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23 Apr 2019 16:59
BlackRock North American Income Trust Plc - Portfolio UpdateBlackRock North American Income Trust Plc - Portfolio Update
PR Newswire
London, April 18
BLACKROCK NORTH AMERICAN INCOME TRUST plc (LEI: 549300WWOCXSC241W468)All information is at 31 March 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 | 2.6% | 7.2% | -3.6% | 11.8% | 47.7% | 82.0% |
| Share price | -0.5% | 6.8% | -2.9% | 19.8% | 58.3% | 90.2% |
| Russell 1000 Value Index | 2.7% | 9.4% | -1.1% | 13.8% | 48.6% | 85.6% |
Source: BlackRock
| At month end | |
| Net asset value – capital only: | 169.66p |
| Net asset value – cum income: | 170.84p |
| Share price: | 170.00p |
| Discount to cum income NAV: | 0.5% |
| Net yield¹: | 4.7% |
| Total assets including current year revenue: | £121.2m |
| Gearing: | Nil |
| Options overwrite: | 14.8% |
| Ordinary shares in issue²: | 70,949,044 |
| 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 31 March 2019.² Excluding 29,412,261 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 | 25.2 |
| Health Care | 13.8 |
| Information Technology | 12.8 |
| Energy | 10.9 |
| Consumer Staples | 9.1 |
| Industrials | 7.9 |
| Communication Services | 6.2 |
| Utilities | 2.8 |
| Consumer Discretionary | 2.5 |
| Materials | 2.3 |
| Net current assets | 6.5 |
| ----- | |
| 100.0 | |
| ===== |
| Country Analysis | Total Assets (%) |
| United States | 75.7 |
| United Kingdom | 6.0 |
| Netherlands | 2.8 |
| Ireland | 2.7 |
| Switzerland | 2.6 |
| Canada | 1.5 |
| Germany | 1.3 |
| Denmark | 0.6 |
| France | 0.3 |
| Net current assets | 6.5 |
| ----- | |
| 100.0 | |
| ===== |
| Ten Largest Investments | ||
| Company | Country of Risk | Total Assets (%) |
| Verizon Communications | USA | 4.3 |
| Wells Fargo | USA | 3.5 |
| JPMorgan Chase | USA | 3.4 |
| Pfizer | USA | 3.2 |
| Citigroup | USA | 3.2 |
| Bank of America | USA | 2.9 |
| Oracle | USA | 2.8 |
| BP Group | United Kingdom | 2.6 |
| Microsoft | USA | 2.4 |
| Williams Companies | USA | 2.2 |
Tony DeSpirito, Franco Tapia and David Zhao, representing the Investment Manager, noted:
For the one-month period ended 31 March 2019, the Company’s NAV increased by 2.6%¹ while the share price decreased by 0.5%¹ (all in sterling). The Company’s benchmark, the Russell 1000 Value Index, returned 2.7%² for the period.
The largest contributor to relative performance was stock selection and allocation decisions in the consumer staples sector. Notably, stock selection in tobacco and our underweight to the food & staples retailing industry proved to be beneficial. In communication services, stock selection in the diversified telecom services and media industries boosted relative returns. Lastly, a combination of stock selection and an overweight to information technology added to relative results during the month.
The largest detractor from relative performance was a combination of stock selection and allocation decisions in the health care sector. Notably, stock selection in the pharmaceuticals industry proved costly, as did our overweight to health care providers & services. An underweight to real estate also weighed on relative returns, as did a combination of stock selection and an underweight to the utilities sector.
The portfolio’s option overwriting strategy detracted from performance in March amid rising U.S. stock prices.
Transactions/Options
Transactions: In March, the portfolio’s exposure to BP, DowDuPont, Humana and Nestle were increased. Conversely, we exited our positions in Cardinal Health, Devon Energy, Hess Corporation and Merck. We also trimmed our position in Suncor Energy.
Options: As of 31 March 2019, the Company’s options exposure was 14.8% and the delta of the options 85.3.
Positioning
As of the period end, the Company’s largest overweight positions relative to the benchmark were in the financials, information technology and health care sectors. The Company’s largest underweight positions relative to the benchmark were in the real estate, utilities and consumer discretionary sectors.
Source: BlackRock.1BlackRock as at 31 March 2019²Russell 1000 Value Index as at 31 March 2019
23 April 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.
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