CQS Natural Resources Growth and Income plc (LON:CYN) has announced that its Fact Sheet as at 30 November 2025 is now available below.
The trust benefited again from its large weighting in precious metals in November. Gold rose 5.9% and silver 16.0%, lifting precious metal mining indices up 15% in sterling. Central Banks remained strong buyers, and financial players via physical ETFs returned. Gold was further supported by crypto stablecoin Tether buying 116t, or $15bn. Silver’s outperformance over gold during the month is encouraging. Previously, silver had only increased in line with gold over the last year, rather than showing its characteristic heightened price gains seen in prior cycles. Silver is a smaller market than gold and has been in deficit for the last four years. Thus, it can see greater volatility driven by speculative retail flows, as silver’s lower value per ounce means there is little interest from Central Banks. The fund is currently ~8% weighted to silver miners. Valuations for precious metal miners remain attractive at spot prices, and we believe this continues to justify the large current weighting for the trust.
Oil was weaker again. US-led ceasefire talks between Russia and Ukraine led the market to price in a higher probability of an end to the conflict. The US made an initial 28-point plan following talks with Russia, before Ukraine responded with a 19-point plan. Ukraine’s ongoing drone attacks on Russian energy infrastructure are weighing on Russian export capacity. A large attack this week targeted the Novorossiyk oil depot, a vital Black Sea oil export port for both Russian and Kazakh crude. The IEA warned that Russian sanctions present material supply disruption risk, with the EU looking to step up further pressure. Washington recently sanctioned Rosneft and Lukoil, with curbs impacting over the coming days. This marks four months of declines. However, we see the market increasingly trying to look through this oil glut when considering equity valuations. OPEC met at the end of the month and agreed to a further increase in 1Q26, as the world faces an oil glut.
Oil tanker shipping rates have been incredibly strong, exceeding $100k/d through most of the month. This benefited holding Frontline, the world’s largest listed crude shipper. With a large payout policy, this should boost their dividend.
The uranium price was softer over the month on fears that a Russian/Ukrainian ceasefire could result in more Russian supply. We see limited risk here, as Russian material has still been making its way to market, and Western utilities still need to diversify their supply to safer jurisdictions.
Freeport has begun a partial restart of the world’s largest copper mine, Grasberg in Indonesia, after having closed following a fatal accident weeks ago. Critical metals garnered a lot of attention as the US looks to insulate itself from its heavy reliance on China for certain niche commodities, such as rare earths. The trust’s preferred exposure is via producers with critical metals as a byproduct, so they benefit but aren’t reliant on them for their mine. Examples include Americas Silver and Larvotto, which produce antimony as a byproduct from their precious metal mines.
Fund holding Solgold, an Ecuadorian copper/gold developer, received an unsolicited bid from Chinese copper producer Jiangxi Copper and rallied 68% over the month.
CQS Natural Resources Growth and Income plc (LON:CYN) is a closed end UK investment trust providing shareholders with capital growth and income from a portfolio of mining and resource equities and mining, resource, industrial and other fixed interest securities.
