Portfolio Update
BLACKROCK NORTH AMERICAN INCOME TRUST plc
All information is at 31 October 2013 and unaudited.
Performance at month end with net income reinvested
One month Since launch
(24 Oct 2012)
Net asset value +4.7% +17.3%
Share price +3.2% +16.5%
Russell 1000 Value Index +5.2% +27.4%
Source: BlackRock
At month end
Net asset value - capital only: 111.04p
Net asset value - cum income: 111.16p
Share price: 112.50p
Premium to cum income NAV: 1.2%
Net yield*: 3.56%
Total assets including current year revenue: £111.00m
Target yield**: 4.00%
Gearing: 0.5%
Options overwrite: 17.56%
Ordinary shares in issue: 99,361,305
During the month, the Company has issued 14,872,805 shares, including a C Share
Conversion of 14,022,805 shares
*Based on dividends of 1p per share each declared on 14 February 2013,
14 May 2013, 6 August 2013 & 3 October 2013.
** Based on issue price of 100p.
Benchmark
Sector Analysis Total Assets (%)
Financials 20.9
Energy 13.7
Industrials 13.6
Consumer Staples 12.3
Consumer Discretionary 9.3
Health Care 9.2
Materials 7.0
Utilities 5.9
Information Technology 5.3
Telecommunication Services 3.7
Net current liabilities -0.9
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100.0
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Country Analysis Total Assets (%)
USA 92.0
Canada 2.7
Australia 1.7
France 1.5
Netherlands 1.4
United Kingdom 1.3
Peru 0.3
Net current liabilities -0.9
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100.0
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Ten LargestInvestments (in alphabetical order)
Company Country of Risk
Chevron USA
Comcast USA
Exxon Mobil USA
General Electric USA
Home Depot USA
JP Morgan Chase USA
Merck & Co USA
Pfizer USA
Verizon USA
Wells Fargo USA
Bob Shearer and Kathleen Anderson, representing the Investment Manager, noted:
Performance
For the one month ended 31 October 2013 the Company posted a 4.7% increase in
its NAV while the share price increased by 3.2% (all in sterling). The
Company's benchmark, the Russell 1000 Value Index, returned 5.2%.
On a relative basis, the largest contributor to the Company's performance
during the period was a combination of stock selection and an underweight to
the health care sector, followed by an overweight to consumer staples and an
underweight to financials. An overweight to industrials, materials and
telecommunication services also added modestly to relative returns, as did
stock selection in utilities.
The largest detractor from relative performance for the month was security
selection in the industrials and materials sectors. Stock selection in consumer
staples and energy also hurt relative returns. Lastly, stock selection in
consumer discretionary, information technology and financials modestly hurt
relative returns for the period.
Transactions/Gearing
Transactions: During the month, we increased our weighting to The Chubb
Corporation and reduced our weighting to ACE Limited. These were the only
notable transactions for the month of October.
As at 31 October 2013, the Company's options exposure was 17.56% and the delta
of the options was 90.89%.
Positioning
The Company is currently overweight to the consumer staples, materials,
industrials, consumer discretionary and telecommunication services sectors. We
are underweight to the financials, health care, information technology, energy
and utilities sectors.
Current Outlook
We continue to focus on identifying inherently attractive businesses to invest
in for the long term. The Company remains positioned in higher-quality, cash
rich, dividend growth companies with defensible competitive advantages and the
ability to self-fund should markets become more volatile. We are overweight
consumer staples, materials and industrials given our belief that these sectors
are poised to benefit from a rebound in US housing, global growth and
persistent (albeit slowing) industrialization in developing markets. As the
potential for rate increases becomes a reality, we believe significant risk can
be found in the lower-capitalised, fundamentally weaker, segment of the US
equity market, where the structural decline in businesses may have been masked
by advances in stock prices in recent quarters. Although this segment of the
market has recently performed well, we simply believe that this performance
cannot last forever. We have positioned the portfolio to benefit from a shift
in market leadership and will continue to emphasize growth of income, relative
protection and long term total return as the core of our process. Overall, the
portfolio remains well-insulated but ready to participate should markets
continue to experience gains through the end of the year.
ENDS
19 November 2013
Latest information is available by typing www.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.