Monthly Archives: May 2017

The Blackrock Commodities Income Investment Trust

The BlackRock Commodities Income Investment Trust plc is a London listed investment vehicle

https://www.blackrock.com/uk/individual/products/investment-trusts/our-range/blackrock-commodities-income-investment-trust/trust-information?siteEntryPassthrough=true&locale=en_GB&userType=individual

It’s top ten holdings are:-

1. Royal Dutch Shell Plc B. 6.6%
2. First Quantum Minerals Ltd. 6.0%
3. Rio Tinto Plc. 5.7%
4. Exxon Mobil Corporation 5.5%
5. BHP Billiton Plc. 3.7%
6. MMC Norilsk Nickel 2.9%
7. Newcrest Mining Ltd. 2.8%
8. Enbridge Income Fund Holdings Inc. 2.7%
9. Conocophillips. 2.7%
10. Glencore International PLC. 2.6%

Total of 41.2%

http://www.shareshop.hsbc.co.uk/shareshop/security.cgi?csi=152827&action=

A yield of over 8%

The FTSE-100: Dominated by 12 Companies.

The UK’s Flagship Index is the FTSE-100 Index.

The symbol is UKX

http://www.shareshop.hsbc.co.uk/shareshop/security.cgi?csi=50058

The top 100 UK companies but 12 companies distort the index due to relative weightings.

Royal Dutch Shell is 9.2% of the FTSE-100
HSBC 6.9% of the FTSE-100
British American Tobacco 5.4% of the FTSE-100
BP 4.7% of the FTSE-100
GlaxoSmithKline 4.2% of the FTSE-100
AstraZeneca 3.2% of the FTSE-100
Diageo 3.1% of the FTSE-100
Vodafone 2.9% of the FTSE-100
Unilever 2.6% of the FTSE-100
Reckitt Benckiser 2.5% of the FTSE-100
Lloyds Banking Group 2.4% of the FTSE-100
Prudential 2.4% of the FTSE-100

That is 12 companies make up 49.5% of the whole index.

What does this mean ?

So if you invested £1,000 with a FTSE 100 tracker, 49.5% of that £1,000 which is nearly half of your investment just goes into 12 stocks. That means, £495 of your cash is invested in the 12 companies above, and then the remaining £505 will be spread between 88 companies.
Thus your fortunes are tied to really 12 companies and their performance.  A very distorted index.

Prudential’s 30.57p Dividend

On Friday 19th May 2017, The Prudential paid its 30.57p dividend to shareholders

www.prudential.co.uk

with assets of £599 Billion Under Management.

The total number of voting rights in Prudential is therefore 2,585,706,972

http://otp.investis.com/clients/uk/prudential_plc/rns/regulatory-story.aspx?cid=401&newsid=868325

Thus:

2,585,706,972  * £0.3057 = £790,450,621.34

That is £790 million

http://www.shareshop.hsbc.co.uk/shareshop/security.cgi?username=&ac=&csi=10065&record_search=1&search_phrase=pru

2.5% yield

The GKN Dividend

On Wednesday 17th May 2017, GKN paid its 5.9p dividend to shareholders

www.gkn.com

Founded in 1759 with today over 58,000 employees, GKN is a global engineering business. GKN, design, manufacture and service systems and components for most of the world’s leading aircraft, vehicle and machinery manufacturers.
Founded more than 250 years ago, GKN have adapted, developed and grown into a £9.4 billion business at the forefront of global technology

The total number of voting rights in GKN plc is 1,717,311,053

http://otp.investis.com/clients/uk/gkn1/rns/regulatory-story.aspx?cid=76&newsid=868483

Thus:

1,717,311,053  * £0.059 = £101,321,352.13

That is £101 million

http://www.shareshop.hsbc.co.uk/shareshop/security.cgi?csi=10041

2.5% yield

The Lloyds Banking Group 2.2p Dividend.

Yesterday, (Tue 16th May), Lloyds Banking Group, paid out its dividend to shareholders.

www.lloydsbankinggroup.com

2.2p was paid out.

What did this 2.2p dividend cost Lloyds Banking Group ?

http://otp.investis.com/clients/uk/lloyds_banking_group/rns/regulatory-story.aspx?cid=1273&newsid=848548

The share capital of Lloyds Banking Group is made up of 71,459,965,313 ordinary shares

Thus:

71,459,965,313 x £0.022 = £1,572,119,236.89

That is £1.572 Billion of cash

http://www.shareshop.hsbc.co.uk/shareshop/security.cgi?csi=10056&action=

A yield of over 3%

The cost to nationalise, The National Grid.

The UK’s national electricity network is owned and run by National Grid.

www.nationalgrid.com

HM Opposition (the Labour party) are proposing it is nationalised if they win the UK general election.

What would it cost for the UK Government to buy back National Grid from the investors who own it today ?

Share Price is about £10 a share.

Total voting rights

http://otp.investis.com/clients/uk/national_grid/rns/regulatory-story.aspx?cid=374&newsid=868275

3,753,238,483  are the shares in circulation

Thus:

3,753,238,483 x £10 = £37,532,384,830

That is £37 Billion pounds which is just about the UK’s current annual defence budget.

Also, if the UK Government bought National Grid, it has to take on it’s debt.

That debt is over £25bn.
So, potentially spends £37bn to buy it and needs to cover the £25bn of debt.

BT’s Proposed September 2017 Dividend

On Thursday 11th May, BT plc, the worlds most dynamic media and telecoms group announced its annual results.

http://otp.investis.com/clients/uk/bt/rns/regulatory-story.aspx?cid=1470&newsid=870893

The proposed dividend is delicious:

“Proposed final dividend of 10.55p, up 10%, giving a full year dividend of 15.40p, also up 10%.”

