Blackrock Engy Regulatory News (BERI)

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

All information is at 31 January 2024 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

-6.0%

0.8%

-7.6%

-13.4%

57.5%

94.1%

Share price

-4.9%

1.6%

-6.6%

-21.8%

58.5%

92.4%

Sources: Datastream, BlackRock

At month end

Net asset value – capital only:

120.64p

Net asset value cum income1:

120.96p

Share price:

109.20p

Discount to NAV (cum income):

9.7%

Net yield:

4.1%

Gearing - cum income:

8.3%

Total assets:

£156.4m

Ordinary shares in issue2:

129,261,194

Gearing range (as a % of net assets):

0-20%

Ongoing charges3:

1.19%

1 Includes net revenue of 0.32p.

2 Excluding 6,325,000 ordinary shares held in treasury.

3 The Company’s ongoing charges are calculated as a percentage of average daily net assets and using the management fee and all other operating expenses excluding finance costs, direct transaction costs, custody transaction charges, VAT recovered, taxation and certain other non-recurring items for the year ended 30 November 2023. In addition, the Company’s Manager has also agreed to cap ongoing charges by rebating a portion of the management fee to the extent that the Company’s ongoing charges exceed 1.25% of average net assets.

Sector Overview

Mining

44.8%

Traditional Energy

29.3%

Energy Transition

26.2%

Net Current Liabilities  

-0.3%

-----

100.0%

=====

Sector Analysis

% Total Assets^

Country Analysis

% Total Assets^

Mining:

Diversified

23.8

Global

57.2

Copper

5.7

USA

14.9

Steel

2.8

Canada

10.7

Metals & Mining

2.7

Latin America

5.6

Gold

2.6

Germany

2.9

Industrial Minerals

2.1

Other Africa

2.5

Aluminium

2.1

France

2.4

Uranium

1.5

United Kingdom

2.2

Nickel

1.2

Australia

1.3

Platinum Group Metals

0.3

Ireland

0.6

Subtotal Mining:

44.8

Net Current Liabilities

-0.3

-----

Traditional Energy:

100.0

E&P

12.7

Integrated

9.2

Oil Services

3.1

Distribution

2.2

Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels

1.5

Refining & Marketing

0.6

Subtotal Traditional Energy:

29.3

Energy Transition:

Energy Efficiency

9.9

Electrification

7.7

Renewables

5.4

Transport

3.2

Subtotal Energy Transition:

26.2

Net Current Liabilities

-0.3

----

100.0

=====

^ Total Assets for the purposes of these calculations exclude bank overdrafts, and the net current liabilities figure shown in the tables above therefore exclude bank overdrafts equivalent to 8.0% of the Company’s net asset value.

Ten Largest Investments

Company

Region of Risk

% Total Assets

Rio Tinto

Global

5.2

BHP

Global

4.0

Glencore

Global

3.3

Shell

Global

3.2

Vale

Latin America

Equity

1.5

Bond

1.4

Abaxx Technologies Inc

Global

2.9

NextEra Energy

United States

2.8

Canadian Natural Resources

Canada

2.5

Hess

Global

2.5

Filo Corp

Latin America

2.4

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 6.0% during the month of January (in GBP terms).

Equity markets remained broadly flat, with the MSCI All Country World Index returning 0.6%. The January US payroll report showed robust job gains and wage growth, whilst core inflation fell back to 2%, indicating ongoing resilience in the US economy. Optimism was slightly tempered as we approached the end of the month, following the Fed’s less dovish tone at its January meeting. At a company level, Q4 earnings results were mixed, however mega-cap tech companies’ earnings expectations led market returns.

It was a difficult start to the year for the mining sector on the back of price declines for most mined commodities. Mined commodity prices softened as sentiment around China deteriorated amidst weakness in the country’s domestic property and equity markets. China’s manufacturing PMI remained below 50 but rose marginally month-on-month from 49.0 to 49.2. For reference, prices for iron ore (62% fe), zinc and nickel fell by 6.7%, 4.6% and 2.2% respectively. Iron ore was negatively impacted by China closing a number of steel mills at the end of December as part of its emissions reduction efforts which restricted steel production through January. Meanwhile, US dollar strength weighed on the precious metals, with prices for gold, silver and platinum falling by 0.8%, 4.7% and 8.2% respectively. Copper bucked the trend, its price rising by 0.4%, appearing to reflect growing recognition of the supply side issues in that market. Uranium prices also remained strong on robust demand, but the battery materials prices continued to decline on concerns around electric vehicle-related spend.

Within energy markets, global oil demand continued to remain positive with resilient refining margins. Saudi Arabia announced a reduction to their previous capacity expansion plans where the country is aiming to increase production capacity to 12mbpd, rather than to 13mpd over the coming years. Whilst not impacting on near-term supply, this follows the broader trend of capital discipline by the listed oil majors. Energy equities ended the month broadly flat. Natural gas prices were weaker in January with mild winter weather in Europe, whilst the US announced a pause in approvals for new Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) export projects. Against this backdrop. brent and WTI oil prices rose by 6.8% and 6.1%, ending the month at $83/bbl and $76/bbl respectively. The US Henry Hub natural gas price fell by 15.1% during the month to end at $2.1/mmbtu.

Within the energy transition theme, the International Energy Agency (IEA) released its Renewables 2023 report, which noted that 2023 was the 22nd year in a row where renewable capacity additions set a new record with over 500GW added. Manufacturing capacity under construction indicates that solar panel production capacity could reach 1100GW by the end of 2024. Elsewhere, S&P Global Commodity Insights forecast approximately $800 billion in renewable energy technology investments for 2024, which represents an increase of 10%-20% over 2023 spending levels. In addition to an expectation that the cost of clean technology, including solar panels, may fall by 10 to 20% in 2024, the report also highlighted that manufacturers were also focused on reducing the carbon intensity of their products and increasing transparency and traceability.

All data points in US dollar terms unless otherwise specified. Commodity price moves sourced from Thomson Reuters Datastream.

26 February 2024

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.