Portfolio Update

BLACKROCK INCOME AND GROWTH INVESTMENT TRUST PLC (LEI:5493003YBY59H9EJLJ16)

All information is at 31 August 2017 and unaudited.

Performance at month end with net income reinvested

	One Month	Three Months	One Year	Three Years	Five Years	Since 1 April 2012
Sterling
Share price	-2.1%	-2.1%	10.1%	28.0%	73.3%	81.7%
Net asset value	0.0%	-2.6%	11.0%	29.5%	67.1%	71.4%
FTSE All-Share Total Return	1.4%	0.0%	14.3%	24.8%	63.7%	65.1%
Source: BlackRock

BlackRock took over the investment management of the Company with effect from 1 April 2012.

At month end
Sterling:
Net asset value - capital only:	201.43p
Net asset value - cum income*:	204.96p
Share price:	198.25p
Total assets (including income):	£50.7m
Discount to cum-income NAV:	3.3%
Gearing:	2.6%
Net yield**:	3.2%
Ordinary shares in issue***:	24,754,268
Gearing range (as a % of net assets)	0-20%
Ongoing charges****:	1.0%

* includes net revenue of 3.53 pence per share

** The Company’s yield based on dividends announced in the last 12 months as at the date of the release of this announcement is 3.2% and includes the 2016 final dividend of 3.90p per share declared on 21 December 2016 and paid to shareholders on 10 March 2017 and the 2017 interim dividend of 2.50p per share announced on 26 June 2017 to be paid to shareholders on 1 September 2017.

*** excludes 8,179,664 shares held in treasury

**** Calculated as a percentage of average net assets and using expenses, excluding performance fees and interest costs for the year ended 31 October 2016.

Sector Analysis	Total assets (%)
Support Services	8.8
Banks	7.7
Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology	7.6
Tobacco	7.2
Travel & Leisure	6.3
Oil & Gas Producers	6.2
Media	6.0
Food Producers	5.8
Non-Life Insurance	5.6
Financial Services	5.4
General Industrials	4.5
General Retailers	4.5
Industrial Engineering	3.4
Construction & Materials	3.2
Fixed Line Telecommunications	3.0
Food & Drug Retailers	2.3
Mobile Telecommunications	2.0
Real Estate Investment & Services	1.9
Aerospace & Defence	1.7
Household Goods & Home Construction	1.6
Chemicals	1.4
Beverages	1.0
Real Estate Investment Trusts Software & Computer Services	0.9 0.7
Net Current Assets	1.3
	------
Total	100.0
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Ten Largest Equity Investments
Company	Total assets (%)
British American Tobacco	6.3
Unilever	5.8
Lloyds Banking Group	4.7
RELX	4.3
Rentokil Initial	3.9
Royal Dutch Shell ‘B’	3.8
HSBC Holdings	3.1
John Laing Group	3.1
BT Group	3.0
Ferguson (formerly Wolseley)	2.9

Commenting on the markets, Adam Avigdori and David Goldman representing the Investment Manager noted:

The UK stock market rose further in August despite increasing tensions around North Korea. Perceived safe haven assets benefited from the uncertainty and bond markets saw yields move lower, whilst within the UK stock market the more defensive sectors were among the best performers over the month. The mining sector also outperformed given commodity price strength, with the copper price particularly strong. Economic data remained supportive and included US payrolls, Eurozone and Japan GDP and PMI survey data. The recent appreciation of the Euro versus the US dollar was maintained. Over the month the Company delivered a flat return of 0.0%, underperforming the FTSE All-Share which returned 1.4%. Unilever was the largest contributor for the month as the shares continue to perform well. There was no company specific news driving this move but it is worth noting that Unilever have bought back preference shares as part of the re-structure of their capital structure. Rentokil is one of our largest active holdings in the portfolio and continues to perform well as it focuses on the profitable Pest Control and Hygiene divisions. The investment case for Rentokil remains robust with powerful structural drivers in pest control and a favourable industry backdrop where innovation, scale and investment in technology can make a difference. Future prospects are aided by the balance sheet capacity and attractive M&A pipeline available to Rentokil. An underweight position in Standard Chartered led to relative performance gains for the month as the company saw a slowdown in revenue progression. This was mainly driven by their financial markets division as a result of both the macroeconomic environment and team changes. Provident Financial was the largest detractor after a profit warning from the sub-prime lender indicated a fall in debt collection rates from 90% to 57% which led to a significant drop in profits. CEO, Peter Crook, stepped down with immediate effect and the group has also said it is facing an investigation from the FCA. Infrastructure investor John Laing was a performance detractor in August. The company reached a deal on their Manchester Waste project which resulted in a £25m hit to valuation. We see this one-off hit as a sensible resolution as opposed to lengthy and expensive legal battles. Our underweight position in mining companies detracted from performance in August as the sector performed well. We continue to have concerns in the mining industry regarding the volatility in Chinese demand and signs that the industry will need to enter into the next phase of capex investment which will bring cash flow under strain. We remain comfortable not holding these names in the portfolio. We continue to run a flexible and concentrated portfolio with competition for capital ensuring we only hold the highest conviction positions. In this regard, we added a new position in Diageo who are moving out of a phase of investment and management change and towards a performance driven culture with a focus on margins. Over the course of the month we exited our positions in Sky and Provident Financial, reduced our position in Unilever and have added to Ferguson, Shire, ITV and Admiral. We see increasing pressure in the UK consumer space as rock bottom household savings are coupled with rising household debt levels. Whilst we remain cautious in this area, we certainly don’t treat all companies equally. By focusing on those companies that can generate cashflow from strong business models, have strong balance sheets or scope for management driven self-help, we are able to access some of the fantastic domestic opportunities starting to emerge. As ever, we remain believers that over the longer-term earnings and cashflow growth tend to be the dominant driver of share prices and where equity markets fail to recognise that, corporates buyers have the potential to exploit the opportunity. With a combination of continued sterling weakness and a low rate environment fuelling cheap debt, we believe that M&A activity will remain a theme throughout the year.

13 September 2017