Portfolio Update

BLACKROCK COMMODITIES INCOME INVESTMENT TRUST plc (LEI:54930040ALEAVPMMDC31)
All information is at 31 August 2017 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 2.7% 7.6% -4.9% 13.2% -14.4% -6.5%
Share price 2.8% 2.0% -8.8% 6.3% -22.9% -13.0%
Sources: Datastream, BlackRock
At month end
Net asset value – capital only: 76.71p
Net asset value cum income*: 78.51p
Share price: 73.13p
Discount to NAV (cum income): 6.9%
Net yield: 5.5%
Gearing - cum income: 9.2%
Total assets^: £102.8m
Ordinary shares in issue: 118,768,000
Gearing range (as a % of net assets): 0-20%
Ongoing charges**: 1.4%
* Includes net revenue of 1.80p.
^ Includes current year revenue.
** Calculated as a percentage of average net assets and using expenses, excluding any interest costs and excluding taxation for the year ended 30 November 2016.
Sector Analysis % Total Assets Country Analysis % Total Assets 
Diversified Mining 30.6 Global 54.2
Integrated Oil 18.6 Canada 13.5
Exploration & Production 14.7 USA 12.7
Copper 10.3 Australia 6.9
Gold 9.7 Latin America 5.2
Distribution 3.6 Europe 3.0
Silver 2.8 Africa 1.8
Oil Sands 1.7 Mali 1.5
Industrial Minerals 1.5 Asia 0.3
Oil Services 1.4 Net current assets  0.9
Steel 1.4 -----
Industrial Resources 1.1 100.0
Iron Ore 1.1 =====
Diamonds 0.6
Net current assets 0.9
-----
100.0
=====
Ten Largest Investments
Company Region of Risk % Total Assets
First Quantum Minerals Global 9.1
BHP Global 7.2
Rio Tinto Global 6.9
Glencore Global 5.4
Royal Dutch Shell ‘B’ Global 5.2
ExxonMobil Global 4.0
Teck Resources Canada 3.9
Newcrest Mining Australia 3.1
Anadarko Petroleum USA 3.1
Vale Latin America 3.0

Commenting on the markets, Olivia Markham and Tom Holl, representing the Investment Manager noted:
The Company’s NAV rose by 2.7% during the month of August (in sterling terms).

Macroeconomic data points were mixed during the period with a confluence of factors keeping equity markets broadly flat (as displayed by the 0.1% increase in the MSCI World Index over the month). China’s Purchasing Manager’s Index (PMI) recorded a positive reading of 51.7, up from 51.4 in July. Elsewhere, US domestic inflation increased at its slowest pace since 2015, boosting expectations that the Federal Reserve (Fed) will delay increasing interest rates, which is negative for the dollar. These supportive factors were offset by rising political tensions around North Korea’s nuclear program and negative investor sentiment around the upcoming European Central Bank meeting. For the mining sector, performance was very strong for the base metals during the month, with nickel, zinc, copper and aluminium increasing by 15.5%, 12.8%, 6.7% and 10.7% respectively.  Iron ore also saw positive performance, increasing by 4.5% during the month.  During the month, the mining sector finished the first half of 2017 reporting and the strong results announced evidenced a remarkable turnaround in the financial health of mining companies since the start of 2016.  The key themes that emerged from the first half of the 2017 reporting season were rising free cash flow, deleveraging and returning capital to shareholders, all fuelled by the significant improvement we have seen in mined commodity prices and costs of production.  

The destructive impact of Tropical Storm Harvey was felt across the energy industry towards the end of the month; US gasoline prices increased to two-year highs as flooding and damage from the storm temporarily shut nearly a quarter of US refinery capacity. Elsewhere, the White House announced new financial sanctions on Venezuela in retaliation to actions by president, Nicolás Maduro, prohibiting Venezuela’s state oil company, PDVSA, from issuing new bonds in American financial markets and preventing US banks from providing new loans to the government or PDVSA. The impact of the hurricane combined with rising geopolitical tension and the shutdown of Libya’s Sharara oilfield due to ongoing conflict in the region widened the spread between US and international oil prices with West Texas International declining by 5.9% and Brent rising by 1.4% during the month, finishing the month at $47.26/bbl and $52.69/bbl respectively. 


All data points in US dollar terms unless otherwise specified. Commodity price moves sourced from Thomson Reuters Datastream.
ENDS
Latest information is available by typing www.blackrock.co.uk/brci 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.
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