BLACKROCK INCOME AND GROWTH INVESTMENT TRUST PLC
All information is at 30 June 2012 and unaudited.
Performance at month end with net income reinvested
One Three One Three Five
month months year years Years
Sterling:
Share price 4.0% -1.5% -4.7% 43.4% -19.4%
Net asset value 5.1% -1.5% -2.0% 53.0% -15.5%
FSTE All-Share Total Return 4.8% -2.6% -3.1% 47.4% 1.9%
Sources: BlackRock and Datastream
BlackRock took over the investment management of the Company with effect from 1
April 2012.
At month end
Sterling:
Net asset value - capital only: 137.70p
Net asset value - cum income: 140.89p
Share price: 129.00p
Total assets (including income): £42.0m
Discount to cum-income NAV: 8.4%
Gearing: 5.2%
Net yield: 4.0%
Ordinary shares in issue: 28,379,268
*includes net revenue of 3.19 pence per share
** excludes 4,554,664 shares held in treasury
Benchmark
Sector Analysis Total assets(%)
Oil & Gas Producers 13.67
Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology 10.86
Mobile Telecommunications 9.25
Banks 8.17
Media 7.57
Mining 7.12
Tobacco 6.41
Nonlife Insurance 3.78
Food producers 3.51
Equity Investment Instruments 3.05
Software & Computer Services 2.93
Electricity 2.87
Life Insurance 2.68
Aerospace & Defense 2.51
Support Services 2.48
Electronic & Electrical Equipment 1.74
Gas, Water & Multiutilities 1.72
Real Estate Investment & Services 1.72
Financial Services 1.44
General Retailers 1.40
Technology Hardware & Equipment 0.98
Chemicals 0.98
Oil Equipment, Services & Distribution 0.47
Non Equity Investment Instruments 2.86
Net Current Liabilities (0.17)
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Total 100.00
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Ten Largest Equity Investments (in alphabetical order)
Company % of Total assets
Antofagasta 3.78
BHP Billiton 3.34
British American Tobacco 3.40
GlaxoSmithKline 5.18
HSBC 6.23
Royal Dutch Shell B 8.42
Tullow Oil 3.79
UBM 3.42
Unilever 3.51
Vodafone 9.26
Commenting on the markets, Nick McLeod-Clarke & Adam Avigdori, representing the
Investment Manager noted:
Markets
Equity markets recovered strongly in June following the sharp fall in May as
global growth was seen to falter and economic data continued to be mixed.
However, optimism around positive progress at the EU Summit towards the end of
the month contributed to the market rise.
The continuing European sovereign debt crisis and the important political
issues involved remain at the forefront of investors' minds. At the end of the
month, a summit of Europe's leaders agreed on a bailout package for Spanish and
Italian banks and the cost of long term borrowing fell back. Significantly,
Germany seemed to soften its hard line on austerity at the summit, which may be
a reflection of the swing to the left in the French government following the
recent elections.
The US market rallied decisively, helped by low inflation, a narrowing in the
trade deficit and the Federal Reserve extending its stimulus package. Notably
the Chinese market fell significantly in June, despite China's continuing trade
surplus, when it was confirmed that GDP was at a three year low for the first
quarter of the year.
The market rise was broad-based but led by the banking sector and other
financials, including life and non-life insurance. The mining sector continued
to lag the market, in part due to Xstrata and Glencore struggling to complete
their proposed merger. The pharmaceutical, food retail and industrials sectors
also performed poorly.
Portfolio Performance
The Company performed in line with the benchmark index. Shares of media group UBM
performed well in anticipation of a strong set of results, particularly for the
exhibitions business. An underweight position in the mining sector was
beneficial as the sector performed poorly as concerns remained over global
demand for commodities. Not owning Xstrata and Glencore benefited performance
as their proposed merger faced increasing scrutiny amid shareholder activism,
and owning a position in copper miner Antofagasta was additive as the shares
recovered towards the end of the month.
Motor insurer Admiral Group was also a positive contributor to performance, as
confidence grows that the potential reserving problems indicated last year will
not be the drag the market had feared. Not owning household goods producer
Reckitt Benckiser was also beneficial as demand in Europe and the US remains
weak and as competitive intensity increases, led by Proctor & Gamble.
Shares of control equipment specialist Spectris and specialty chemical producer
Victrex were down as cyclical growth companies fell, driven predominantly by
concerns surrounding Eurozone sovereign debt issues compounded by weakening
global economic data. 3i Infrastructure was flat in absolute terms though
lagged the rising market and therefore detracted from performance.
Outlook
Macro risk has been a key feature across financial markets in 2012. The twists
and turns of the euro crisis, Chinese growth and broader slowdown fears across
emerging markets combined with on-going concerns about the US "fiscal cliff"
have dominated investor debate in the past few months, and driven some markets
to extreme levels - sovereign bonds, for example.
The relief rally inspired by the Long Term Refinancing Operation in Europe
petered out. Political risk increased as elections in Greece, initially
indecisive, and France highlighted the immense difficulties involved in
co-ordinating a comprehensive policy response that addresses the need for
austerity without choking off growth.
This remains an environment dominated by short term trading patterns in which
macro-economic factors dominate market returns, known by most commentators as
`risk-on, risk-off'. This situation may well persist for as long as sovereign
debt concerns are predominant but we still prefer to make investments where
we believe we have a competitive edge and an information advantage, i.e., by
focusing on the fundamentals of individual companies.
We continue to position the portfolio into companies where the fundamentals are
strong and the business can take advantage of geographies that are growing
strongly. The UK equity market has considerable exposure to overseas earnings
and provides many good investment opportunities. UK equity valuations still
look attractive compared to those of most other asset classes, with the
prospect of high quality earnings and dividend growth.
19 July 2012
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