16 Feb 2015 12:13
BLACKROCK NORTH AMERICAN INCOME TRUST PLC - Portfolio UpdateBLACKROCK NORTH AMERICAN INCOME TRUST PLC - Portfolio Update
PR Newswire
London, February 16
BLACKROCK NORTH AMERICAN INCOME TRUST plc All information is at 31 January 2015 and unaudited. Performance at month end with net income reinvested One Three Six Since Month months months launch (24 Oct 2012) Net asset value -0.6% 3.6% 13.7% 35.7%Share price 0.2% 5.8% 14.3% 26.3%Russell 1000 Value Index -0.3% 5.0% 15.0% 56.4% Source: BlackRock At month end Net asset value - capital only: 123.00pNet asset value - cum income: 124.13pShare price: 117.50pDiscount to cum income NAV: 5.3%Net yield*: 3.4%Total assets including current year revenue: £124.6mTarget yield: 4.0pGearing: nilOptions overwrite: 16.96%Ordinary shares in issue: 100,361,305Ongoing charges**: 1.3% *Based on dividends of 1p per share each declared on 14 May 2014, 13 August2014, 6 November 2014 and 12 February 2015 ** Ongoing charges represent the management fee and all other operatingexpenses excluding interest as a % of average shareholders' funds for the yearended 31 October 2014 Benchmark Sector Analysis Total Assets (%) Financials 24.8Industrials 15.2Health Care 13.4Energy 9.5Consumer Discretionary 8.6Consumer Staples 7.5Information Technology 7.0Utilities 5.9Materials 5.1Telecommunication Services 2.1Net current assets 0.9 ----- 100.0 ===== Country Analysis Total Assets (%) USA 95.5France 1.6United Kingdom 1.0Australia 0.5Canada 0.3Netherlands 0.2Net current assets 0.9 ----- 100.0 ===== Ten Largest Investments Company Country of Risk Total Assets(%) Wells Fargo USA 3.8JPMorgan Chase USA 3.1Home Depot USA 2.9General Electric USA 2.6Comcast USA 2.5Merck USA 2.4Pfizer USA 2.4Du Pont USA 2.2Raytheon USA 2.1Microsoft USA 2.1 Bob Shearer and Tony de Spirito, representing the Investment Manager, noted: Performance For the one month period ended 31 January 2015, the Company's NAV decreased by0.6% while the share price increased by 0.2% (all in sterling terms). TheCompany's benchmark, the Russell 1000 Value Index, decreased by 0.3% for theperiod. The largest contributor to relative performance was stock selection in consumerstaples as portfolio holdings Kroger Co. (+11.6%) and Diageo plc (+7.5%)outperformed benchmark peers. Stock selection in the energy and industrialssectors also added to relative returns, led by Total SA and Northrop Grumman,respectively. Lastly, stock selection in consumer discretionary contributedmodestly to relative returns for the period. The largest detractor from relative performance was stock selection infinancials. Notably, stock selection in the bank and insurance industriesproved to be costly as did our underweight in real estate investment trusts(REITs). An underweight in the health care sector also detracted from relativeperformance for the period, as did stock selection in information technology. Transactions/Options Transactions: In January, we increased our exposure to the health care sectorby initiating positions in Anthem and UnitedHealth Group. Conversely, wereduced our utilities exposure by selling Duke Energy Corporation. Othernotable sales for the month included Toronto-Dominion Bank, a Canada-basedmoney centre bank, and General Mills. As of 31 January 2015, the Company's options exposure was 17.0% and the deltaof the options was 94.4%. Positioning The Company is currently overweight to the industrials, materials and consumerdiscretionary sectors and market weight in consumer staples andtelecommunication services. We are underweight to the financials, utilities,information technology, energy and health care sectors. Despite relativeunderweights to financials and information technology, we have increased ourexposure to these segments in recent months given stronger fundamentals, thepotential for dividend growth, and attractive valuations. 16 February 2015 Latest information is available by typing blackrock.co.uk/brna on the internet,"BLRKINDEX" on Reuters, "BLRK" on Bloomberg or "8800" on Topic 3 (ICVterminal). Neither the contents of the Manager's website nor the contents ofany website accessible from hyperlinks on the Manager's website (or any otherwebsite) is incorporated into, or forms part of, this announcement.