a trying month for the natural resources sector, as the market
continued to digest slowing global demand growth expectations. This slow down,
coupled with a strengthening US dollar (further exacerbated by the end of QE),
led the majority of the commodity suite to fall during the month. The base
metals were the relative outperformers as displayed by a 6.7% increase in the
aluminium price, 1.5% in zinc and a broadly flat month for copper which
finished 0.6% higher (source: Thomson Reuters Datastream).
It has been somewhat of a perfect storm for the mining sector as supply has
continued to grow whilst demand has fallen short of expectations. The downward
pressure on the iron ore price caused by production growth from the major
producers stabilised somewhat during the month and iron ore finished the month
1.3% higher than it started.
In addition to the poor performance of the mining sector as a whole in October,
the NAV of the Company was negatively impacted by the write down of the holding
in the London Mining Marampa royalty contract and the holding in London
Mining's convertible bond to nil which resulted in a reduction in the cum
income NAV of 29.55p per share. Details relating to this were provided in the
September month end portfolio update published on 21 October 2014.
During London Metals Exchange Week (LME) in October, the International Copper
Study Group reduced their copper supply estimates for 2014 and 2015. Zinc was
the favoured metal of LME attendees as the projected supply deficit points to
attractive fundamentals.
In the precious metals space, the gold price has been very closely tied to US
dollar movements, and as the dollar surged in early October to its highest
level in more than four years, gold fell below $1,200/oz. Towards the end of
the month the Federal Reserve announced the anticipated end to QE and had a
more hawkish tone on interest rate rises. This was then followed by the Bank of
Japan announcing additional QE in Japan. These events put further pressure on
the gold price and it finished the month at $1,166/oz, 3.9% lower (source:
Thomson Reuters Datastream).
Strategy / Outlook
The mining sector has significantly lagged general equity markets in recent
years. However, a number of the downside risks for this sector have reduced
(albeit not disappeared). The industry has made good progress in refocusing its
strategy: operating costs have been aggressively targeted and investment in
projects reassessed. Recent commodity price moves are likely to abate some of
the expected improvement in free cash flow within the sector. Many commodities
are trading close to or below their marginal cost of production, implying that
price downside should be limited, in the absence of a collapse in demand. We
see 2014 as a year of transition, some of which has begun to materialise with
the large cap diversified miners delivering operationally, bringing down costs
and reducing the levels of capital expenditure.
The market has been focused on liquidity concerns and increasing volatility in
China; however, it is important to highlight that 4Q is a seasonally stronger
period for mining demand, which in the past has supported commodity prices.
Mining companies are trading on an undemanding valuation and an attractive
dividend yield. With capital expenditure rolling off, management are guiding
investors towards rising free cash flows.
All data in USD terms unless otherwise stated.
14 November 2014
ENDS
Latest information is available by typing www.brwmplc.co.uk on the internet,
"BLRKINDEX" on Reuters, "BLRK" on Bloomberg or "8800" on Topic 3 (ICV
terminal). Neither the contents of the Manager's website nor the contents of
any website accessible from hyperlinks on the Manager's website (or any other
website) is incorporated into, or forms part of, this announcement.
*A Private Investor is a recipient of the information who meets all of the conditions set out below, the recipient:
Obtains access to the information in a personal capacity;
Is not required to be regulated or supervised by a body concerned with the regulation or supervision of investment or financial services;
Is not currently registered or qualified as a professional securities trader or investment adviser with any national or state exchange, regulatory authority, professional association or recognised professional body;
Does not currently act in any capacity as an investment adviser, whether or not they have at some time been qualified to do so;
Uses the information solely in relation to the management of their personal funds and not as a trader to the public or for the investment of corporate funds;
Does not distribute, republish or otherwise provide any information or derived works to any third party in any manner or use or process information or derived works for any commercial purposes.
Please note, this site uses cookies. Some of the cookies are essential for parts of the site to operate and have already been set. You may delete and block all cookies from this site, but if you do, parts of the site may not work. To find out more about the cookies used on Investegate and how you can manage them, see our Privacy and Cookie Policy
To continue using Investegate, please confirm that you are a private investor as well as agreeing to our Privacy and Cookie Policy & Terms.