BlackRock Sustainable American Income Trust Plc - Portfolio Update
PR Newswire
London, March 16
The information contained in this release was correct as at 28 February 2022. Information on the Company's up to date net asset values can be found on the London Stock Exchange Website at:
https://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/news/market-news/market-news-home.html.
BLACKROCK SUSTAINABLE AMERICAN INCOME TRUST PLC (LEI:549300WWOCXSC241W468)
All information is at28 February 2022 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 | 0.1% | 5.2% | 7.3% | 22.3% | 43.0% | 49.2% |
| Share price | 0.8% | 1.3% | 5.5% | 23.0% | 32.2% | 49.6% |
| Russell 1000 Value Index | -1.2% | 1.2% | 3.0% | 19.8% | 40.1% | 45.7% |
At month end
| Net asset value - capital only: | 209.65p |
| Net asset value - cum income: | 210.74p |
| Share price: | 199.00p |
| Discount to cum income NAV: | 5.6% |
| Net yield1: | 4.0% |
| Total assets including current year revenue: | £169.1m |
| Gearing: | 2.7% |
| Ordinary shares in issue2: | 80,229,044 |
| Ongoing charges3: | 1.1% |
1 Based on four quarterly interim dividends of 2.00p per share declared on 23 March 2021, 5 May 2021, 5 August 2021 and 3 November 2021 for the year ended 30 October 2021 and based on the share price as at close of business on 28 February 2022.
² Excluding 20,132,261 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 2021.
| Sector Analysis | Total Assets (%) |
| Financials | 22.4 |
| Health Care | 18.3 |
| Information Technology | 14.7 |
| Consumer Discretionary | 9.9 |
| Energy | 6.7 |
| Materials | 6.5 |
| Communication Services | 6.2 |
| Industrials | 5.2 |
| Utilities | 5.0 |
| Consumer Staples | 4.5 |
| Real Estate | 1.0 |
| Net Current Liabilities | -0.4 |
| ---- | |
| 100.0 | |
| ===== | |
| Country Analysis | Total Assets (%) |
| United States | 81.0 |
| United Kingdom | 4.7 |
| Japan | 4.6 |
| France | 2.6 |
| Canada | 2.2 |
| Australia | 1.9 |
| Switzerland | 1.5 |
| Germany | 1.0 |
| Denmark | 0.9 |
| Net Current Liabilities | -0.4 |
| ----- | |
| 100.0 | |
| ===== | |
| Top 10 Holdings | Country | % Total Assets |
| Cisco Systems | United States | 3.5 |
| AstraZeneca | United Kingdom | 3.3 |
| Wells Fargo | United States | 3.0 |
| Verizon Communications | United States | 3.0 |
| Cognizant Technology Solutions | United States | 2.9 |
| Comerica | United States | 2.9 |
| Sempra | United States | 2.9 |
| American International | United States | 2.8 |
| Dentsply Sirona | United States | 2.7 |
| Sanofi | France | 2.6 |
Tony DeSpirito, David Zhao and Lisa Yang, representing the Investment Manager, noted:
For the one-month period ended 28 February 2022, the Company's NAV increased by 0.1% and the share price by 0.8% (all in sterling). The Company's reference index, the Russell 1000 Value Index, returned -1.2% for the period.
The largest contributor to relative performance was selection decisions in the health care sector. Specifically, allocation decisions within the pharmaceuticals industry boosted relative results. Within energy, an overweight exposure to and decisions within oil, gas and consumables helped relative returns. In real estate, an underweight exposure to and security selection within the equity real estate investment trust (REIT) industry also proved accretive. Other contributors during the period included security selection within the consumer discretionary sector.
The largest detractor from relative performance was stock selection in the financials sector. Specifically, stock selection in insurance and an underweight exposure to diversified financial services dampened relative results. Allocation decisions in information technology also hurt relative returns with an overweight exposure to the Information Technology (IT) services industry proving costly. In industrials, an underweight exposure to the aerospace and defence industry, as well as selection decisions in road and rail, weighed on relative returns. Other modest detractors during the period included security selection within the chemicals industry.
Transactions
Notable new purchases in the portfolio during the month included Visa, as well as increased positions in Willis Towers Watson and Sempra. Conversely, the Company exited its positions in Lowes Companies, Exelon and Arthur J Gallagher.
Positioning
As of the period end, the Company's largest overweight positions relative to the reference index were in the information technology, consumer discretionary and materials sectors. The Company's largest underweight positions relative to the reference index were in the industrials, real estate and consumer staples sectors.
Source: BlackRock.
16 March 2022
Latest information is available by typing blackrock.com/uk/brsa 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.
