BlackRock Energy and Resources Income Trust Plc - Portfolio Update

BlackRock Energy and Resources Income Trust Plc - Portfolio Update

PR Newswire

London, August 19

BLACKROCK ENERGY AND RESOURCES INCOME TRUST plc (LEI:54930040ALEAVPMMDC31)

All information is at 31 July 2021 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

-2.2%

2.5%

18.2%

49.2%

31.0%

72.7%

Share price

-2.1%

-6.7%

18.9%

48.7%

29.1%

71.2%

Sources: Datastream, BlackRock

At month end

Net asset value - capital only:

98.59p

Net asset value cum income1:

99.21p

Share price:

90.00p

Discount to NAV (cum income):

9.3%

Net yield:

4.4%

Gearing - cum income:

5.5%

Total assets:

£115.3m

Ordinary shares in issue2:

116,270,349

Gearing range (as a % of net assets):

0-20%

Ongoing charges3:

1.25%

1 Includes net revenue of 0.62p. 2 Excluding 2,695,651 ordinary shares held in treasury. 3 Calculated as a percentage of average net assets and using expenses, excluding any interest costs and excluding taxation for the year ended 30 November 2020. The Company's Ongoing Charges for each financial year to 30 November are capped at 1.25% of average daily net asset value for that period.

Sector Overview

Mining

45.2%

Traditional Energy

30.1%

Energy Transition

23.1%

Net Current Assets

1.6%

-----

100.0%

=====

Sector Analysis

% Total Assets^

Country Analysis

% Total Assets^

Mining:

Diversified

25.1

Global

53.0

Copper

4.4

USA

15.8

Industrial Minerals

4.3

Canada

11.9

Gold

3.9

Latin America

9.6

Steel

2.9

Australia

2.4

Iron

1.4

South Africa

2.0

Diamonds

1.3

Germany

1.8

Platinum

1.2

France

0.9

Nickel

0.7

Ireland

0.8

Subtotal Mining:

45.2

Africa

0.2

Net Current Assets^

1.6

Traditional Energy:

E&P

13.7

-----

Integrated

11.5

100.00

Refining & Marketing

3.4

=====

Distribution

1.1

Oil Services

0.4

Subtotal Traditional Energy:

30.1

Energy Transition:

Electrification

8.1

Energy Efficiency

7.2

Renewables

6.1

Transport

0.9

Storage

0.8

Subtotal Energy Transition:

23.1

Net Current Assets^

1.6

----

100.0

=====

^ Total Assets for the purposes of these calculations exclude bank overdrafts, and the net current assets figure shown in the tables above therefore exclude bank overdrafts equivalent to 7.2% of the Company's net asset value.

Ten Largest Investments

Company

Region of Risk

% Total Assets

Vale

Latin America

Equity

6.5

Bond

3.1

Glencore

Global

4.3

BHP

Global

4.3

Anglo American

Global

3.9

Chevron

Global

3.8

Rio Tinto

Global

3.0

Enel

Global

2.9

ConocoPhillips

Global

2.9

Vestas Wind

Global

2.8

First Quantum Minerals

Global

Equity

1.1

Bond

1.3

Commenting on the markets, Tom Holl and Mark Hume, representing the Investment Manager noted: The Company's Net Asset Value (NAV) per share decreased by 2.2% during the month of July (in Sterling terms with dividends reinvested). Broader equity markets continued to recover in July, with the MSCI ACWI TR Index rising by 0.7%, as COVID-19 vaccination rollouts made steady progress. Despite concerns over the delta variant, some COVID-related restrictions were eased further around the world, and there are signs that activity levels are picking up. The mining sector saw recovery in July, outperforming broader equity markets. Mined commodity performance was varied, with copper rising by 3.7% and iron ore (62% fe(iron)) falling by 14.2%, hit by the sector's sell-off. Economic data from China remained resilient, with its manufacturing Purchasing Manager Index (PMI) at 50.3 (a reading over 50 indicates growth or expansion), and credit tightening came to an end. The period also saw a sell-off across precious metals, with the exception of gold which rose 3.3%. Q2 financial reporting showed some minor cost inflation, still modest relative to margins. It was also a strong earnings season for Anglo and Rio, amidst dividend hikes and share buybacks. Traditional energy stocks were impacted by concerns around the increase in spread of the delta variant of COVID-19 and whether this may reduce the strength of economic growth as economies reopen. OPEC announced an agreement on quotas out to 2022 to continue to raise oil supply (by 0.4 million barrels each month) as economies recover and oil demand increases and to support oil prices. Physical indicators suggest the oil market remains tight. With global oil demand standing around 95mbpd at present and expected to recover to c.100mbpd by the end of 2022, if realised, this would exhaust OPEC+'s spare production within 18 months. Oil prices ended the month almost flat, however, this masked significant volatility during the month where oil prices moved sharply lower before recovering, leading the energy equities, particularly the higher beta exploration and production companies, to underperform the commodity over the month. Brent and WTI (West Texas Intermediate) increased by 1.0% and 0.4%, ending the month at $74/bbl and $71/bbl respectively, whilst natural gas prices increased 5%. Recent quarterly results by the energy companies have shown a trend of using the higher cash flows following the recovery in oil prices to raise dividend payments, initiate share buybacks and accelerate deleveraging plans. In our view, this focus on shareholder returns suggests continued capital discipline by energy company management. In the energy transition sector, there was news during the month that an international consortium wants to build the world's biggest renewable energy hub in Australia, to convert wind and solar power into green fuels like hydrogen. The group of energy companies announced the proposal over a 15,000 sq km area that could have a 50 gigawatt (GW) capacity and cost $100bn. The area would be the size of greater Sydney and has consistently high levels of wind and solar energy. The projects 50GW capacity compares to the 54 GW of generation capacity of all the coal, gas and renewables plants currently in the national energy market. 20 August 2021

ENDS

Latest information is available by typing www.blackrock.com/uk/beri 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.