BlackRock North American Income Trust plc (LON:BRNA) has announced its latest portfolio update.
All information is at 30 June 2021 and unaudited.
Discover more about the BlackRock North American Income Trust plc at blackrock.com/uk/brna
Performance at month end with net income reinvested
| One Month | Three Months | Six Months | One Year | Three Years | Five Years | |
| Net asset value | 0.1% | 3.7% | 14.1% | 23.0% | 31.1% | 67.7% |
| Share price | -1.6% | -1.1% | 13.7% | 27.9% | 22.6% | 73.9% |
| Russell 1000 Value Index | 1.7% | 5.1% | 15.8% | 28.5% | 35.8% | 69.6% |
At month end
| Net asset value – capital only: | 196.20p |
| Net asset value – cum income: | 196.38p |
| Share price: | 184.50p |
| Discount to cum income NAV: | 6.1% |
| Net yield1: | 4.3% |
| Total assets including current year revenue: | £157.6m |
| Gearing: | Nil |
| Options overwrite | 0.2% |
| 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 6 August 2020 and 4 November 2020 for the year ended 31 October 2020, and on 23 March 2021 and 5 May 2021 for the year ending 31 October 2021, and based on the share price as at close of business on 30 June 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 | 26.0 |
| Health Care | 17.1 |
| Information Technology | 11.1 |
| Industrials | 7.2 |
| Energy | 7.0 |
| Consumer Discretionary | 7.0 |
| Consumer Staples | 6.8 |
| Communication Services | 5.9 |
| Utilities | 4.3 |
| Materials | 2.0 |
| Net Current Assets | 5.6 |
| —- | |
| 100.0 | |
| ===== |
| Country Analysis | Total Assets (%) |
| United States | 73.6 |
| United Kingdom | 6.7 |
| Netherlands | 3.3 |
| France | 3.1 |
| Germany | 2.9 |
| Ireland | 1.8 |
| Japan | 1.0 |
| Canada | 0.8 |
| Norway | 0.6 |
| Switzerland | 0.6 |
| Net Current Assets | 5.6 |
| —– | |
| 100.0 | |
| ===== |
| Top 10 Holdings | Country | % Total Assets |
| Wells Fargo | United States | 3.6 |
| Citigroup | United States | 3.4 |
| American International Group | United States | 2.6 |
| Cisco Systems | United States | 2.6 |
| Bank of America | United States | 2.5 |
| Verizon Communications | United States | 2.3 |
| Anthem | United States | 2.3 |
| Morgan Stanley | United States | 2.2 |
| General Motors | United States | 2.1 |
| Comcast | United States | 2.1 |
Tony DeSpirito, David Zhao and Lisa Yang, representing the Investment Manager, noted:
For the one-month period ended 30 June 2021, the Company’s NAV increased by 0.1% and the share price decreased by 1.6% (all in sterling). The Company’s benchmark, the Russell 1000 Value Index, returned +1.7% for the period.
The largest detractor from relative performance was stock selection in health care, as selection decisions in the health care equipment and supplies industry meaningfully weighed on relative returns. Stock selection and an overweight exposure to health care providers and services companies and a lack of exposure to the biotechnology and life sciences tools and services industries also proved costly in the sector. In financials, stock selection and an overweight exposure to insurance companies weighed on relative returns, as did an overweight exposure to the banks industry. Other detractors during the period included stock selection and an underweight exposure to communication services and stock selection in the energy sector.
The largest contributor to relative performance was an underweight exposure to the materials sector, including underweight allocations to the metals and mining and chemicals industries. In industrials, our decision to not invest in airlines companies and an underweight exposure to the machinery industry boosted relative returns. At the industry level, an overweight exposure to software and communications equipment companies also contributed to relative results during the period.
The portfolio’s options overwriting strategy added modestly to relative performance during the month.
Transactions/Options
Transactions: In June, the portfolio initiated new positions in Apollo Global Management, Panasonic, Seal Air, Komatsu, Centerpoint Energy and Rogers Communications. Conversely, we exited our positions in The TJX Companies and Applied Materials, and reduced our exposure to Berkshire Hathaway, Henkel AG, The Blackstone Group, Equinor and Marathon Petroleum Corporation.
Options: As of 30 June 2021, the Company’s options exposure was 0.2% and the delta of the options was 94.0.
Positioning
As of the period end, the Company’s largest overweight positions relative to the benchmark were in the financials, energy and consumer discretionary sectors. The Company’s largest underweight positions relative to the benchmark were in the real estate, industrials, and communication services sectors.
Source: BlackRock. Data as of 30 June 2021.
Discover more about the BlackRock North American Income Trust plc at blackrock.com/uk/brna
