|
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.
|
|
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
|
|
|