Portfolio Update

BLACKROCK NORTH AMERICAN INCOME TRUST plc (LEI: 549300WWOCXSC241W468)
All information is at 31 March 2019 and unaudited.

Performance at month end with net income reinvested

	One Month	Three Months	Six Months	One Year	Three Years	Five years
Net asset value	2.6%	7.2%	-3.6%	11.8%	47.7%	82.0%
Share price	-0.5%	6.8%	-2.9%	19.8%	58.3%	90.2%
Russell 1000 Value Index	2.7%	9.4%	-1.1%	13.8%	48.6%	85.6%

Source: BlackRock

At month end
Net asset value – capital only:	169.66p
Net asset value – cum income:	170.84p
Share price:	170.00p
Discount to cum income NAV:	0.5%
Net yield¹:	4.7%
Total assets including current year revenue:	£121.2m
Gearing:	Nil
Options overwrite:	14.8%
Ordinary shares in issue²:	70,949,044
Ongoing charges³:	1.1%

¹ In line with the dividend policy announced in the Annual Report on 17 December 2018 of dividends amounting to 8.00p per share for the year ending 31 October 2019 and based on the share price as at close of business on 31 March 2019.
² Excluding 29,412,261 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 2018.

Benchmark Sector Analysis	Total Assets (%)
Financials	25.2
Health Care	13.8
Information Technology	12.8
Energy	10.9
Consumer Staples	9.1
Industrials	7.9
Communication Services	6.2
Utilities	2.8
Consumer Discretionary	2.5
Materials	2.3
Net current assets	6.5
	-----
	100.0
	=====

Country Analysis	Total Assets (%)
United States	75.7
United Kingdom	6.0
Netherlands	2.8
Ireland	2.7
Switzerland	2.6
Canada	1.5
Germany	1.3
Denmark	0.6
France	0.3
Net current assets	6.5
	-----
	100.0
	=====

Ten Largest Investments
Company	Country of Risk	Total Assets (%)
Verizon Communications	USA	4.3
Wells Fargo	USA	3.5
JPMorgan Chase	USA	3.4
Pfizer	USA	3.2
Citigroup	USA	3.2
Bank of America	USA	2.9
Oracle	USA	2.8
BP Group	United Kingdom	2.6
Microsoft	USA	2.4
Williams Companies	USA	2.2

Tony DeSpirito, Franco Tapia and David Zhao, representing the Investment Manager, noted:

For the one-month period ended 31 March 2019, the Company’s NAV increased by 2.6%¹ while the share price decreased by 0.5%¹ (all in sterling). The Company’s benchmark, the Russell 1000 Value Index, returned 2.7%² for the period.

The largest contributor to relative performance was stock selection and allocation decisions in the consumer staples sector. Notably, stock selection in tobacco and our underweight to the food & staples retailing industry proved to be beneficial. In communication services, stock selection in the diversified telecom services and media industries boosted relative returns. Lastly, a combination of stock selection and an overweight to information technology added to relative results during the month.

The largest detractor from relative performance was a combination of stock selection and allocation decisions in the health care sector. Notably, stock selection in the pharmaceuticals industry proved costly, as did our overweight to health care providers & services. An underweight to real estate also weighed on relative returns, as did a combination of stock selection and an underweight to the utilities sector.

The portfolio’s option overwriting strategy detracted from performance in March amid rising U.S. stock prices.

Transactions/Options

Transactions: In March, the portfolio’s exposure to BP, DowDuPont, Humana  and Nestle were increased. Conversely, we exited our positions in Cardinal Health, Devon Energy, Hess Corporation and Merck. We also trimmed our position in Suncor Energy.

Options:  As of 31 March 2019, the Company’s options exposure was 14.8% and the delta of the options 85.3. 

Positioning

As of the period end, the Company’s largest overweight positions relative to the benchmark were in the financials, information technology and health care sectors. The Company’s largest underweight positions relative to the benchmark were in the real estate, utilities and consumer discretionary sectors.

Source: BlackRock.
¹BlackRock as at 31 March 2019
²Russell 1000 Value Index as at 31 March 2019

23 April 2019

Latest information is available by typing blackrock.co.uk/brna on the internet, "BLRKINDEX" on Reuters, "BLRK" on Bloomberg or "8800" on Topic 3 (ICV terminal).  Neither the contents of the Manager’s website nor the contents of any website accessible from hyperlinks on the Manager’s website (or any other website) is incorporated into, or forms part of, this announcement.