BlackRock Sustainable American Income Trust plc (LON:BRSA) has announced its latest portfolio update.
All information is at 31 December 2023 and unaudited.
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Performance at month end with net income reinvested
| OneMonth | ThreeMonths | SixMonths | OneYear | ThreeYears | Five Years | |
| Net asset value | 4.5 | 5.5 | 5.4 | 4.1 | 32.8 | 59.0 |
| Share price | 5.0 | 4.9 | 4.4 | 2.3 | 29.7 | 47.0 |
| Russell 1000 Value Index | 4.8 | 4.8 | 5.7 | 5.2 | 38.3 | 67.6 |
At month end
| Net asset value – capital only: | 206.86p |
| Net asset value – cum income: | 207.42p |
| Share price: | 190.00p |
| Discount to cum income NAV: | 8.4% |
| Net yield1: | 4.2% |
| Total assets including current year revenue: | £165.0m |
| Net gearing: | 0.0% |
| Ordinary shares in issue2: | 79,559,061 |
| Ongoing charges3: | 1.01% |
1 Based on four quarterly dividends of 2.00p per share declared on 22 March 2023, 11 May 2023, 3 August 2023 and 2 November 2023 for the year ended 31 October 2023 and based on the share price as at close of business on 31 December 2023.
² Excluding 20,802,244 ordinary shares held in treasury.
³ The Company’s ongoing charges calculated as a percentage of average daily net assets and using the management fee and all other operating expenses excluding finance costs, direct transaction costs, custody transaction charges, VAT recovered, taxation and certain non-recurring items for the year ended 31 October 2022.
| Sector Analysis | Total Assets (%) |
| Financials | 20.3 |
| Health Care | 19.7 |
| Information Technology | 13.2 |
| Consumer Discretionary | 11.1 |
| Energy | 8.1 |
| Consumer Staples | 6.9 |
| Industrials | 5.1 |
| Communication Services | 4.6 |
| Materials | 4.3 |
| Utilities | 3.4 |
| Real Estate | 1.8 |
| Industrials | 1.5 |
| Net Current Liabilities | – |
| —– | |
| 100.0 | |
| ===== |
| Country Analysis | Total Assets (%) |
| United States | 88.7 |
| United Kingdom | 4.2 |
| France | 2.0 |
| Australia | 1.6 |
| Canada | 1.5 |
| Japan | 1.0 |
| Switzerland | 1.0 |
| Net Current Liabilities | – |
| —– | |
| 100.0 | |
| ===== |
| Top 10 Holdings | Country | % Total Assets |
| Citigroup | United States | 3.1 |
| Cisco Systems | United States | 2.9 |
| Verizon Communications | United States | 2.8 |
| Shell | United Kingdom | 2.7 |
| American International | United States | 2.7 |
| Kraft Heinz | United States | 2.7 |
| Willis Towers Watson | United States | 2.6 |
| Sony Corporation | United States | 2.5 |
| Cigna | United States | 2.5 |
| Cardinal Health | United States | 2.3 |
Tony DeSpirito, David Zhao and Lisa Yang, representing the Investment Manager, noted:
For the one-month period ended 31 December 2023, the Company’s NAV increased by 4.5% and the share price by 5.0% (all in sterling). The Company’s reference index, the Russell 1000 Value Index, returned +4.8% for the period.
The largest contributor to relative performance stemmed from stock selection in consumer staples, with the decision to not invest in household products boosting relative performance. Selection decisions in industrials also boosted relative performance, with stock selection in building products proving beneficial. Other modest contributors during the period at the sector level included selection decisions in materials and health care.
The largest detractor from relative performance stemmed from stock selection in consumer discretionary, notably at the industry level stock selection in textiles and apparel was costly to relative performance. An underweight allocation, along with selection decisions in real estate, detracted from relative performance, specifically in specialised REITS. Other modest detractors during the period included stock selection in information technology and utilities.
Transactions
During the month, the Company’s largest purchases included Keurig DR Pepper, Hasbro and Thermo Fisher Scientific. The portfolio exited its positions in L3Harris Technologies, Mondelez International and Panasonic.
Positioning
As of the period end, the Company’s largest overweight positions relative to the reference index were in the health care, consumer discretionary and financials sectors. The Company’s largest underweight positions relative to the reference index were in the industrials, real estate and utilities sectors.
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