Now the total voting rights are

http://otp.investis.com/clients/uk/bt/rns/regulatory-story.aspx?cid=1470&newsid=867698

The total number of voting rights in BT Group plc on that date was 9,960,490,519

This, the dividend will cost BT:

9,960,490,519 x £0.1055 = £1,050,831,750

That is just over £1 Billion.

http://www.shareshop.hsbc.co.uk/shareshop/security.cgi?username=&ac=&csi=10025&record_search=1&search_phrase=BT

a 5% yield. Delicious

The Cash of Apple.

Apple has massive cash reserves.

http://www.apple.com

The figures are incredible.

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/pdfs/Q2FY17ConsolidatedFinancialStatements.pdf

The Balance Sheet is revealing:-

Current assets:

Cash and cash equivalents $15,157,000,000
Short-term marketable securities $51,944,000,000
Accounts receivable, less an allowance of $53 at each period end 11,579,000,000
Inventories $2,910,000,000
Vendor non-trade receivables $9,033,000,000
Other current assets $11,367,000,000
Total current assets $101,990,000,000

Long-term marketable securities $189,740,000,000
Property, plant and equipment, net $27,163,000,000
Goodwill $5,473,000,000
Acquired intangible assets, net $2,617,000,000
Other non-current assets $7,549,000,000

Total assets $ 334,532,000,000

It holds over $15 Billion in cash or close to cash assets such as T-Bills
It holds $51 Billion in short term securities, such as 3 Month T-Bills or Asset Back Commercial Paper that matures in 3 months
It holds inventory (iPads, iPhones) worth $2.9 Billion
It holds long term assets such as Bonds and other financial instruments of $189 Billion

So the financial assets are $15bn + $51bn + $189bn. = BIG MONEY = $255bn

Infrastructure India.

Infrastructure India PLC is an AIM London listed company buying infrastructure assets in India.

http://www.iiplc.com/

It currently owns 4 assets in India:

Distribution Logistics Infrastructure Limited (DLI)
Shree Maheshwar Hydel Power Corporation Limited
Indian Energy Limited (IEL)
India Hydropower Development Company, LLC

http://www.shareshop.hsbc.co.uk/shareshop/security.cgi?username=&ac=&csi=1841430&record_search=1&search_phrase=infrastructure

HM Government Borrowing April 2017

Another month, guess what, take a lucky guess, it is the same old story, HM Government, spends more money than it receives via taxes and duties. Another deficit month, thus to bridge the gap, needs to borrow on the bond market.

In April 2017, the HM Government had to borrow money to meet the difference between tax revenues and public sector expenditure. The term for this is The PSNCR: The Public Sector Net Cash Requirement.

There were “only” 4 auctions of Gilts (UK Government Bonds) by the UK Debt Management Office (http://www.dmo.gov.uk/) to raise cash for HM Treasury:-
26-Apr-2017 0 1/8% Index-linked Treasury Gilt 2046 £857.7930 Million
20-Apr-2017 0½% Treasury Gilt 2022 £3,162.4970 Million
12-Apr-2017 2½% Treasury Gilt 2065 £1,724.9990 Million
04-Apr-2017 1¼% Treasury Gilt 2027 £2,867.7390 Million
When you add the cash raised:-

∑(£857.7930 Million + £3,162.4970 Million + £1,724.9990 Million + £2,867.7390 Million =  £8,613.028  Million

£8,613.028  Million  = £8.613028  Billion

On another way of looking at it, is in the 30 days in April, HM Government borrowed:-

£287 million each day for the 30 days.

We are fortunate, while the global banking and financial markets still has the confidence in HM Government to buy the Gilts (Lend money to the UK), the budget deficit keeps rising. What is also alarming, is the dates these bond mature 2022, 2027 2046 and 2065. All long term borrowings, we are mortgaging our futures, but at least “We are in it together…

Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust: May Dividend.

Yesterday (Tue 2nd May), the Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust paid out it’s monthly dividend of 2.7p to shareholders.

http://www.fandc.com/foreign-and-colonial-investment-trust/

Companies  % of Portfolio

Amazon   1.4
UnitedHealth  1.2
Alphabet  1.1
Microsoft 1.1
Utilico Emerging Markets 0.9
Facebook  0.8
BP   0.8
Priceline  0.8
Philip Morris  0.7
Apple   0.7

Total assets: £3.6 billion

http://otp.investis.com/clients/uk/fandc/rns/regulatory-story.aspx?cid=521&newsid=860565

The total number of voting rights that can be exercised in the Company is: 545,024,660

Thus:

545,024,660 x £0.027 = £14,715,665.82

That is £14m in dividend payments

http://www.shareshop.hsbc.co.uk/shareshop/security.cgi?csi=10192&action=

A yield of 1.7%

The Dow 30 Companies.

Dow 30 Index

The Dow Jones is now hitting all times highs. Who are the Dow 30 Companies

MMM 3M
AXP American Express
AAPL Apple
BA Boeing
CAT Caterpillar
CVX Chevron
CSCO Cisco
KO Coca-Cola
DIS Disney
DD E I du Pont de Nemours and Co
XOM Exxon Mobil
GE General Electric
GS Goldman Sachs
HD Home Depot
IBM IBM
INTC Intel
JNJ Johnson & Johnson
JPM JPMorgan Chase
MCD McDonald’s
MRK Merck
MSFT Microsoft
NKE Nike
PFE Pfizer
PG Procter & Gamble
TRV Travelers Companies Inc
UTX United Technologies
UNH UnitedHealth
VZ Verizon
Visa
WMT Wal-Mart