BlackRock North American Income Trust Plc - Portfolio Update
PR Newswire
London, May 14
BLACKROCK NORTH AMERICAN INCOME TRUST plc (LEI: 549300WWOCXSC241W468)
All information is at 30 April 2018 and unaudited.
Performance at month end with net income reinvested
| One Month | Three Months | Six Months | One Year | Three Years | Five years | |
| Net asset value | 3.7% | -2.3% | -1.6% | 3.0% | 46.2% | 76.6% |
| Share price | 4.0% | -4.9% | -1.8% | 1.4% | 46.5% | 61.6% |
| Russell 1000 Value Index | 2.2% | -3.1% | -1.7% | 1.0% | 39.2% | 86.4% |
Source: BlackRock
| At month end | |
| Net asset value - capital only: | 164.52p |
| Net asset value - cum income: | 165.85p |
| Share price: | 154.50p |
| Discount to cum income NAV: | 6.8% |
| Net yield¹: | 5.2% |
| Total assets including current year revenue: | £114.2m |
| Gearing: | Nil |
| Options overwrite: | 13.2% |
| Ordinary shares in issue²: | 68,874,044 |
| Ongoing charges³: | 1.1% |
¹ In line with the dividend policy announced in the Annual Report on 13 December 2017 of dividends amounting to 8.00p per share for the year ending 31 October 2018 and based on the share price as at close of business on 30 April 2018.
² Excluding 31,487,261 ordinary shares held in treasury.
³ Ongoing charges represent the management fee and all other operating expenses excluding interest as a % of average shareholders' funds for the year ended 31 October 2017.
| Benchmark Sector Analysis | Total Assets (%) |
| Financials | 27.5 |
| Health Care | 17.3 |
| Energy | 11.7 |
| Information Technology | 10.8 |
| Industrials | 7.9 |
| Consumer Staples | 7.5 |
| Utilities | 4.9 |
| Consumer Discretionary | 3.9 |
| Telecommunication Services | 2.7 |
| Materials | 2.2 |
| Net current assets | 3.6 |
| ----- | |
| 100.0 | |
| ===== |
| Country Analysis | Total Assets (%) |
| USA | 76.7 |
| United Kingdom | 5.1 |
| Netherlands | 4.8 |
| Canada | 3.2 |
| Ireland | 2.7 |
| France | 2.2 |
| Denmark | 0.8 |
| Germany | 0.5 |
| China | 0.3 |
| South Korea | 0.1 |
| Net current assets | 3.6 |
| ----- | |
| 100.0 | |
| ===== |
| Ten Largest Investments | ||
| Company | Country of Risk | Total Assets (%) |
| JPMorgan Chase | USA | 4.2 |
| Bank of America | USA | 4.2 |
| Pfizer | USA | 3.8 |
| Citigroup | USA | 3.4 |
| Oracle | USA | 2.9 |
| Wells Fargo | USA | 2.8 |
| Anthem | USA | 2.5 |
| Microsoft | USA | 2.5 |
| Royal Dutch Shell | Netherlands | 2.4 |
| Verizon Communications | USA | 2.4 |
Tony DeSpirito, Franco Tapia and David Zhao, representing the Investment Manager, noted:
For the one-month period ended 30 April 2018, the Company's NAV increased by 3.7% while the share price increased by 4.0% (all in sterling). The Company's benchmark, the Russell 1000 Value Index, returned 2.2% for the period.
The largest contributor to relative performance was stock selection in the health care sector, most notably in the health care providers & services and pharmaceuticals industries. Stock selection in consumer staples also boosted relative returns, led by investment decisions in the household products and tobacco industries. Lastly, stock selection in industrials and telecommunication services added to relative performance.
The largest detractor from relative performance was the portfolio's underweight to the real estate sector. An underweight to utilities also proved costly, as did our cash position, which averaged 4.2% during the month. At the industry level, stock selection in media and capital markets also weighed on relative performance.
The portfolio's option overwriting strategy detracted modestly from absolute returns in April. This should be understood within the context of positive U.S. equity market returns.
Transactions/Options
Transactions: During the month we initiated a new position in Time Warner Inc. and increased our allocation to existing holdings Comcast Corporation and General Electric Company. Conversely, we reduced our position sizes in portfolio holdings The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc., Dollar General Corporation and SK Telecom Co., Ltd.
Options: As of 30 April 2018, the Company's options exposure was 13.2% and the delta of the options was 90.8.
Positioning
As of the period end, the Company's largest overweight positions relative to the benchmark were in the health care, information technology and financials sectors. The Company's largest underweight positions relative to the benchmark were in the real estate, consumer discretionary and industrials sectors.
Source: BlackRock.
15 May 2018
Latest information is available by typing blackrock.co.uk/brna 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.
