PR Newswire
London, December 20
| BLACKROCK INCOME AND GROWTH INVESTMENT TRUST PLC |
| All information is at 30 November 2016 and unaudited. |
| Performance at month end with net income reinvested |
| One Month | Three Months | One Year | Three Years | Since 1 April 2012 | Five Years | |
| Sterling | ||||||
| Share price | -0.8% | -1.3% | 1.9% | 23.9% | 62.8% | 87.6% |
| Net asset value | -1.9% | -1.9% | 1.1% | 24.3% | 51.4% | 64.7% |
| FTSE All-Share Total Return | -1.6% | 0.6% | 9.8% | 15.7% | 45.2% | 55.4% |
| Source: BlackRock |
| BlackRock took over the investment management of the Company with effect from 1 April 2012. |
| At month end | |
| Sterling: | |
| Net asset value - capital only: | 181.83p |
| Net asset value - cum income*: | 186.91p |
| Share price: | 183.50p |
| Total assets (including income): | £49.4m |
| Discount to cum-income NAV: | 1.8% |
| Net gearing: | 1.7% |
| Net yield**: | 3.3% |
| Ordinary shares in issue***: | 25,354,268 |
| Gearing range (as a % of net assets) | 0-20% |
| Ongoing charges****: | 1.2% |
| * Includes net revenue of 5.08 pence per share |
| ** The Company's yield based on dividends announced in the last 12 months as at the date of the release of this announcement is 3.3% and includes the 2015 final dividend of 3.60p per share declared on 15 January 2016, paid to shareholders on 4 March 2016 and the 2016 interim dividend of 2.40p per share announced on 29 June 2016 and paid to shareholders on 2 September 2016. |
| *** Excludes 7,579,664 shares held in treasury |
| **** Calculated as a percentage of average net assets and using expenses, excluding performance fees and interest costs for the year ended 31 October 2015. |
| Sector Analysis | Total assets (%) |
| Travel & Leisure | 8.9 |
| Media | 8.6 |
| Support Services | 8.5 |
| Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology | 8.2 |
| Banks | 7.8 |
| Tobacco | 7.2 |
| Oil & Gas Producers | 6.3 |
| Financial Services | 6.1 |
| Food Producers | 4.8 |
| General Industrials | 4.5 |
| Fixed Line Telecommunications | 3.9 |
| General Retailers | 3.8 |
| Non-Life Insurance | 3.7 |
| Wireless Telecommunication Services | 3.2 |
| Food & Drug Retailers | 2.8 |
| Aerospace & Defence | 2.6 |
| Construction & Materials | 2.5 |
| Real Estate Investment & Services | 2.0 |
| Chemicals | 1.4 |
| Real Estate Investment Trusts | 0.7 |
| Net Current Assets | 2.5 |
| Total | 100.0 |
| Ten Largest Equity Investments | |
| Company | Total assets (%) |
| British American Tobacco | 6.1 |
| Unilever | 4.8 |
| Lloyds Banking Group | 4.5 |
| AstraZeneca | 4.2 |
| BT Group | 3.9 |
| RELX | 3.7 |
| Royal Dutch Shell 'B' | 3.6 |
| HSBC | 3.3 |
| Vodafone | 3.2 |
| Sky | 3.1 |
| Commenting on the markets, Adam Avigdori and Mark Wharrier representing the Investment Manager noted: |
| The UK stock market fell in November reversing a positive trend for the past nine months. The US presidential election result was a key factor in driving stock price moves, with market anticipation of a change in policy direction driving rising bond yields and continued strong performance of cyclical shares. OPEC announced an agreement to cut oil production by 1.2 million barrels per day, on the condition that non-OPEC countries, including Russia also cut production. As forecasts for inflation, US economic growth, oil prices and interest rates were raised, the oil and gas, mining and financial sectors were the strongest performing areas of the market while consumer staples, utilities and telecommunication stocks underperformed. |
| During the month the Company returned -1.9% whilst the FTSE All Share Index returned -1.6%. |
| The outperformance of the mining and banking sectors, areas that we remain underweight, detracted during the month. On the positive side, it was stock fundamentals that contributed to the Company's performance. The strongest contributor to performance was plastic packaging manufacturer RPC. The company reported H1 results showing strong revenue growth helped by recent acquisitions. The packaging industry in Europe has been going through a period of consolidation, with RPC participating and generating significant procurement synergies with the benefit of scale. Building and plumbing distributor Wolseley performed well following the US presidential election result in anticipation of an increase in government spending on infrastructure. Recent purchase BAE was another strong performer as the defence sector rallied on expectations of increased defence spending following the Trump presidential victory. |
| During the month we added to recent purchases Derwent London and Babcock and opened a new position in Aggreko. The shares have fallen c.70% since their peak and we now feel that profit expectations have been rebased, the risk/reward trade off is now favourable and the company offers attractive revenue growth potential from contract wins within emerging markets. |
| Macroeconomic volatility has been an important driver of equities so far this year which has tended to overwhelm the stock specific factors at the heart of our process. However, over the longer term earnings and cashflow growth tend to be the dominant driver of share prices. If equity markets fail to recognise that, corporates buyers have the potential to; the bid for ARM Holdings during the summer was a good reminder of that dynamic. Markets are likely to remain skittish given macro headwinds, likely volatility in bond markets and an increasing level of political risks. We continue to find opportunities in those companies that can generate cashflow from strong business models, have favourable industry characteristics or scope for management driven self-help. While sometimes unnerving, we will continue to use market volatility to provide buying opportunities in those types of companies. |
| 20 December 2016 |
