14 Apr 2020 16:45
BlackRock North American Income Trust Plc - Portfolio UpdateBlackRock North American Income Trust Plc - Portfolio Update
PR Newswire
London, April 14
BLACKROCK NORTH AMERICAN INCOME TRUST plc (LEI: 549300WWOCXSC241W468)All information is at 31 March 2020 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 | -12.0% | -19.2% | -19.0% | -9.1% | -1.8% | 39.7% |
| Share price | -15.1% | -26.2% | -25.3% | -14.4% | -0.9% | 42.0% |
| Russell 1000 Value Index | -14.6% | -21.7% | -21.8% | -13.0% | -5.6% | 31.6% |
Source: BlackRock
| At month end | |
| Net asset value – capital only: | 147.90p |
| Net asset value – cum income: | 150.31p |
| Share price: | 141.00p |
| Discount to cum income NAV: | 6.2% |
| Net yield¹: | 5.7% |
| Total assets including current year revenue: | £122.1m |
| Gearing: | Nil |
| Options overwrite: | 15.1% |
| Ordinary shares in issue²: | 81,204,044 |
| Ongoing charges³: | 1.1% |
1 Based on four quarterly interim dividends of 2.00p per share declared on 8 May 2019, 6 August 2019 and 7 November 2019 for the year ended 31 October 2019 and on 20 March 2020 for the year ending 31 October 2020, and based on the share price as at close of business on 31 March 2020.
² Excluding 19,157,261 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 2019.
| Benchmark Sector Analysis | Total Assets (%) |
| Financials | 22.7 |
| Health Care | 18.2 |
| Information Technology | 8.9 |
| Consumer Staples | 8.7 |
| Communication Services | 7.4 |
| Industrials | 7.3 |
| Energy | 7.1 |
| Consumer Discretionary | 5.0 |
| Utilities | 3.9 |
| Materials | 1.6 |
| Net current assets | 9.2 |
| ----- | |
| 100.0 | |
| ===== |
| Country Analysis | Total Assets (%) |
| United States | 67.6 |
| United Kingdom | 5.8 |
| Netherlands | 4.6 |
| Germany | 3.0 |
| France | 2.9 |
| Ireland | 2.8 |
| Switzerland | 2.2 |
| Japan | 0.9 |
| Norway | 0.5 |
| Canada | 0.5 |
| Net current assets | 9.2 |
| ----- | |
| 100.0 | |
| ===== |
| Ten Largest Investments | ||
| Company | Country of Risk | Total Assets (%) |
| Verizon Communications | USA | 4.4 |
| Bank of America | USA | 2.9 |
| Citigroup | USA | 2.7 |
| Wells Fargo | USA | 2.7 |
| Medtronic | Ireland | 2.5 |
| Koninklijke Philips | Netherlands | 2.4 |
| JPMorgan Chase | USA | 2.4 |
| Sanofi | France | 2.4 |
| FirstEnergy | USA | 2.1 |
| Anthem | USA | 2.1 |
Tony DeSpirito, Franco Tapia and David Zhao, representing the Investment Manager, noted:
For the one-month period ended 31 March 2020, the Company’s NAV decreased by 12.0% and the share price by 15.1% (all in sterling). The Company’s benchmark, the Russell 1000 Value Index, returned -14.6% for the period.
The continued sell-off in U.S. stocks was felt across the portfolio, with all eleven global industry classification standard (GICS) sectors in the benchmark index declining for the second straight month. The portfolio's cash position, which averaged 10.1%, contributed significantly to relative performance amid declining stock prices. Cash remains a source of stability in the portfolio and a tool to control the portfolio's level of market risk. Stock selection in consumer discretionary also boosted relative returns, including selection decisions in the household durables and multiline retail industries. Lastly, stock selection in communication services contributed to relative performance.
The largest detractor from relative performance was stock selection in the financial sector. Selection decisions among insurance firms and overweight exposure to the insurance industry and banks weighed on relative returns. In utilities, underweight exposure to the electric utilities and multi-utilities industries hurt relative results. Other notable detractors included stock selection in consumer staples and stock selection and allocation decisions in materials.
The portfolio’s option overwriting strategy contributed to relative performance in March.
Transactions/Options
Transactions: In March, the portfolio initiated new positions in UnitedHealth Group, Pioneer Natural Resources, Edison International, Visa, CME Group, Allstate, Nisource and Philip Morris International and added to existing positions in Constellation Brands and Bank of America. Conversely, we exited our positions in Humana, Oracle, Progressive, State Street, Baker Hughes and Fortive.
Options: As of 31 March 2020, the Company’s options exposure was 15.1% and the delta of the options was 86.5.
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 31 March 2020.
14 April 2020
Latest information is available by typing blackrock.com/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.