Last checked at 15 Feb 2017 10:22
BLACKROCK INCOME AND GROWTH INVESTMENT TRUST PLC - Portfolio UpdateBLACKROCK INCOME AND GROWTH INVESTMENT TRUST PLC - Portfolio Update
PR Newswire
London, February 14
| BlackRock Income and Growth Investment Trust plc (LEI: 5493003YBY59H9EJLJ16) |
| All information is at 31 January 2017 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 | 1.5% | 3.8% | 14.4% | 29.9% | 70.3% | 79.9% |
| Net asset value | -1.3% | 2.2% | 10.6% | 29.7% | 57.7% | 62.4% |
| FTSE All-Share Total Return | -0.3% | 3.0% | 20.1% | 22.6% | 52.0% | 57.0% |
| 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: | 190.32p |
| Net asset value - cum income*: | 194.62p |
| Share price: | 192.00p |
| Total assets (including income): | £51.3m |
| Discount to cum-income NAV: | 1.3% |
| Net gearing: | 1.8% |
| Net yield**: | 3.3% |
| Ordinary shares in issue***: | 25,354,268 |
| Gearing range (as a % of net assets) | 0-20% |
| Ongoing charges****: | 1.0% |
| * Includes net revenue of 4.30 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 2016 final dividend of 3.90p per share declared on 21 December 2016, payable to shareholders on 10 March 2017 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 2016. |
| Sector Analysis | Total assets (%) |
| Media | 9.6 |
| Support Services | 8.7 |
| Travel & Leisure | 8.7 |
| Banks | 8.2 |
| Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology | 7.9 |
| Tobacco | 7.7 |
| Oil & Gas Producers | 6.3 |
| Financial Services | 5.9 |
| Food Producers | 4.6 |
| General Industrials | 4.5 |
| Non-Life Insurance | 4.0 |
| General Retailers | 3.9 |
| Fixed Line Telecommunications | 3.2 |
| Mobile Telecommunications | 3.1 |
| Construction & Materials | 2.7 |
| Food & Drug Retailers | 2.5 |
| Aerospace & Defence | 2.4 |
| Real Estate Investment & Service | 1.8 |
| Chemicals | 1.5 |
| Real Estate Investment Trusts | 0.7 |
| Net Current Assets | 2.1 |
| Total | 100.0 |
| Ten Largest Equity Investments | |
| Company | Total assets (%) |
| British American Tobacco | 6.5 |
| Lloyds Banking Group | 4.9 |
| Unilever | 4.7 |
| AstraZeneca | 4.1 |
| Sky | 3.8 |
| Royal Dutch Shell ‘B’ | 3.7 |
| RELX | 3.7 |
| HSBC Holdings | 3.4 |
| BT Group | 3.2 |
| Vodafone | 3.1 |
| Commenting on the markets, Adam Avigdori and Mark Wharrier representing the Investment Manager noted: |
| The UK stock market was broadly flat in January. Prime Minister Theresa May announced her intention to initiate the Brexit process by the end of March and the government’s twelve broad objectives in exit negotiations. The new Trump administration began to announce policy changes including pulling out of the Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal and the outline of a US border tax on imports. Inflation expectations continued to trend higher with an acceleration in CPI inflation data in the US, UK and Euro area, whilst US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen suggested several interest rate rises this year. Sectors that performed well included mining, banks and tobacco, whilst oil, pharmaceuticals and telecommunications lagged. |
| During the month the Company returned -1.3%, whilst the FTSE All Share Index returned -0.3%. |
| Cyclical sectors continued to outperform during the month which again acted as a relative detractor to performance given our underweight positioning in these areas. Despite this headwind, our focus on stock fundamentals continued to be a positive driver of performance. Most notably British American Tobacco agreed a $49bn deal to buy US Tobacco company Reynolds of which it already owns a 42% stake. This transaction will create the world’s most attractive international tobacco company with interesting EM exposure and 40% exposure to the US, which is the most attractive tobacco market given the significant potential for future price increases. |
| On the negative side, BT Group fell after the company quantified that the impact of a known fraud issue in Italy was substantially worse than forecast. In addition, the company highlighted a weaker revenue performance in some of its UK business. Consequently, the cash flow prospects of the telecoms giant have become reduced. Given the recent underperformance, the shares look attractively valued assuming some alleviation of the regulatory pressures and a 5% dividend yield, therefore we have maintained our position. |
| During the month we sold our positions in Cineworld and Dixons Carphone whilst adding to our holding in retailer Next. Next has suffered a period of underperformance, but we are taking advantage of the share price weakness where we feel sterling weakness and the potential impact of Brexit is overstated in the current valuation. The company remains highly cash generative, has a strong management team and continues to return cash to shareholders. |
| Macroeconomic volatility was an important driver of equities throughout 2016 and 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, corporate buyers have the potential to do so; the bid for ARM during the summer was a good reminder of that dynamic as was the more recent bid for Sky from 21st Century Fox. Markets are likely to remain skittish given macro headwinds, likely volatility in bond markets and an increasing level of political risks. However, 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. |
| 15 February 2017 |