20 Feb 2019 12:07
BlackRock North American Income Trust Plc - Portfolio UpdateBlackRock North American Income Trust Plc - Portfolio Update
PR Newswire
London, February 18
BLACKROCK NORTH AMERICAN INCOME TRUST plc (LEI: 549300WWOCXSC241W468)All information is at 31 January 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 | 3.3% | -4.1% | -5.5% | 1.5% | 48.3% | 82.1% |
| Share price | 5.3% | 1.1% | 0.2% | 8.0% | 67.1% | 85.4% |
| Russell 1000 Value Index | 4.4% | -2.5% | -3.5% | 2.9% | 49.9% | 86.4% |
Source: BlackRock
| At month end | |
| Net asset value – capital only: | 164.85p |
| Net asset value – cum income: | 166.58p |
| Share price: | 169.50p |
| Premium to cum income NAV: | 1.8% |
| Net yield¹: | 4.7% |
| Total assets including current year revenue: | £116.9m |
| Gearing: | Nil |
| Options overwrite: | 14.8% |
| Ordinary shares in issue²: | 70,149,044 |
| 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 January 2019.
² Excluding 30,212,261 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 | 25.0 |
| Health Care | 16.4 |
| Energy | 11.9 |
| Information Technology | 11.3 |
| Industrials | 8.1 |
| Consumer Staples | 7.4 |
| Communication Services | 5.7 |
| Utilities | 2.7 |
| Consumer Discretionary | 2.6 |
| Materials | 1.8 |
| Net current assets | 7.1 |
| ----- | |
| 100.0 | |
| ===== |
| Country Analysis | Total Assets (%) |
| United States | 75.5 |
| United Kingdom | 5.4 |
| Canada | 2.9 |
| Netherlands | 2.7 |
| Switzerland | 2.1 |
| Ireland | 2.1 |
| Germany | 1.1 |
| Denmark | 0.7 |
| France | 0.4 |
| Net current assets | 7.1 |
| ----- | |
| 100.0 | |
| ===== |
| Ten Largest Investments | ||
| Company | Country of Risk | Total Assets (%) |
| Verizon Communications | USA | 3.9 |
| JPMorgan Chase | USA | 3.6 |
| Pfizer | USA | 3.6 |
| Wells Fargo | USA | 3.5 |
| Citigroup | USA | 3.3 |
| Bank of America | USA | 3.0 |
| Anthem | USA | 2.7 |
| Oracle | USA | 2.7 |
| Microsoft | USA | 2.2 |
| Suncor Energy | Canada | 2.2 |
Tony DeSpirito, Franco Tapia and David Zhao, representing the Investment Manager, noted:
For the one-month period ended 31 January 2019, the Company’s NAV and share price increased by 3.3% and 5.3% respectively (all in sterling). The Company’s benchmark, the Russell 1000 Value Index, returned 4.4% for the period.
The largest detractor from relative performance was the portfolio’s cash position, which averaged 7.5% during the month. Stock selection in the utilities sector also hurt relative returns, most notably within the electric utilities industry. Other notable detractors included our underweight to real estate and stock selection within the communication services and consumer staples sectors.
The largest contributor to relative performance was stock selection and allocation decisions in the financials sector. Notably, a combination of stock selection and an underweight to diversified financial services proved beneficial, as did stock selection and an overweight to the banks industry. Stock selection in energy also added to relative performance, with portfolio positions in U.S. pipeline operators having the largest positive impact. Lastly, an underweight to the materials sector contributed modestly to relative performance during the month.
The portfolio’s option overwriting strategy detracted from portfolio returns in January amid rising U.S. stock prices.
Transactions/Options
Transactions: In January, new portfolio positions were initiated in Marvell Technology Group, Willis Towers Watson and Constellation Brands. The portfolio’s exposure to Samsung Electronics, Citigroup and The Williams Companies were also increased during the month. Conversely, we exited our positions in Cisco Systems, PG&E Corporation, Lenovo Group and Edison International. We also trimmed our positions in Merck & Co, Pfizer, and Verizon Communications.
Options: As of 31 January 2019, the Company’s options exposure was 14.8% and the delta of the options was 84.4.
Positioning
As of the period end, the Company’s largest overweight positions relative to the benchmark were in the health care, energy and financials sectors. The Company’s largest underweight positions relative to the benchmark were in the real estate, utilities and consumer discretionary sectors.
Source: BlackRock.
20 February 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.