BlackRock North American Income Trust plc (LON:BRNA) has provided the following portfolio update.
All information is at 30 June 2020 and unaudited.
Performance at month end with net income reinvested
You can discover more about the BlackRock North American Income Trust plc at blackrock.com/uk/brna
| One Month | Three Months | Six Months | One Year | Three Years | Five Years | |
| Net asset value | 0.0% | 14.0% | -8.0% | -3.0% | 13.1% | 68.7% |
| Share price | -5.2% | 10.1% | -18.7% | -14.1% | 10.6% | 69.8% |
| Russell 1000 Value Index | -0.6% | 14.7% | -10.2% | -6.1% | 11.0% | 59.7% |
Source: BlackRock
| At month end | |
| Net asset value – capital only: | 165.91p |
| Net asset value – cum income: | 166.91p |
| Share price: | 151.00p |
| Discount to cum income NAV: | 9.5% |
| Net yield¹: | 5.3% |
| Total assets including current year revenue: | £135.5m |
| Gearing: | Nil |
| Options overwrite: | 17.2% |
| Ordinary shares in issue²: | 81,204,044 |
| Ongoing charges³: | 1.1% |
1 Based on four quarterly interim dividends of 2.00p per share declared on 6 August 2019 and 7 November 2019 for the year ended 31 October 2019 and on 20 March 2020 and 5 May 2020 for the year ending 31 October 2020, and based on the share price as at close of business on 30 June 2020.
² Excluding 19,157,261 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 2019.
| Benchmark Sector Analysis | Total Assets (%) |
| Financials | 24.2 |
| Health Care | 18.0 |
| Information Technology | 10.0 |
| Energy | 7.9 |
| Consumer Staples | 7.8 |
| Communication Services | 7.0 |
| Industrials | 6.7 |
| Utilities | 5.2 |
| Consumer Discretionary | 4.8 |
| Materials | 1.7 |
| Net current assets | 6.7 |
| —– | |
| 100.0 | |
| ===== |
| Country Analysis | Total Assets (%) |
| United States | 71.2 |
| United Kingdom | 5.0 |
| Netherlands | 4.8 |
| Germany | 4.4 |
| France | 2.5 |
| Ireland | 2.2 |
| Switzerland | 2.0 |
| Norway | 1.1 |
| Canada | 0.1 |
| Net current assets | 6.7 |
| —– | |
| 100.0 | |
| ===== |
Ten Largest Investments | ||
| Company | Country of Risk | Total Assets (%) |
| Verizon Communications | USA | 4.1 |
| Bank of America | USA | 3.2 |
| Citigroup | USA | 3.2 |
| Sanofi | France | 2.5 |
| Medtronic | Ireland | 2.2 |
| Anthem | USA | 2.2 |
| Altria Group | USA | 2.1 |
| Cognizant Technology Solutions | USA | 2.1 |
| Unilever | Netherlands | 2.1 |
| Bayer | Germany | 2.0 |
Tony DeSpirito, Franco Tapia and David Zhao, representing the Investment Manager, noted:
For the one-month period ended 30 June 2020, the Company’s NAV remained flat with no change and the share price decreased by 5.2% (all in sterling). The Company’s benchmark, the Russell 1000 Value Index, returned -0.6% for the period.
The largest contributor to relative performance was stock selection in the information technology(‘IT’) sector. Notably, selection decisions and an overweight exposure to software contributed positively, as did stock selection in the IT services industry. In health care, stock selection in pharmaceuticals boosted relative returns. Other notable contributors included stock selection in consumer staples and financials.
The largest detractor from relative performance was an underweight exposure to the real estate sector. Notably, an underweight exposure to equity real estate investment trusts (REITs) weighed on relative results. Stock selection and an underweight exposure to industrials also hurt relative performance, primarily due to underweight exposure to machinery and building products and stock selection in the aerospace and defence industry. Other notable detractors during the period included stock selection in consumer discretionary and an underweight exposure to materials.
The portfolio’s option overwriting strategy modestly detracted from relative performance in June.
Transactions/Options
Transactions: In June the portfolio initiated new positions in TJX, Applied Material and CDK Global, as well as added to existing positions in Ross Stores and BAE Systems. Conversely, we exited our positions in Lockheed Martin, PepsiCo, Conagra Brands, US Bancorp and Pentair. We also reduced our exposure to Willis Towers Watson during the month.
Options: As of 30 June 2020, the Company’s options exposure was 17.2% and the delta of the options was 87.5.
Positioning
As of the period end, the Company’s largest overweight positions relative to the benchmark were in the financials, health care and energy sectors. The Company’s largest underweight positions relative to the benchmark were in the industrials, real estate and materials sectors.
Source: BlackRock. Data as of 30 June 2020.
24 July 2020
Discover more about the BlackRock North American Income Trust plc at blackrock.com/uk/brna
