BlackRock North Amer Portfolio Update
18 January 2019 - 3:35AM
UK Regulatory
TIDMBRNA
BLACKROCK NORTH AMERICAN INCOME TRUST plc (LEI: 549300WWOCXSC241W468)
All information is at 31 December 2018 and unaudited.
Performance at month end with net income reinvested
One Three Six One Three Five
Month Months Months Year Years years
Net asset value -8.3% -10.1% -4.0% -2.4% 41.9% 70.3%
Share price -9.4% -9.0% -4.9% 3.8% 57.4% 73.0%
Russell 1000 Value Index -9.4% -9.6% -3.3% -2.6% 41.6% 73.6%
Source: BlackRock
At month end
Net asset value - capital only: 160.11p
Net asset value - cum income: 161.28p
Share price: 161.00p
Discount to cum income NAV: 0.2%
Net yield¹: 5.0%
Total assets including current year revenue: GBP111.8m
Gearing: Nil
Options overwrite: 16.0%
Ordinary shares in issue²: 69,299,044
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
December 2018.
² Excluding 31,062,261 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 23.7
Health Care 18.4
Information Technology 11.3
Energy 10.8
Industrials 7.8
Consumer Staples 7.5
Communication Services 6.2
Utilities 3.7
Consumer Discretionary 2.4
Materials 1.8
Net current assets 6.4
-----
100.0
=====
Country Analysis Total Assets (%)
United States 75.4
United Kingdom 5.7
Netherlands 2.7
Canada 2.7
Switzerland 2.2
Ireland 2.2
Germany 1.2
Denmark 0.8
France 0.4
China 0.3
Net current assets 6.4
-----
100.0
=====
Ten Largest Investments
Company Country of Risk Total Assets (%)
Verizon Communications USA 4.3
Pfizer USA 4.2
JPMorgan Chase USA 3.7
Wells Fargo USA 3.5
Citigroup USA 2.8
Bank of America USA 2.8
Anthem USA 2.7
Oracle USA 2.6
Microsoft USA 2.4
Astrazeneca United Kingdom 2.1
Tony DeSpirito, Franco Tapia and David Zhao, representing the Investment
Manager, noted:
For the one-month period ended 31 December 2018, the Company's NAV and share
price fell by 8.3% and 9.4% respectively. The Company's benchmark, the Russell
1000 Value Index, returned -9.4% during the period (all performance figures are
in sterling terms).
The portfolio's cash position, which averaged 8.1% during the month, was a
significant contributor to relative performance amid falling U.S. stock prices.
In health care, stock selection in the pharmaceuticals industry also boosted
relative performance. Other notable contributors included stock selection in
the consumer staples and industrials sectors.
The largest detractor from relative performance was investment decisions in the
financials sector. Notably, an overweight to the banks industry and a
combination of stock selection and an underweight to diversified financial
services proved costly. In utilities, an underweight to multi-utilities and
electric utilities also weighed on relative returns. Other detractors during
the month included an underweight to the real estate and materials sectors.
The portfolio's option overwriting strategy contributed to portfolio returns in
December.
Transactions/Options
Transactions: In December, new portfolio positions were initiated in Apple,
Masco Corporation and Baker Hughes, a GE company. The portfolio's exposure to
Dollar General Corporation, Humana, Samsung Electronics and Novartis AG were
also increased during the month. Conversely, we exited our positions in
Experian, Brighthouse Financial and nVent Electric We also trimmed our
positions in U.S. Bancorp, UnitedHealth Group, Citigroup and CDW Corporation.
Options: As of 31 December 2018, the Company's options exposure was 16.0% and
the delta of the options was 89.6.
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 consumer discretionary sectors.
Source: BlackRock as at 31 December 2018.
17 January 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.
END
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