BlackRock Energy and Resources Income Trust Plc - Portfolio Update

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

All information is at 31 July 2024 and unaudited.

Performance at month end with net income reinvested

One

Three

Six

One

Three

Month

Months

Months

Year

Years

Net asset value

0.5%

-0.5%

11.5%

3.0%

48.7%

Share price

2.6%

-1.1%

12.0%

4.7%

49.4%

Sources: Datastream, BlackRock

At month end

Net asset value – capital only:

132.37p

Net asset value cum income1:

132.62p

Share price:

120.00p

Discount to NAV (cum income):

9.5%

Net yield:

3.7%

Gearing - cum income:

8.6%

Total assets:

£162.8m

Ordinary shares in issue2:

122,744,497

Gearing range (as a % of net assets):

0-20%

Ongoing charges3:

1.19%

1 Includes net revenue of 0.25p.

2 Excluding 12,841,697 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

41.2%

Traditional Energy

31.8%

Energy Transition                

27.5%

Net Current Liabilities             

-0.5%

-----

100.0%

=====

Sector Analysis

% Total Assets^

Country Analysis

% Total Assets^

Mining:

Diversified

20.6

Global

50.9

Copper

6.2

USA

21.8

Steel

4.5

Canada

10.2

Gold

3.5

United Kingdom

3.4

Industrial Minerals

2.1

Latin America

2.9

Aluminium

1.5

Germany

2.7

Metals & Mining

1.5

Other Africa

2.4

Nickel

1.3

Italy

2.1

Subtotal Mining:

41.2

Australia

2.0

France

1.5

Traditional Energy:

Ireland

0.6

E&P

12.2

Net Current Liabilities

-0.5

Integrated

8.7

-----

Oil Services

4.4

100.0

Distribution

4.0

Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels

1.6

Refining & Marketing

0.9

Subtotal Traditional Energy:

31.8

Energy Transition:

Energy Efficiency

10.1

Electrification

8.0

Renewables

4.7

Transport

2.6

Storage

2.1

Subtotal Energy Transition:

27.5

Net Current Liabilities

-0.5

----

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 8.1% of the Company’s net asset value.

Ten Largest Investments

Company

Region of Risk

% Total Assets

Rio Tinto

Global

4.6

Anglo American

Global

4.3

Teck Resources

Global

3.7

Shell

Global

3.5

Glencore

Global

3.5

Targa Resources

United States

2.5

NextEra Energy

United States

2.5

National Grid

United Kingdom

2.4

Schneider Electric

Global

2.3

Exxon Mobil

Global

2.3

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

The Company’s NAV (Net Asset Value) increased by 0.5% in July (in GBP terms).

The month began with a lower-than-anticipated US Consumer Price Index (CPI) figure, coupled with subdued US labour market statistics, which supported market expectations that the Federal Reserve may make an initial interest rate cut in September. Markets ended the month with increased uncertainty over the strength of the US economy and the valuations of Artificial Intelligence related companies that have led market performance this year, leading to a mixed performance from the world's largest technology firms.

Within conventional energy, evidence of weaker than expected oil demand from China was a headwind. For context, the International Energy Agency (IEA) revised oil demand growth expectations for China from 712kbpd at the start of the year to 415kbpd in its July Oil Market Report. The Brent oil price fell by 6.7%, whilst the WTI fell by 4.2%, ending the month at $81/bbl and $79/bbl respectively. The US Henry Hub natural gas price fell by 21.5% during the month to end at $2.04/mmbtu.

Within the mining sector, mined commodity prices were mostly soft, with copper and iron ore (62% fe.) prices falling by 3.7% and 4.2% respectively. Gold bucked the trend, however, rising by 4.1% as declining real interest rate expectations and US dollar weakness were tailwinds. China held its Third Plenum during the month, a key meeting which takes place roughly every five years and aims to map out long-term economic and social policies. A broad range of reform measures were announced (over 300 in total) but the market appeared disappointed it didn’t contain more drastic property support measures. We also saw a pick-up in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity with Cleaveland-Cliffs announcing the acquisition of Stelco, BHP and Lundin Mining announcing a joint acquisition of Filo Corp.

Within the energy transition theme, a report by Ember highlighted that in the first six months of the year, the 13 EU member states produced more electricity from renewable wind and solar power than from fossil fuels. Meanwhile, in a press release, WindEurope announced that “grid access is the new bottleneck – the number one bottleneck, to the build-out of wind”, with grid connections and expansion and planning timelines highlighted as areas of focus. Elsewhere, in clean transportation, ridesharing group Uber announced it was purchasing 100,000 EVs from BYD as it seeks to focus on European and Latin American markets. According to Bloomberg NEF’s latest electric vehicle outlook, US electric vehicle sales could make up 30% of new car sales by 2027 compared to 14% in 2023. By 2027, US EV sales are seen rising to 4.5 million units, against less than 1.5 million last year.

20 August 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.