Last checked at 24 Dec 2019 09:17
BlackRock Income and Growth Investment Trust Plc - Portfolio UpdateBlackRock Income and Growth Investment Trust Plc - Portfolio Update
PR Newswire
London, December 23
| BLACKROCK INCOME AND GROWTH INVESTMENT TRUST PLC | ||||||
| (LEI:5493003YBY59H9EJLJ16) | ||||||
| All information is at 30 November 2019 and unaudited. | ||||||
| Performance at month end with net income reinvested | ||||||
| One Month | Three Months | One Year | Three Years | Five Years | Since 1 April 2012 | |
| Sterling | ||||||
| Share price | -0.5% | 1.5% | 11.0% | 18.7% | 34.1% | 93.3% |
| Net asset value | 3.0% | 3.9% | 12.3% | 22.5% | 36.5% | 85.5% |
| FTSE All-Share Total Return | 2.2% | 3.8% | 11.0% | 24.0% | 37.0% | 80.1% |
| 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: | 201.72p |
| Net asset value - cum income*: | 207.39p |
| Share price: | 197.00p |
| Total assets (including income): | £51.6m |
| Discount to cum-income NAV: | 5.0% |
| Gearing: | 6.5% |
| Net yield**: | 3.6% |
| Ordinary shares in issue***: | 22,958,100 |
| Gearing range (as a % of net assets) | 0-20% |
| Ongoing charges****: | 1.1% |
| * includes net revenue of 5.67 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 3.6% and includes the 2018 final dividend of 4.40p per share declared on 20 December 2018 and paid to shareholders on 19 March 2019 and the 2019 interim dividend of 2.60p per share declared on 25 June 2019 and paid to shareholders on 27 August 2019. |
| *** excludes 9,975,832 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 2019. |
| Sector Analysis | Total assets (%) |
| Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology | 9.4 |
| Oil & Gas Producers | 9.0 |
| Media | 8.2 |
| Life Insurance | 7.9 |
| Banks | 7.4 |
| Support Services | 7.3 |
| Financial Services | 6.8 |
| Food Producers | 6.7 |
| Travel & Leisure | 4.8 |
| Household Goods & Home Construction | 4.6 |
| Tobacco | 3.9 |
| Food & Drug Retailers | 3.3 |
| Gas, Water & Multiutilities | 3.2 |
| Mining | 3.1 |
| Health Care Equipment & Services | 2.5 |
| Industrial Engineering | 2.5 |
| Mobile Telecommunications | 2.1 |
| Nonlife Insurance | 1.9 |
| Electronic & Electrical Equipment | 1.4 |
| Construction & Materials | 0.9 |
| General Retailers | 0.8 |
| Beverages | 0.5 |
| Net Current Assets | 1.8 |
| ------ | |
| Total | 100.0 |
| ====== | |
| Ten Largest Equity Investments | |
| Company | Total assets (%) |
| Royal Dutch Shell 'B' | 5.8 |
| AstraZeneca | 5.1 |
| GlaxoSmithKline | 4.3 |
| RELX | 4.2 |
| British American Tobacco | 3.9 |
| Unilever | 3.6 |
| Tesco | 3.3 |
| National Grid | 3.2 |
| BP Group | 3.2 |
| Associated British Foods | 3.1 |
| Commenting on the markets, Adam Avigdori and David Goldman representing the Investment Manager noted: |
| Equity markets continued to rally in November as risk assets performed strongly across all regions, driven by relatively strong US large cap earnings and expectations of an improvement in the macroeconomic backdrop. The trade negotiations between the US and China are yet to be concluded, but the month was absent of any further escalation in tariffs and sentiment was buoyed throughout the month with hopes of a deal. Generally, equity markets seem priced for optimism that growth will re-accelerate. In the UK, the election later this month meant domestic politics, rather than Brexit, dominated the spotlight. The Bank of England left policy rates unchanged whilst some UK economic data points disappointed; third quarter GDP growth and wage growth came in below consensus expectations. Over the month, the Company returned +3.0%, outperforming the benchmark, the FTSE All-Share which returned +2.2%. AB Foods was the largest contributor to the Company, which reported reassuring full-year numbers in the period. Whitbread also contributed, rebounding following a weak October. Bodycote also added to the Company’s performance after it delivered a reassuring update to the market. The biggest detractor the Company was Premier Miton Group ahead of its merger with Miton. We continue to think that this deal offers significant earnings accretion, and that the shares are attractively valued with the core franchises intact. Hiscox also detracted, which had a disappointing trading statement over the month. We remain confident in its long-term thesis. Portfolio activity was quiet over the month. We bought a position in 3i group, the private equity firm. It has attractive assets as well as a strong management team and we expect profits to continue to grow strongly. We reduced our position in Phoenix Group and added to Hiscox. We continue to expect the current environment of low economic growth to persist. We are conscious that political uncertainty endures, most notably with the US election to come, which suggests that market volatility is likely to rise from relatively subdued levels. Despite this political uncertainty, the overall economic picture in the UK remains resilient; the employment market is strong with underlying growth in disposable income. The combination of political stability and fiscal stimulus would lead to a significant improvement in the outlook for the UK economy. Consistent with our process and philosophy, we believe we can identify strong franchises across the UK which can sustain their competitive advantage over the long term, supporting strong and consistent cash generation. We will look to focus on companies with robust balance sheets where we trust the management teams to growth the cash generation through their sensible capital allocation decisions. We will continue to focus the Company on stock specific risk where our resources and long-term analysis is best able to deliver capital and income growth over the long term for our shareholders. |
| 24 December 2019 |