BlackRock Sustainable American Income Trust Plc - Portfolio Update
PR Newswire
London, December 22
The information contained in this release was correct as at 30 November 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 at30 November 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 | 3.3% | 3.0% | 3.1% | 13.1% | 33.2% | 58.2% |
| Share price | 5.3% | 2.7% | 4.0% | 9.0% | 23.0% | 58.0% |
| Russell 1000 Value Index | 2.7% | 4.4% | 6.8% | 13.8% | 38.3% | 65.9% |
At month end
| Net asset value - capital only: | 218.15p |
| Net asset value - cum income: | 218.16p |
| Share price: | 206.00p |
| Discount to cum income NAV: | 5.6% |
| Net yield1: | 3.9% |
| Total assets including current year revenue: | £175.0m |
| Gearing: | 3.2% |
| Ordinary shares in issue2: | 80,229,044 |
| Ongoing charges3: | 1.0% |
1 Based on four quarterly dividends of 2.00p per share declared on 22 March 2022, 11 May 2022, 4 August 2022 and 2 November 2022 for the year ended 31 October 2022 and based on the share price as at close of business on 30 November 2022.
² Excluding 20,132,261 ordinary shares held in treasury.
³ The Company's ongoing charges calculated as a percentage of average daily net assets and using the management fee and all other operating expenses excluding finance costs, direct transaction costs, custody transaction charges, VAT recovered, taxation and certain non-recurring items for the year ended 31 October 2021.
| Sector Analysis | Total Assets (%) |
| Financials | 22.7 |
| Health Care | 20.0 |
| Information Technology | 13.6 |
| Consumer Discretionary | 10.0 |
| Energy | 8.5 |
| Industrials | 5.7 |
| Consumer Staples | 5.5 |
| Communication Services | 4.8 |
| Materials | 4.8 |
| Utilities | 4.3 |
| Real Estate | 1.4 |
| Net Current Liabilities | -1.3 |
| ----- | |
| 100.0 | |
| ===== |
| Country Analysis | Total Assets (%) |
| United States | 81.3 |
| United Kingdom | 8.2 |
| Japan | 4.0 |
| France | 2.9 |
| Australia | 2.1 |
| Canada | 1.7 |
| Denmark | 1.1 |
| Net Current Liabilities | -1.3 |
| ----- | |
| 100.0 | |
| ===== | |
| Top 10 Holdings | Country | % Total Assets |
| Willis Towers Watson | United States | 3.1 |
| Verizon Communications | United States | 3.1 |
| Sanofi | France | 2.9 |
| Laboratory Corporation of America | United States | 2.9 |
| Cisco Systems | United States | 2.8 |
| Cigna | United States | 2.8 |
| Wells Fargo | United States | 2.8 |
| AstraZeneca | United Kingdom | 2.7 |
| American International | United States | 2.7 |
| Cognizant Technology Solutions | United States | 2.6 |
Tony DeSpirito, David Zhao and Lisa Yang, representing the Investment Manager, noted:
For the one-month period ended 30 November 2022, the Company's NAV increased by 3.3% and the share price by 5.3% (all in sterling). The Company's reference index, the Russell 1000 Value Index, returned +2.7% for the period.
The largest contributor to relative performance was due to stock selection within the financials sector. Specifically, selection decisions in the insurance industry proved to be beneficial to relative performance. Our selection decisions in the energy sector also increased relative results, mainly due to our stock picks in the oil, gas and consumable fuels industry. Another notable contributor during the period included our investment decisions in the consumer discretionary sector.
The largest detractor from relative performance was due to stock selection in information technology. Within the sector, investment decisions in IT services proved to weigh on relative returns significantly. Stock selection in consumer staples also hurt relative performance. At the industry level, investment decisions in beverages hampered relative returns. Another notable detractor for the period, included investment decisions in health care.
Transactions
During the month, the Company initiated one new purchase in Exelon. Conversely, the Company exited its position in Sempra Energy.
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 health care sectors. The Company's largest underweight positions relative to the reference index were in the industrials, real estate and communication services sectors.
Source: BlackRock.
22 December 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.
