Blackrock Engy Regulatory News (BERI)

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

All information is at 31 December 2023 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

5.0%

-0.2%

2.8%

-3.2%

67.7%

120.3%

Share price

5.0%

-0.2%

2.7%

-10.4%

64.3%

105.7%

Sources: Datastream, BlackRock

At month end

Net asset value – capital only:

128.50p

Net asset value cum income1:

128.68p

Share price:

114.80p

Discount to NAV (cum income):

10.8%

Net yield:

3.9%

Gearing - cum income:

10.1%

Total assets:

£167.4m

Ordinary shares in issue2:

130,086,194

Gearing range (as a % of net assets):

0-20%

Ongoing charges3:

1.19%

1 Includes net revenue of 0.18p.

2 Excluding 5,500,000 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

45.1%

Traditional Energy

29.1%

Energy Transition

27.0%

Net Current Liabilities  

-1.2%

-----

100.0%

=====

Sector Analysis

% Total Assets^

Country Analysis

% Total Assets^

Mining:

Diversified

23.8

Global

56.8

Copper

5.7

USA

15.1

Industrial Minerals

2.7

Canada

10.5

Steel

2.6

Latin America

6.5

Metals & Mining

2.6

Germany

3.3

Gold

2.5

France

2.5

Aluminium

2.4

Other Africa

2.5

Nickel

1.3

United Kingdom

2.2

Uranium

1.2

Australia

1.3

Platinum Group Metals

0.3

Ireland

0.5

Subtotal Mining:

45.1

Net Current Liabilities

-1.2

-----

Traditional Energy:

100.0

E&P

12.5

Integrated

10.7

Distribution

2.1

Oil Services

1.9

Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels

1.4

Refining & Marketing

0.5

Subtotal Traditional Energy:

29.1

Energy Transition:

Energy Efficiency

9.4

Electrification

8.1

Renewables

6.1

Transport

3.4

Subtotal Energy Transition:

27.0

Net Current Liabilities

-1.2

----

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 8.8% of the Company’s net asset value.

Ten Largest Investments

Company

Region of Risk

% Total Assets

Glencore

Global

4.9

Rio Tinto

Global

4.7

BHP

Global

4.1

Vale

Latin America

Equity

2.6

Bond

1.3

Shell

Global

3.6

Abaxx Technologies Inc

Global

3.0

NextEra Energy

United States

2.7

Canadian Natural Resources

Canada

2.6

RWE

Germany

2.5

Hess

Global

2.3

Commenting on the markets, Tom Holl and Mark Hume, representing the Investment Manager noted:

The Trust’s NAV returned by 5.0% during the month of December (in GBP terms).

Global equity markets performed well in December, subsequently reporting their strongest year since 2019, following the rally in both November and December. Whilst inflation has fallen, persistent and robust wage growth means that it is not yet on track to settle at 2% policy targets. During the month, the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield fell 19 basis points to 4.02% (the lowest since August) after the Federal Reserve’s last meeting of the year. Geopolitical fragmentation also remained a key theme in December. Against this macroeconomic backdrop, the MSCI All Country World Index returned by 4.7%.

The mining sector outperformed broader equity markets in December. Positive data points from China showed that their industrial metal demand continued to hold up well, whilst their manufacturing PMI ended the year at 50.8, marginally rising from 50.7 in November. Most mined commodities were up over the month, with copper and iron ore prices (62% fe) rising by 0.9% and 7.6% respectively. Meanwhile, precious metals were mixed, with the gold price rising by 1.4%, but the silver price falling by 4.0%. The gold price also hit a new high of $2,100 during the month.

Within energy markets, energy equities displayed mixed performance in December. Global oil demand appeared to remain strong through December, as it has throughout 2023, supported by a resilient global economy, despite efforts by central banks to cool inflation and growth through higher interest rates. On the oil supply side, non-OPEC supply growth has been stronger than expected in recent months, particularly outside of US shale, whilst Russian production remained higher than expected.  An apparent lack of cohesion within OPEC for its announced oil production cuts at the beginning of December led to a fading of the oil price impact from the cuts. Brent and WTI oil prices both fell by 4.9%, ending the month at $78/bbl and $72/bbl respectively. The US Henry Hub natural gas price fell by 10.4% during the month to end at $2.5/mmbtu.

Within the energy transition theme, SolarPower Europe expected a record 56GW of solar installations in the EU27 for 2023, which would cap three consecutive years of 40% growth for solar installations. At the same time, it was also noted that despite this increase, Europe was not yet installing the annual 70GW+ viewed as necessary to meet the bloc’s 2030 target. Clean transportation also saw a number of tax clarifications, in the US around the Inflation Reduction Act and in Europe, with an end to EV subsidies in Germany, whilst France toughened the rules around carbon emissions in the manufacturing process, seen a step towards a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism.

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

26 January 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.