Portfolio Update

BLACKROCK NORTH AMERICAN INCOME TRUST PLC (LEI:549300WWOCXSC241W468)
All information is at 31 January 2021   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	-1.5%	10.8%	9.8%	-0.2%	15.9%	69.3%
Share price	-1.4%	13.8%	7.4%	-8.6%	14.6%	77.5%
Russell 1000 Value Index	-1.4%	9.9%	11.8%	-0.1%	17.9%	71.8%

At month end

Net asset value - capital only:	172.35p
Net asset value - cum income:	173.15p
Share price:	165.50p
Discount to cum income NAV:	5.6%
Net yield1:	4.9%
Total assets including current year revenue:	138.1m
Gearing:	Nil
Options overwrite	17.4%
Ordinary shares in issue2:	79,784,044
Ongoing charges3:	1.1%

¹ Based on four quarterly interim dividends of 2.00p per share declared on 20 March 2020, 5 May 2020, 6 August 2020 and 4 November 2020 for the year ended 31 October 2020 and based on the share price as at close of business on 31 January 2021.

² Excluding 20,577,261 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 2020.

Sector Analysis	Total Assets* (%)
Financials	25.4
Health Care	17.0
Information Technology	11.9
Consumer Staples	7.8
Energy	7.4
Industrials	6.8
Communication Services	6.0
Consumer Discretionary	5.0
Utilities	4.1
Materials	2.2
Net Current Assets	6.4
	-----
	100.0
	=====

Country Analysis	Total Assets* (%)
United States	73.7
Netherlands	4.5
United Kingdom	4.4
Germany	4.0
France	2.2
Ireland	1.8
Switzerland	1.7
Norway	0.9
Canada	0.4
Net Current Assets	6.4
	-----
	100.0
	=====

Top 10 Holdings	Country	% Total Assets*
Citigroup	United States	3.2
Bank of America	United States	2.8
Verizon Communications	United States	2.8
Wells Fargo	United States	2.7
American International Group	United States	2.5
Cisco Systems	United States	2.3
General Motors	United States	2.2
Anthem	United States	2.2
Comcast Corporation	United States	2.1
BAE Systems	United Kingdom	2.1

*These percentages reflect portfolio exposure gained from both the equity holdings and options where relevant.

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

For the one-month period ended 31 January 2021, the Company’s NAV decreased by 1.5% and the share price by 1.4% (all in sterling). The Company’s benchmark, the Russell 1000 Value Index, returned -1.4% for the period.

The largest contributor to relative performance was stock selection and allocation decisions in the industrials sector. Notably, stock selection among industrial conglomerates and aerospace & defence firms proved beneficial. In consumer discretionary, an overweight exposure to automobiles and an underweight exposure to the hotels, restaurants and leisure industry boosted relative performance. Overweight exposure to the oil, gas and consumable fuels industry in energy also helped relative results. Finally, stock selection in materials contributed to relative performance.

The largest detractor from relative performance was stock selection and allocation decisions in health care. More specifically, selection decisions among health care providers and services firms and a lack of exposure to biotechnology and life sciences tools and services detracted from relative returns. In financials, stock selection among banks and an overweight exposure to the insurance industry detracted from relative results. Stock selection in utilities, most notably the electric utilities and multi-utilities industries, proved costly during the month. Other notable detractors during the month included stock selection in consumer staples, information technology and communication services.

The portfolio’s option overwriting strategy detracted from relative performance during the month.

Transactions/Options

Transactions: In January, the portfolio initiated new positions in Huntington Ingalls Industries, CDW and Blackstone Group. Allocations to Zimmer Biomet Holdings and Morgan Stanley were also increased during the month. Conversely, we exited our position in FedEx and reduced our exposure to Samsung Electronics and CME Group.

Options: As of 31 January 2021, the Company’s options exposure was 17.4% and the delta of the options was 87.9.

Positioning

As of the period end, the Company’s largest overweight positions relative to the benchmark were in the financials, health care and energy sectors. The Company’s largest underweight positions relative to the benchmark were in the industrials, real estate and communication services sectors.

Source: BlackRock. Data as of 31 January 2021.

18 February 2021

Latest information is available by typing blackrock.com/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.