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BlackRock North American Income Trust Plc - Portfolio Update

By PR Newswire

PR Newswire

BLACKROCK NORTH AMERICAN INCOME TRUST plc (LEI: 549300WWOCXSC241W468)
All information is at 31 May 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 0.8% -2.9% 3.1% 31.0% 63.2% 97.8%
Share price -1.5% -5.0% -0.6% 26.9% 59.0% 81.1%
Russell 1000 Value Index 0.1% -4.9% 2.2% 29.3% 62.3% 120.2%

Source: BlackRock
*Launched on 24 October 2012.

At month end
Net asset value – capital only:   165.90p
Net asset value – cum income:                                 166.61p
Share price:                                                  154.38p
Discount to cum income NAV:  7.3%
Net yield*:                                                      3.1%
Total assets including current year revenue:                  £114.9m
Gearing:                                                          Nil
Options overwrite:                              16.24%
Ordinary shares in issue**: 68,949,044
Ongoing charges***: 1.04%

* Based on dividends of 1.25p per share declared on 3 May 2017 and 1.20p per share declared on 21 February 2017, 3 November 2016 and 3 August 2016.
** Excluding 31,412,261 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 26.0
Health Care 15.1
Industrials 11.2
Energy 11.0
Information Technology 10.1
Consumer Staples 6.2
Consumer Discretionary 5.5
Utilities 5.1
Materials 3.6
Telecommunication Services 2.2
Net current assets 4.0
-----
100.0
====

   

Country Analysis Total Assets (%)
USA 82.7
Netherlands 3.6
United Kingdom 3.1
France 2.5
Canada 2.4
Ireland 0.7
South Korea 0.5
China 0.5
Net current assets 4.0
-----
100.0  
=====

   

Ten Largest Investments
Company Country of Risk Total Assets (%)
JPMorgan Chase USA 3.7
Bank of America USA 3.4
Citigroup USA 3.4
Pfizer USA 3.4
Dow Chemical USA 2.8
Oracle USA 2.7
Wells Fargo USA 2.6
Anthem USA 2.3
General Electric USA 2.2
Merck USA 2.2

Bob Shearer and Tony DeSpirito, representing the Investment Manager, noted:

For the one month period ended 31 May 2017, the Company’s NAV increased by 0.8% while the share price fell by 1.5% and the Company’s benchmark, the Russell 1000 Value Index, rose by 0.1% (all performance figures in are sterling terms). 

The largest contributor to relative performance during the month was a combination of stock selection and an overweight to the health care sector.  Notably, investment decisions within the health care providers & services industry proved to be beneficial, including ownership of non-benchmark holding McKesson and our overweight to Aetna.  Stock selection in the energy sector also added to relative returns, led by portfolio holdings within the oil, gas & consumable fuels industry.  Lastly, stock selection in the consumer discretionary and telecommunication services sectors added to relative returns during the month.

The largest detractor from relative performance was stock selection in the financials sector.  Notable detractors included overweight positions in Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley.  Other modest detractors during the period included an underweight to the utilities sector and an underweight to the airlines industry.

Transactions/Options

Transactions: Notable portfolio purchases during the month included initiating new positions in Royal Dutch Shell (ADR) and Smith & Nephew.  Further, notable portfolio sales during the month included exiting our positions in American Water Works Company, CME Group and Rockwell Automation.

Options:  As of 31 May 2017, the Company’s options exposure was 16.24% and the delta of the options was 88.77%. 

Positioning

As of the period end, the Company’s largest overweight positions relative to the benchmark were in the health care, consumer discretionary and materials sectors.  Our largest underweight positions relative to the benchmark were in the real estate, consumer staples and utilities sectors.

21 June 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.

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