BlackBlackRock Sustainable American Income plc (LON:BRSA), previously known as BlackRock North American Income, has recently reported its annual results for the financial year ending 31 October 2021. Over this 12-month period BRSA has generated a NAV total return of 36.0% and a share price return of 42.4%, outperforming the 35.6% return of its benchmark, the Russell 1000 Value Index.

Kepler Trust Intelligence Analyst David Johnson said: “The most substantial change to BRSA over its financial year has been the adoption of an explicit sustainability objective, approved on 29 July 2021; though it still maintains its dedication of investing in high-yielding value stocks. As part of the new strategy, BRSA will now be invested in a manner consistent with the principles of sustainable investing, with an explicit target of achieving certain sustainability metrics – and a new name.

There have also been a number of operational changes to BRSA as a result of the change in objective. The BRSA team can now invest in mid-cap holdings (i.e. investing in the entire market cap range of the Russell 1000 value), and have also increased the concentration, aiming for a 30-60 stock portfolio. The board will also take a more active approach to gearing, with BRSA now having a natural level of 5% net gearing, with a 0% to 10% range. The board has also removed the use of option writing to enhance the trust’s income, and has cut the management fee by 0.05%.”

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Kepler Trust Intelligence is written and published by the investment companies team at Kepler Partners.