BlackRock World Mining Trust Plc - Portfolio Update

BLACKROCK WORLD MINING TRUST plc  (LEI - LNFFPBEUZJBOSR6PW155)
All information is at 30 June 2019 and unaudited.
Performance at month end with net income reinvested
		One				Three				One	Three		Five
		Month				Months				Year	Years		Years
Net asset value		12.8%				5.4%				3.6%	58.0%		16.9%
Share price		12.4%				3.5%				2.5%	60.1%		9.1%
EMIX Global Mining Index (Net)*		11.3%				7.3%				12.4%	63.5%		39.0%
(Total return)
Sources: BlackRock, EMIX Global Mining Index, Datastream
At month end
Net asset value including income1:									441.05p
Net asset value capital only:									435.50p
1 Includes net revenue of 5.55p
Share price:									375.50p
Discount to NAV2:									14.9%
Total assets:									£892.0m
Net yield3:									5.1%
Net gearing:									9.7%
Ordinary shares in issue:									176,330,242
Ordinary shares held in treasury:									16,681,600
Ongoing charges4:									0.9%
2 Discount to NAV including income. 3 Based on a quarterly interim dividend of 4.00p per share declared on 2 May 2019 in respect of the year ending 31 December 2019 and quarterly interim dividends of 3.00p per share declared on 7 August 2018 and 8 November 2018 and a final dividend of 9.00p per share announced on 28 February 2019 in respect of the year ended 31 December 2018. 4 Calculated as a percentage of average net assets and using expenses, excluding finance costs, for the year ended 31 December 2018.
Sector	% Total						Country Analysis					% Total
	Assets											Assets
Diversified	42.3						Global					60.0
Gold	20.7						Latin America					12.7
Copper	17.9						Australasia					10.4
Silver & Diamonds	5.7						Canada					6.6
Industrial Minerals	5.6						Other Africa					1.7
Coal	1.5						South Africa					1.0
Materials	0.7						USA					1.0
Nickel	0.7						Kazakhstan					0.9
Zinc	0.2						Indonesia					0.6
Aluminium	0.1						Russia					0.5
Molybdenum	0.1						China					0.1
Iron Ore	0.1						Argentina					0.1
Current assets	4.4						Current assets					4.4
	-----											-----
	100.0											100.0
	=====											=====
Ten Largest Investments
Company				% Total Assets
BHP					10.5
Rio Tinto					9.6
Vale:   Equity   Debenture					5.3 2.8
Newmont Mining					4.7
First Quantum Minerals					4.1
Oz Minerals Brazil:
Royalty					2.3
Equity					1.8
Teck Resources					4.0
Barrick Gold					3.5
Glencore					3.1
Agnico Eagle Mines					3.1

   

Commenting on the markets, Evy Hambro and Olivia Markham, representing the Investment Manager noted:

Performance

The Company’s NAV increased by 12.8% in June, outperforming its reference index, the EMIX Global Mining Index (net return), which increased by 11.3%.  Despite continued geopolitical and economic risk, markets rebounded in June, as there were hopes for progress in trade talks between the US and China at the G20 summit. In addition, the US Federal Reserve (the Fed) and the European Central Bank remained dovish in their tone, with the market pricing in a greater probability of a rate cut, leading to the MSCI World Index returning +6.5% (in USD).  However, in terms of economic data, this continued to be soft, with the release of weak ISM new orders and weak PMI readings for China and Europe. Elsewhere, geopolitical noise continued in the Middle East, with four tankers attacked, the US threatening additional sanctions on Iran, and Iran continuing to strive to reach its maximum limit of enriched uranium, which would violate the terms of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. Against this backdrop, the mining sector performed positively.  In terms of the mined commodities, iron ore was the strongest performer, rising by 10.4% over the month to a near 5-year high of $118/tonne, on the back of continued market tightness.  Elsewhere, June was a spectacular month for gold and gold equities, with gold rising by 8.6% to a 6-year high of $1,412/oz. and gold equities exhibiting a beta of over 2 to the upwards move. Gold benefited from the convergence of several key factors. The US dollar, which weakened after the Fed hinted at upcoming rate cuts in 2019 and the DXY (a US dollar index) fell from 97.5 to 96.2. For reference, gold and the US dollar tend to have a strong inverse relationship. Meanwhile, real yields, which represent the true opportunity cost of holding gold, plunged with the US 10-year yield falling to 2.01% (having started 2019 at 2.69%), whilst US CPI remained relatively flat also coming in around 2.0%. Other tailwinds for gold included the aforementioned rising geopolitical risk, which led to safe haven demand for gold. (Figures in USD) In the Company, outperformance was driven primarily by our exposure to the copper sub-sector, with our positions in Ero Copper, Ivanhoe and Lundin Mining appearing amongst the top contributors to performance over the month. Strategy and Outlook We see an attractive valuation opportunity in mining today. The mining sector is generating close to record free cash flow today, whilst balance sheets are in strong shape and companies remain focused on capital discipline. Whilst US-China trade tensions are fuelling uncertainty, our base case remains that we have positive global economic growth for the next 12-18 months, albeit at a slower rate than was expected this time last year. Barring an economic recession, we expect the mining sector to re-rate as the miners continue to generate robust free cash flow and return capital to shareholders through dividends and buybacks. We expect most mined commodity prices to be stable to rising through the remainder of this year. On the commodity demand side, we do not anticipate a hard-landing type event in China and we have been encouraged by stimulus measures beginning to feed through into improvements in some economic data points. On the commodity supply side, supply is tight in most mined commodity markets and, given the cuts in mining sector spending since 2012 (down ~66%), we expect it to remain so. All data points are in GBP terms unless stated otherwise

18 July 2019

Latest information is available by typing www.blackrock.co.uk/brwm on the internet. 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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