BLACKROCK NORTH AMERICAN INCOME TRUST plc (LEI: 549300WWOCXSC241W468)
All information is at 30 November 2017 and unaudited.

Performance at month end with net income reinvested

Source: BlackRock

*Launched on 24 October 2012.
 

* 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 2017.
 

Tony DeSpirito, David Zhao and Franco Tapia, representing the Investment Manager, noted:

For the one month period ended 30 November 2017 the Company’s NAV increased by 0.5% while the share price increased by 2.3%.  The Company’s benchmark, the Russell 1000 Value Index, rose by 1.1% (all performance figures in sterling terms and with income reinvested).

The largest contributor to relative performance during the month was stock selection in the health care sector. Notably, our overweight exposure to Anthem Inc. in the health care providers & services industry proved to be beneficial. In industrials, we benefited from strong stock selection, which was most pronounced among industrial conglomerates. A combination of stock selection and allocation decisions in the energy sector and stock selection in consumer discretionary also contributed to relative performance during the month.

The largest detractor from relative performance was stock selection in the financials sector, most notably among insurance and capital markets firms. Stock selection in information technology also proved to be costly, with relative underperformance stemming from our overweight exposure to Oracle Corporation and our decision to not hold Cisco Systems Inc. Lastly, stock selection in materials and an underweight to the consumer staples sector dampened relative performance, as did an elevated cash balance.

Transactions/Options

Transactions: Notable portfolio transactions during the month included initiating a new position in Interpublic Group of Companies Inc. and exiting our position in Occidental Petroleum Corp.

Options:  As of 30 November 2017, the Company’s options exposure was 14.1% and the delta of the options was 88.3. 

Positioning

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

Source: BlackRock.

15 December 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.