21 Jun 2017 16:37
BlackRock North American Income Trust Plc - Portfolio UpdateBlackRock North American Income Trust Plc - Portfolio Update
PR Newswire
London, June 21
BLACKROCK NORTH AMERICAN INCOME TRUST plc (LEI: 549300WWOCXSC241W468)All information is at 31 May 2017 and unaudited.
Performance at month end with net income reinvested
| One Month | Three Months | Six Months | One Year | Three Years | Since Launch* | |
| Net asset value | 0.8% | -2.9% | 3.1% | 31.0% | 63.2% | 97.8% |
| Share price | -1.5% | -5.0% | -0.6% | 26.9% | 59.0% | 81.1% |
| Russell 1000 Value Index | 0.1% | -4.9% | 2.2% | 29.3% | 62.3% | 120.2% |
Source: BlackRock*Launched on 24 October 2012.
| At month end | |
| Net asset value – capital only: | 165.90p |
| Net asset value – cum income: | 166.61p |
| Share price: | 154.38p |
| Discount to cum income NAV: | 7.3% |
| Net yield*: | 3.1% |
| Total assets including current year revenue: | £114.9m |
| Gearing: | Nil |
| Options overwrite: | 16.24% |
| Ordinary shares in issue**: | 68,949,044 |
| Ongoing charges***: | 1.04% |
* Based on dividends of 1.25p per share declared on 3 May 2017 and 1.20p per share declared on 21 February 2017, 3 November 2016 and 3 August 2016.** Excluding 31,412,261 ordinary shares held in treasury.*** 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 2016.
| Benchmark | |
| Sector Analysis | Total Assets (%) |
| Financials | 26.0 |
| Health Care | 15.1 |
| Industrials | 11.2 |
| Energy | 11.0 |
| Information Technology | 10.1 |
| Consumer Staples | 6.2 |
| Consumer Discretionary | 5.5 |
| Utilities | 5.1 |
| Materials | 3.6 |
| Telecommunication Services | 2.2 |
| Net current assets | 4.0 |
| ----- | |
| 100.0 | |
| ==== |
| Country Analysis | Total Assets (%) |
| USA | 82.7 |
| Netherlands | 3.6 |
| United Kingdom | 3.1 |
| France | 2.5 |
| Canada | 2.4 |
| Ireland | 0.7 |
| South Korea | 0.5 |
| China | 0.5 |
| Net current assets | 4.0 |
| ----- | |
| 100.0 | |
| ===== |
| Ten Largest Investments | ||
| Company | Country of Risk | Total Assets (%) |
| JPMorgan Chase | USA | 3.7 |
| Bank of America | USA | 3.4 |
| Citigroup | USA | 3.4 |
| Pfizer | USA | 3.4 |
| Dow Chemical | USA | 2.8 |
| Oracle | USA | 2.7 |
| Wells Fargo | USA | 2.6 |
| Anthem | USA | 2.3 |
| General Electric | USA | 2.2 |
| Merck | USA | 2.2 |
Bob Shearer and Tony DeSpirito, representing the Investment Manager, noted:
For the one month period ended 31 May 2017, the Company’s NAV increased by 0.8% while the share price fell by 1.5% and the Company’s benchmark, the Russell 1000 Value Index, rose by 0.1% (all performance figures in are sterling terms).
The largest contributor to relative performance during the month was a combination of stock selection and an overweight to the health care sector. Notably, investment decisions within the health care providers & services industry proved to be beneficial, including ownership of non-benchmark holding McKesson and our overweight to Aetna. Stock selection in the energy sector also added to relative returns, led by portfolio holdings within the oil, gas & consumable fuels industry. Lastly, stock selection in the consumer discretionary and telecommunication services sectors added to relative returns during the month.
The largest detractor from relative performance was stock selection in the financials sector. Notable detractors included overweight positions in Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley. Other modest detractors during the period included an underweight to the utilities sector and an underweight to the airlines industry.
Transactions/Options
Transactions: Notable portfolio purchases during the month included initiating new positions in Royal Dutch Shell (ADR) and Smith & Nephew. Further, notable portfolio sales during the month included exiting our positions in American Water Works Company, CME Group and Rockwell Automation.
Options: As of 31 May 2017, the Company’s options exposure was 16.24% and the delta of the options was 88.77%.
Positioning
As of the period end, the Company’s largest overweight positions relative to the benchmark were in the health care, consumer discretionary and materials sectors. Our largest underweight positions relative to the benchmark were in the real estate, consumer staples and utilities sectors.
21 June 2017
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.