Portfolio Update

BLACKROCK NORTH AMERICAN INCOME TRUST plc (LEI: 549300WWOCXSC241W468)
All information is at 30 April 2017 and unaudited.

Performance at month end with net income reinvested

	One Month	Three Months	Six Months	One Year	Three Years	Since Launch*
Net asset value	-2.8%	0.7%	6.5%	32.3%	64.7%	96.2%
Share price	-0.9%	-2.5%	2.9%	32.5%	60.2%	83.8%
Russell 1000 Value Index	-3.5%	-0.5%	5.4%	32.0%	65.6%	120.0%

Source: BlackRock

*Launched on 24 October 2012.
 

At month end
Net asset value – capital only:	165.25p
Net asset value – cum income:	166.57p
Share price:	158.00p
Discount to cum income NAV:	5.1%
Net yield*:	3.0%
Total assets including current year revenue:	£114.8m
Gearing:	Nil
Options overwrite:	17.18%
Ordinary shares in issue**:	68,949,044
Ongoing charges***:	1.04%

* Based on dividends of 1.20p per share declared on 4 May 2016, 3 August 2016, 3 November 2016 and 21 February 2017.
** Excluding 31,412,261 ordinary shares held in treasury.
*** 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 2016.

Benchmark
Sector Analysis	Total Assets (%)
Financials	26.8
Health Care	14.5
Industrials	10.9
Energy	10.6
Information Technology	9.9
Consumer Staples	6.3
Consumer Discretionary	5.6
Utilities	4.9
Materials	3.7
Telecommunication Services	2.1
Net current assets	4.7
	-----
	100.0
	====

Country Analysis	Total Assets (%)
USA	84.1
United Kingdom	2.8
Canada	2.4
France	2.2
Netherlands	2.2
Ireland	0.7
South Korea	0.5
China	0.4
Net current assets	4.7
	-----
	100.0
	=====

Ten Largest Investments
Company	Country of Risk	Total Assets (%)
JPMorgan Chase	USA	4.1
Bank of America	USA	3.7
Pfizer	USA	3.5
Citigroup	USA	3.2
Dow Chemical	USA	2.9
Wells Fargo	USA	2.7
Oracle	USA	2.4
General Electric	USA	2.4
Microsoft	USA	2.3
Anthem	USA	2.3

Bob Shearer and Tony DeSpirito, representing the Investment Manager, noted:

Performance

For the one month period ended 30 April 2017 the Company’s NAV decreased by 2.8% and the share price fell by 0.9%, whilst the Company’s benchmark, the Russell 1000 Value Index, fell by 3.5% (all performance figures are in sterling terms). 

The largest contributor to relative performance during the month was stock selection in the energy sector.  Notably, the portfolio’s quality orientation and exposure to less commodity sensitive operators within the sector proved to be beneficial as crude oil prices declined during the month.  Stock selection in consumer discretionary also added to relative returns, led by portfolio holdings within the media and specialty retail industries.  Lastly, stock selection in the health care, information technology and consumer staples sectors added to relative returns during the month.

The largest detractor from relative performance was stock selection in the utilities sector.  Other modest detractors included an underweight to real estate and stock selection in telecommunication services during the period.

Transactions/Options

Transactions: Notable portfolio transactions during the month included exiting our position in E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company and utilizing the proceeds to increase our position in The Dow Chemical Company.  We also initiated a new position in Cardinal Health, Inc.

Options:  As of April 30, 2017, the Company’s options exposure was 17.18% and the delta of the options was 87.21. 

Positioning

As of the period end, our largest overweight positions relative to the benchmark were in the health care, consumer discretionary, materials and industrials sectors.  The Company was approximately equal-weight in the financials sector, and was underweight to the real estate, consumer staples, utilities, telecommunication services, energy and information technology sectors.

18 May 2017

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.