14 Nov 2017 12:28
BlackRock North American Income Trust Plc - Portfolio UpdateBlackRock North American Income Trust Plc - Portfolio Update
PR Newswire
London, November 14
BLACKROCK NORTH AMERICAN INCOME TRUST plc (LEI: 549300WWOCXSC241W468)All information is at 31 October 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 | 2.4% | 2.8% | 4.7% | 11.5% | 56.9% | 105.4% |
| Share price | 3.5% | 3.4% | 3.2% | 6.3% | 59.1% | 89.8% |
| Russell 1000 Value Index | 1.8% | 1.8% | 2.7% | 8.3% | 51.7% | 126.0% |
Source: BlackRock
*Launched on 24 October 2012.
| At month end | |
| Net asset value – capital only: | 170.05p |
| Net asset value – cum income: | 171.75p |
| Share price: | 160.50p |
| Discount to cum income NAV: | 6.6% |
| Net yield*: | 3.1% |
| Total assets including current year revenue: | £118.3m |
| Gearing: | Nil |
| Options overwrite: | 15.8% |
| Ordinary shares in issue**: | 68,874,044 |
| Ongoing charges***: | 1.0% |
* Based on dividends of 1.20p per share declared on 21 February 2017 and 1.25p per share declared on 3 May 2017, 8 August 2017 and 2 November 2017.
** Excluding 31,487,261 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 | 27.2 |
| Health Care | 17.2 |
| Energy | 10.9 |
| Information Technology | 10.2 |
| Industrials | 9.9 |
| Consumer Staples | 5.8 |
| Utilities | 5.5 |
| Materials | 3.6 |
| Consumer Discretionary | 3.5 |
| Telecommunication Services | 2.3 |
| Net current assets | 3.9 |
| ----- | |
| 100.0 | |
| ===== |
| Country Analysis | Total Assets (%) |
| USA | 78.7 |
| Netherlands | 4.3 |
| United Kingdom | 4.1 |
| Canada | 3.0 |
| France | 2.2 |
| Ireland | 2.1 |
| Denmark | 0.8 |
| South Korea | 0.5 |
| China | 0.4 |
| Net current assets | 3.9 |
| ----- | |
| 100.0 | |
| ===== |
| Ten Largest Investments | ||
| Company | Country of Risk | Total Assets (%) |
| JPMorgan Chase | USA | 4.0 |
| Bank of America | USA | 3.9 |
| Citigroup | USA | 3.7 |
| Pfizer | USA | 3.7 |
| Oracle | USA | 3.1 |
| Wells Fargo | USA | 2.9 |
| Anthem | USA | 2.5 |
| DowDuPont | USA | 2.3 |
| Microsoft | USA | 2.1 |
| Suncor Energy | Canada | 1.9 |
Tony DeSpirito, Franco Tapia and David Zhao representing the Investment Manager, noted:
For the one month period ended 31 October 2017 the Company’s NAV increased by 2.4% while the share price increased by 3.5% (all in sterling). The Company’s benchmark, the Russell 1000 Value Index, returned 1.8% for the period.
The largest contributor to relative performance during the month was stock selection in the telecommunications sector. Notably, our decision not to own benchmark holding AT&T Inc. proved to be beneficial. In consumer staples, stock selection and an underweight to the food & staples retailing industry and our underweight to the household products industry also boosted relative returns. A combination of stock selection and allocation decisions in the information technology sector and stock selection in health care and financials also contributed to relative performance during the month.
The largest detractor from relative performance was the portfolio’s cash position. Stock selection in utilities also proved to be costly, most notably due to our overweight to PG&E Corporation within the electric utilities industry. Lastly, in consumer discretionary, stock selection in the media industry and our overweight position in the leisure products industry dampened relative performance.
Transactions/Options
Transactions: Notable portfolio transactions during the month included initiating new positions in Novo Nordisk, The Charles Schwab Corporation and Pioneer Natural Resources Company. Notable sales during the month included the elimination of our position in The Coca-Cola Company and trimming our positions in General Electric Company and Occidental Petroleum Corporation.
Options: As of 31 October 2017 the Company’s options exposure was 15.8% and the delta of the options was 87.8.
Positioning
As of period end, the Company’s largest overweight positions relative to the benchmark were in the health care, information technology and financials sectors. The Company’s largest underweight positions relative to the benchmark were in the real estate, consumer discretionary and consumer staples sectors.
Source: BlackRock.
14 November 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.