BlackRock Sustainable American Income Trust plc (LON:BRSA) has announced its latest portfolio update.
All information is at 31 January 2024 and unaudited.
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Performance at month end with net income reinvested
| OneMonth | ThreeMonths | SixMonths | OneYear | ThreeYears | Five Years | |
| Net asset value | 0.8 | 9.2 | 4.0 | 0.6 | 35.9 | 55.2 |
| Share price | -1.8 | 8.3 | -0.2 | -3.1 | 29.1 | 37.0 |
| Russell 1000 Value Index | 0.2 | 8.3 | 3.6 | 2.6 | 40.5 | 61.0 |
At month end
| Net asset value – capital only: | 208.42p |
| Net asset value – cum income: | 209.18p |
| Share price: | 186.50p |
| Discount to cum income NAV: | 10.8% |
| Net yield1: | 4.3% |
| Total assets including current year revenue: | £165.7m |
| Net gearing: | 0.4% |
| Ordinary shares in issue2: | 79,208,241 |
| Ongoing charges3: | 1.03% |
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 January 2024.
² Excluding 21,153,064 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 2023.
| Sector Analysis | Total Assets (%) |
| Financials | 20.1 |
| Health Care | 18.1 |
| Information Technology | 13.2 |
| Consumer Discretionary | 10.7 |
| Industrials | 9.6 |
| Energy | 7.7 |
| Consumer Staples | 6.8 |
| Communication Services | 5.0 |
| Materials | 4.1 |
| Utilities | 3.3 |
| Real Estate | 1.7 |
| Net Current Liabilities | -0.3 |
| —– | |
| 100.0 | |
| ===== |
| Country Analysis | Total Assets (%) |
| United States | 89.5 |
| United Kingdom | 4.1 |
| France | 2.2 |
| Australia | 1.7 |
| Switzerland | 1.0 |
| Japan | 0.9 |
| Canada | 0.9 |
| Net Current Liabilities | –0.3 |
| —– | |
| 100.0 | |
| ===== |
| Top 10 Holdings | Country | % Total Assets |
| Citigroup | United States | 3.3 |
| Verizon Communications | United States | 3.1 |
| Cisco Systems | United States | 2.8 |
| American International | United States | 2.8 |
| Kraft Heinz | United States | 2.7 |
| Willis Towers Watson | United States | 2.6 |
| Shell | United Kingdom | 2.6 |
| Sony | United States | 2.6 |
| Cardinal Health | United States | 2.5 |
| Baxter International | United States | 2.3 |
Tony DeSpirito, David Zhao and Lisa Yang, representing the Investment Manager, noted:
For the one-month period ended 31 January 2024, the Company’s NAV increased by 0.8% and the share price fell by 1.8% (all in sterling). The Company’s reference index, the Russell 1000 Value Index, returned +0.2% for the period.
The largest contributor to relative performance stemmed from stock selection in industrials; specifically selection decisions in electrical equipment boosted relative performance. Selection decisions in communication services also boosted relative performance, with investment decisions in diversified telecom proving beneficial. Other modest contributors during the period at the sector level included selection decisions in both information technology and consumer discretionary.
The largest detractor from relative performance stemmed from stock selection in consumer staples; notably at the industry level stock selection in consumer staples distribution and retail was costly to relative performance. Selection decisions in energy detracted from relative performance, specifically in oil, gas and consumables. Other modest detractors during the period included stock selection in health care at the sector level and life sciences tools and services at the industry level.
Transactions
During the month, the portfolio’s largest purchases included Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies, PG&E and Sensata Tech. The portfolio exited its position in Transunion, First American Financial and Mattel.
Positioning
As of the period end, the Company’s largest overweight positions relative to the reference index were in the consumer discretionary, health care and financials sectors. The Company’s largest underweight positions relative to the reference index were in the industrials, real estate and utilities sectors.
Source: BlackRock.
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