BlackRock Income & Growth has published its results for the year ended 31 October 2015. Over the year the fund beat its benchmark by more than 10%. The NAV total return was 13.5% and the share price total return 13.5% but the total return on the FTSE All-Share was 3.0%. The dividend for the year increased by 5.3% to 6p.
Mark Wharrier and Adam Avigdori’s managers’ report says performance was driven by good stock picking across a wide range of sectors and industries with no single theme dominating. The Company also benefited in relative terms by not holding some of the larger companies that fell such as Glencore, Anglo American and Standard Chartered.
The biggest contributor to performance came from the holding in Carnival, which performed strongly, driven by rising demand and higher on-board spend feeding through to revenue and profit growth, adding to the benefits gained from the lower oil price. Cineworld Group reported full year pre-tax profits which more than doubled, boosted by the purchase of Cinema City International in 2014, and another strong performer was the holding in Domino Printing Sciences which rose significantly as the company received a bid from Japan’s Brother Industries.
Howden Joinery Group continued to trade strongly benefiting from a buoyant domestic economy and a leading market position, resulting in further upgrades. Wolseley continued to deliver strong revenue growth, particularly in the USA, and their holding in Friends Life rallied after Aviva agreed to buy the company. Other positive contributors to performance included Imperial Tobacco, RELX (Reed Elsevier), Rentokil Initial, Next, DS Smith and Direct Line Insurance.
Over the year, Rio Tinto underperformed due to commodity price weakness. Ashmore Group’s share price was weak following net outflows in the second quarter of 2015 as emerging market funds continued to be out of favour given currency weakness. The holding in Bodycote fell due to fears over the industrial slowdown.
BRIG : BlackRock Income & Growth beats benchmark by 10%