BlackRock Commodities Income Investment Trust Plc - Portfolio Update

BLACKROCK COMMODITIES INCOME INVESTMENT TRUST plc (LEI:54930040ALEAVPMMDC31)

All information is at 30 June 2018 and unaudited.

Performance at month end with net income reinvested

One

Three

Six

One

Three

Five

Month

Months

Months

Year

Years

Years

Net asset value

0.3%

17.6%

9.0%

28.8%

39.6%

15.3%

Share price

4.6%

17.9%

12.8%

29.1%

29.6%

11.7%

Sources: Datastream, BlackRock

At month end

Net asset value – capital only:

87.14p

Net asset value cum income*:

87.55p

Share price:

83.90p

Discount to NAV (cum income):

4.2%

Net yield:

4.8%

Gearing - cum income:

6.1%

Total assets^:

£107.4m

Ordinary shares in issue:

116,816,916

Gearing range (as a % of net assets):

0-20%

Ongoing charges**:

1.4%

* Includes net revenue of 0.41p. ^ Includes current year revenue. ** Calculated as a percentage of average net assets and using expenses, excluding any interest costs and excluding taxation for the year ended 30 November 2017.

Sector Analysis

% Total Assets

Country Analysis

% Total  Assets

Diversified Mining

29.7

Global

63.6

Integrated Oil

27.5

Canada

14.3

Exploration & Production

15.6

USA

11.0

Gold

9.2

Australia

4.1

Copper

8.2

Latin America

3.5

Industrial Minerals

3.8

Africa

3.4

Diamonds

2.1

Europe

1.1

Silver

1.6

Net current liabilities

(1.0)

Steel

1.3

-----

Distribution

1.1

100.0

Oil Services

0.9

=====

Net current liabilities

(1.0)

-----

100.0

=====

Ten Largest Investments

Company

Region of Risk

% Total Assets

Rio Tinto

Global

8.7

BHP

Global

8.3

Royal Dutch Shell ‘B’

Global

6.8

First Quantum Minerals*

Global

6.2

Glencore

Global

5.7

Chevron

Global

5.0

BP

Global

4.4

Exxon Mobil

Global

3.7

Marathon Oil

Global

3.2

ConocoPhillips

USA

3.1

* The holding in First Quantum Minerals includes both an equity holding and a holding in several bonds.

Commenting on the markets, Olivia Markham and Tom Holl, representing the Investment Manager noted:

The Company’s NAV increased by 0.3% during the month of June (in GBP terms with dividend reinvested). Markets experienced significant volatility during the month as the increasing possibility of a trade war between the US and China put pressure on cyclically sensitive areas of the market. Ongoing rhetoric from both the Trump and China administrations on the topic of tariffs has heightened concerns of slower than anticipated global growth, and led to a risk-off market environment. June was a difficult month for the mining sector, which moved into negative territory overall for 2018. The month saw more noise around potential trade wars as President Donald Trump approved tariffs worth $50 billion on China, leading Beijing to counter with $50 billion of tariffs of its own. Concerns heightened around the potential for this to derail the global economic growth story and mined commodities suffered as a result. However, whilst the market focused on the risks surrounding rising protectionism, global economic data remained healthy, with global manufacturing PMI increasing to 53.0.   The US dollar strengthened over the month, providing another headwind for commodity prices and precious metals in particular. Gold, silver and platinum prices were down by 4.1%, 2.2% and 6.2% respectively. The base metals were also weak, with zinc, copper and nickel down by 6.2%, 3.2% and 2.2% respectively. The bulk commodities were relatively stable, however, with the iron ore (62% fe) price up by 2.3% over the month to $67/tonne. In the energy sector, the primary news during the month was the meeting of “OPEC Plus”; where the group announced plans to re-target 100% compliance with the 1.8 million barrels per day (b/d) cuts agreed in late 2016. Due to unintended production declines in Venezuela, Angola and Mexico, the group’s compliance was 147% in May 2018 and, as a result, we could see up to 1.0 million b/d of supply added back to the market during the second half of 2018. On the basis that global demand remains robust, this additional supply looks to be required to balance the market and our base case is for oil prices to stay around current levels for the remainder of 2018. With this in mind, we see potential upside risk as supply outages are likely to increase; US sanctions on Iran will come into force in November, whilst Venezuela production is expected to continue falling, and finally, the risk of disruptions in Libya has increased with growing political tensions. All data points in US dollar terms unless otherwise specified. Commodity price moves sourced from Thomson Reuters Datastream.

20 July 2018

ENDS

Latest information is available by typing www.blackrock.co.uk/brci 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.

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