BlackRock North American Income Trust Plc - Portfolio Update

The information contained in this release was correct as at 31 December 2020. Information on the Company’s up to date net asset values can be found on the London Stock Exchange Website at:

https://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/news/market-news/market-news-home.html.

BLACKROCK NORTH AMERICAN INCOME TRUST PLC (LEI:549300WWOCXSC241W468)
All information is at 31 December 2020  and unaudited.
Performance at month end with net income reinvested
 

At month end

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 December 2020.

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 2019.

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

For the one-month period ended 31 December 2020, the Company’s NAV increased by 1.0% and the share price by 2.0% (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 an underweight exposure to the industrials sector. Notably, selection decisions among industrial conglomerates and an underweight exposure to machinery proved beneficial. In information technology, stock selection and an overweight exposure to the technology hardware, storage and peripherals and IT services industries boosted relative performance. In consumer staples, stock selection in food and staples retailing helped relative results. Other contributors during the month included an overweight exposure to financials and an underweight exposure to consumer discretionary and utilities.

The largest detractor from relative performance was the portfolio’s cash balance, which remains a preferred defensive allocation of the portfolio management team. At the sector level, selection decisions in the communication services sector was the largest detractor from relative results. Within the sector, a lack of exposure to the entertainment industry proved costly during the month. In health care, stock selection in pharmaceuticals weighed on relative results, as did an overweight exposure to health care providers and services.

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

Transactions/Options

Transactions: In December, the portfolio initiated a new position in Ameren. Allocations to Cisco Systems and Morgan Stanley were increased during the month. Conversely, we reduced our exposure to Cognizant Technology Solutions, Constellation Brands and Samsung Electronics.

Options:  As of 31 December 2020, the Company’s options exposure was 18.7% and the delta of the options was 86.8.

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 December 2020.

19 January 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.