19 Dec 2019 16:56
BlackRock North American Income Trust Plc - Portfolio UpdateBlackRock North American Income Trust Plc - Portfolio Update
PR Newswire
London, December 19
BLACKROCK NORTH AMERICAN INCOME TRUST plc (LEI: 549300WWOCXSC241W468)All information is at 30 November 2019 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 | 3.2% | 1.7% | 10.7% | 10.6% | 27.9% | 81.1% |
| Share price | 3.6% | -0.4% | 11.0% | 12.4% | 36.9% | 98.0% |
| Russell 1000 Value Index | 3.1% | 1.9% | 10.6% | 9.8% | 27.1% | 76.5% |
Source: BlackRock
| At month end | |
| Net asset value – capital only: | 184.66p |
| Net asset value – cum income: | 185.91p |
| Share price: | 191.25p |
| Premium to cum income NAV:Â | 2.9% |
| Net yield¹: | 4.2% |
| Total assets including current year revenue: | £148.8m |
| Gearing: | Nil |
| Options overwrite: | 14.7% |
| Ordinary shares in issue²: | 80,054,044 |
| Ongoing charges³: | 1.1% |
¹ In line with the dividend policy announced in the Annual Report on 17 December 2018 of dividends amounting to 8.00p per share for the year ending 31 October 2019 and based on the share price as at close of business on 29 November 2019.
² Excluding 20,307,261 ordinary shares held in treasury.
³ 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 2018.
| Benchmark Sector Analysis | Total Assets (%) |
| Financials | 25.4 |
| Health Care | 16.9 |
| Energy | 9.2 |
| Information Technology | 8.4 |
| Industrials | 8.1 |
| Consumer Staples | 7.1 |
| Communication Services | 6.7 |
| Consumer Discretionary | 5.8 |
| Utilities | 2.3 |
| Materials | 1.4 |
| Net current assets | 8.7 |
| ----- | |
| 100.0 | |
| ===== | |
| Country Analysis | Total Assets (%) |
| United States | 70.9 |
| United Kingdom | 6.2 |
| Netherlands | 3.6 |
| Ireland | 2.7 |
| Germany | 2.6 |
| Switzerland | 1.7 |
| Japan | 1.3 |
| France | 1.2 |
| Canada | 0.5 |
| Norway | 0.3 |
| Denmark | 0.3 |
| Net current assets | 8.7 |
| ----- | |
| 100.0 | |
| ===== |
| Ten Largest Investments | ||
| Company | Country of Risk | Total Assets (%) |
| Verizon Communications | USA | 4.0 |
| JPMorgan Chase | USA | 3.9 |
| Wells Fargo | USA | 3.6 |
| Citigroup | USA | 3.3 |
| Bank of America | USA | 2.9 |
| Medtronic | Ireland | 2.4 |
| Williams Companies | USA | 2.3 |
| Koninklijke Philips | Netherlands | 2.0 |
| BP Group | United Kingdom | 1.9 |
| Anthem | USA | 1.9 |
Tony DeSpirito, Franco Tapia and David Zhao, representing the Investment Manager, noted:
For the one-month period ended 30 November 2019, the Company’s NAV increased by 3.2% and the share price by 3.6% (all in sterling). The Company’s benchmark, the Russell 1000 Value Index, returned 3.1% for the period.
At the sector level, the largest contributor to relative performance was stock selection in the financials sector. Within the sector, relative outperformance was generated primarily from our selection among capital market firms and diversified financial services firms. Overweight exposure to banks also proved beneficial. In real estate and utilities, broad underweight exposure proved beneficial. Within the former, a lack of exposure to equity real estate investment trusts (‘REITs’) bolstered returns within the portfolio, and within the latter, muted exposure to multi-utilities provided a tailwind. Additionally, stock selection in consumer staples proved additive. Notably, selection decisions among tobacco companies proved beneficial, as did an underweight to the household products industry. Lastly, stock selection in the industrials sector contributed positively to relative results.
The largest detractor from relative performance was a combination of stock selection and allocation decisions in the communication services sector. Within the sector, underweight exposure to the entertainment industry hampered relative results. In information technology, stock selection in the technology hardware, storage and peripherals industry weighed on relative returns. Stock selection in the energy sector also detracted from relative performance, primarily due to decisions made within the oil, gas and consumable fuels industry. Lastly, stock selection in materials, consumer discretionary and health care detracted from relative returns during the month.
The portfolio’s option overwriting strategy contributed modestly to performance in November.
Transactions/Options
Transactions: The portfolio did not initiate any new positions in November. However, we added to existing positions in Constellation Brands and Fox. Conversely, we exited our position in Dow. Additionally, we trimmed our existing positions in Sony and Qualcomm.
Options: As of 30 November 2019, the Company’s options exposure was 14.7% and the delta of the options was 83.6.Â
Positioning
As of the period end, the Company’s largest overweight positions relative to the benchmark were in the health care, information technology and energy sectors. The Company’s largest underweight positions relative to the benchmark were in the real estate, utilities and materials sectors.
Source: BlackRock. Data as of 30 November 2019.
19 December 2019
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.