North American Income Trust reports that, over the six month period to 31 July 2016, the Company’s net asset value per share rose by 28.0% on a total return basis, in sterling terms, outperforming both its reference indices, the S&P 500 and the Russell 1000 Value, which provided total returns of 21.0% and 23.2% respectively in sterling terms. The Directors have declared a second quarterly dividend of 7.0p per share, which will take the total dividends for the first half of the fiscal year to 14.0p (2015 – 13.0p), a 7.7% increase. The Company’s share price rose by 31.3% to 1,070.0p and ended the reporting period at a 9.0% discount to total net asset value, compared with a 12.9% discount at the financial year end.
As of 31 July 2016, the Trust had 45 equity holdings and 11 other holdings, including corporate bonds – the latter represented approximately 4.1% of total assets and provided 6.1% of the portfolio’s total income earned compared to 7.3% for the 2016 accounting year.
there is no information on the drivers of capital performance during the period but they say that most of the Trust’s equity holdings continued their established record of dividend growth with almost half of the holdings announcing dividend increases over the six month period. Those who announced dividend increases grew their dividends at an average of 8%. However, Potash Corp of Saskatchewan and ConocoPhillips announced reductions to their dividends over the period, amid the prolonged slump in global oil and commodities prices.
NAIT : North American Income ahead of benchmark