Monthly Archives: October 2020

HM Government Borrowings: September 2020

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.
Now we are in a Covid 19 world. UK’s HM Government needs to fund many new demands. [www.dmo.gov.uk]

Another deficit month, thus to bridge the gap, needs to borrow on the bond market In September 2020 , 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” 11 auctions of Gilts (UK Government Bonds) by the UK Debt Management Office to raise cash for HM Treasury:-

29-Sep-2020 0 1/8% Treasury Gilt 2028 £3,437.4990 Million
24-Sep-2020 0 1/8% Treasury Gilt 2026 £3,749.9990 Million
24-Sep-2020 0 1/8% Index-linked Treasury Gilt 2028 3 months £1,310.7490 Million
16-Sep-2020 0 3/8% Treasury Gilt 2030 £3,124.9990 Million
15-Sep-2020 1¼% Treasury Gilt 2027 £2,867.5000 Million
15-Sep-2020 1¾% Treasury Gilt 2037 £2,187.5000 Million
10-Sep-2020 0 1/8% Treasury Gilt 2023 £3,250.0000 Million
10-Sep-2020 0 5/8% Treasury Gilt 2050 £2,421.7490 Million
03-Sep-2020 0 1/8% Treasury Gilt 2028 £3,412.7490 Million
03-Sep-2020 1¼ % Treasury Gilt 2041 £2,500.0000 Million
02-Sep-2020 0 1/8% Index-Linked Treasury Gilt 2056 3 months £459.0500 Million

= £3,437.4990 Million + £3,749.9990 Million + £1,310.7490 Million + £3,124.9990 Million + £2,867.5000 Million + £2,187.5000 Million + £3,250.0000 Million + £2,421.7490 Million + £3,412.7490 Million + £2,500.0000 Million + £459.0500 Million = £28,721.794 Million

£28,721.794 Million = £28.721 Billion

On another way of looking at it, is in the 30 days in September 2020, HM Government borrowed:- £957.3931333333333 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 from 2023 through to 2056. All long term borrowings, we are mortgaging our futures, but at least “We Are In It Together….”

BP’s Quarterly Results.

The oil major BP had some interesting results in the Q2 figures.

www.bp.com

A huge oil and gas company that is transitioning into Green energy.

https://www.bp.com/content/dam/bp/business-sites/en/global/corporate/pdfs/investors/bp-second-quarter-2020-results.pdf

Its balance sheet on page 17 has some very interesting figures:

Cash position £34.217 Billion.

It has a pension surplus, in its Defined benefit pension plan of £6.346 Billion

Page 27 has some interesting Deb figures:

Finance debt £76.003 Billion

Gearing of 33.1%.

The Gresham House Energy Storage Fund September 2020 Dividend

The Gresham House Energy Storage Fund paid out its September dividend on the 30th Sept.

https://greshamhouse.com/real-assets/new-energy-sustainable-infrastructure/gresham-house-energy-storage-fund-plc/
https://greshamhouse.com/real-assets/new-energy-sustainable-infrastructure/gresham-house-energy-storage-fund-plc/

It was 1.75p a share

https://www.londonstockexchange.com/news-article/GRID/total-voting-rights/14483969

The Company’s issued share capital consisted of 234,270,650 Ordinary Shares.

thus:-

234,270,650 x £0.0175 = £4,099,736.375

https://www.hl.co.uk/shares/shares-search-results/g/gresham-house-energy-storage-ord-gbp0.01

A yield of 4.01%

Standard Life Aberdeen PLC September dividend

Standard Life Aberdeen paid out its September dividend on the 30th Sept.

https://www.standardlifeaberdeen.com/

It was 7.3p a share

https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/SLA/total-voting-rights-w5s1goqtue7qnsu.html

The total number of voting rights in the Company, as at 30 September 2020, is therefore 2,225,782,374

thus:-

2,225,782,374 x £0.073 = 162,482,113.302

https://www.hl.co.uk/shares/shares-search-results/s/standard-life-aberdeen-plc-ordinary-13-616

A yield of 9%

The US Federal Reserve Balance Sheet

A picture paints a thousand words. The most highly regarded and respected financial institution in the world is arguably is the United States central bank, the US Federal Reserve, affectionately known as The Fed. It’s current chairman is Jerome Powell, the former chair persons, all have vast intellectual capacity, famous name such as Janet Yellan, Ben Bernanke, Alan Greenspan, Paul Volcker people of incredible calibre and wisdom. Since 2008 the world has had huge financial turmoil, from the 2008 global financial crisis to the now terrible impact of Covid19 on the global economy. What is very interesting to observe is shear scale of the financial intervention into the markets that The Fed has undertaken, effectively injecting huge quantities of cash (liquidity) into the market, to buy assets off commercial banks, to keep markets functioning. A good way to see that scale of intervention is to look at the movement in size of The Fed’s balance sheet.https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/bst_recenttrends.htm From 2008, just before the financial crisis hit, the assets on the US Federal Reserve were $914,632 Million = $914 Billion = $0.914 Trillion dollars. Then the credit crisis hits and then the Fed intervened into the market by buying mortgage securities and also buying US Treasuries (US Government bonds = US Government Debt) what we know as Quantitative Easing (QE). Then the balance sheet jumped to $2,871,301 Million = £2,871 Billion = $2.871 Trillion dollars, and then by March this year that grown to $4,241,507 Million = $4,241 Billion = $4.241 Trillion dollars just before Covid19 hits, and then the acceleration in the size of the balance sheet, rockets to now where it stands at $7,056,129 Million = $7,056 Billion = $7.056 Trillion. Its scale can not be under-estimated, the fire power of the US Federal Reserve is vast. However what we are seeing is a huge scale market intervention from the central bank to ensure market stability by pumping massive quantities of cash into the system by asset purchases, and then question becomes, are asset prices rising because of the level of national debt, globally, as we are seeing soaring equity prices and perhaps inflation is on the horizon that will wipe out the value of our cash savings.

The Renewables Infrastructure Group Sept 2020 dividend

The Renewables Infrastructure Group paid out its September dividend on the 30th Sept.

https://www.trig-ltd.com/

It was 1.69p a share

https://www.londonstockexchange.com/news-article/TRIG/total-voting-rights/14704386

The total issued share capital with voting rights is 1,741,925,855.

thus:-

1,741,925,855 x £0.0169 = £29,438,546.9495

https://www.investments.halifax.co.uk/shares-centre/investment-trusts/details/TRIG/GG00BBHX2H91/F00000Q7PL

A yield of 4.86%