BlackRock Sustainable American Income Trust plc (LON:BRSA) has announced its latest portfolio update.
All information is at 31 August 2021 and unaudited.
Click here to learn more about BlackRock Sustainable American Income Trust plc
Performance at month end with net income reinvested
| One Month | Three Months | Six Months | One Year | Three Years | Five Years | |
| Net asset value | 3.0% | 2.1% | 13.9% | 27.5% | 24.6% | 62.4% |
| Share price | 4.9% | 2.7% | 16.5% | 30.5% | 21.6% | 67.1% |
| Russell 1000 Value Index | 3.0% | 5.0% | 16.3% | 32.7% | 30.7% | 65.3% |
At month end
| Net asset value – capital only: | 198.07p |
| Net asset value – cum income: | 198.21p |
| Share price: | 190.50p |
| Discount to cum income NAV: | 3.9% |
| Net yield1: | 4.2% |
| Total assets including current year revenue: | £159.0m |
| Gearing: | Nil |
| Ordinary shares in issue2: | 80,229,044 |
| Ongoing charges3: | 1.1% |
1 Based on four quarterly interim dividends of 2.00p per share declared on 4 November 2020 for the year ended 31 October 2020, and on 23 March 2021, 5 May 2021 and 5 August 2021 for the year ending 31 October 2021, and based on the share price as at close of business on 31 August 2021.
² Excluding 20,132,261 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 2020.
| Sector Analysis | Total Assets (%) |
| Financials | 24.4 |
| Health Care | 16.9 |
| Information Technology | 15.6 |
| Consumer Discretionary | 10.3 |
| Communication Services | 7.2 |
| Utilities | 6.2 |
| Industrials | 6.0 |
| Consumer Staples | 5.3 |
| Materials | 4.6 |
| Energy | 3.7 |
| Real Estate | 0.9 |
| Net Current Liabilities | -1.1 |
| —- | |
| 100.0 | |
| ===== |
| Country Analysis | Total Assets (%) |
| United States | 75.5 |
| Canada | 5.4 |
| France | 5.2 |
| Japan | 4.4 |
| United Kingdom | 3.4 |
| Switzerland | 2.3 |
| Australia | 2.1 |
| Norway | 1.6 |
| Denmark | 1.2 |
| Net Current Liabilities | -1.1 |
| —– | |
| 100.0 | |
| ===== |
| Top 10 Holdings | Country | % Total Assets |
| Cisco Systems | United States | 5.0 |
| AstraZeneca | United Kingdom | 3.4 |
| Cognizant Technology Solutions | United States | 3.2 |
| Danone | France | 3.2 |
| Zimmer Biomet | United States | 3.2 |
| Comerica | United States | 3.1 |
| Wells Fargo | United States | 3.0 |
| Komatsu | Japan | 2.9 |
| Morgan Stanley | United States | 2.9 |
| American International Group | United States | 2.8 |
Tony DeSpirito, David Zhao and Lisa Yang, representing the Investment Manager, noted:
For the one-month period ended 31 August 2021, the Company’s NAV increased by 3.0% and the share price by 4.9% (all in sterling). The Company’s reference index, the Russell 1000 Value Index, returned +3.0% for the period.
The largest contributor to relative performance was security selection in the financial sector. Specifically, selection decisions within insurance and capital markets helped relative returns, as well as our overweight exposure to the insurance industry overall. Within information technology (IT), our overweight exposure to communications equipment benefited returns as did an underweight exposure to technology hardware, storage and peripherals. Finally, stock selection within consumer discretionary also contributed to relative performance with our choices within textile and apparel and specialty retail proving accretive.
The largest detractor from relative performance were our allocation decisions within health care. Specifically, our selection decisions in the health care equipment and supplies industries, as well as underweight exposure to biotechnology, proved costly. In industrials, stock selection within machinery also weighed on relative returns, as did our selection in road and rail. Lastly, consumer staples also detracted from relative returns as allocation decisions within food and staples retailing and food products hindered performance.
Transactions
There were no new purchases or sales in the portfolio this month.
Positioning
As of the period end, the Company’s largest overweight positions relative to the benchmark were in the IT, consumer discretionary and financials sectors. The Company’s largest underweight positions relative to the benchmark were in the industrials, real estate and consumer staples sectors.
Click here to learn more about BlackRock Sustainable American Income Trust plc
