Blackrock Income Strategies Trus Share Discussion Threads

[rambutan2] 26/8/2016 00:41

Out of interest, the Blackrock fund which BIST is derived from.

[essentialinvestor] 25/8/2016 15:53

Until the review conclusion it makes any share price headway challenging,
I'm attempting to be polite with those choice of words.

[rambutan2] 25/8/2016 15:12

And the fact that it's got Aviva wanting out of its 13% stake adds to the pear shape.

[essentialinvestor] 24/8/2016 13:26

1.113 was the lowest buy price I managed last week.

[essentialinvestor] 24/8/2016 13:19

I have added some recently, taking a view the review conclusion
will maintain a focus on discount control,

However there are risks so thought it worth posting on those,
as always it is a case of DYOR.

On Investment Trusts, Shires Income gives a yield of approx 5.4%
and the NAV discount is over 10%, it's a significantly smaller trust than BIST.

[orinocor] 24/8/2016 13:09

Yes, probably up. In case you haven't noticed the market is near record highs so there are not many, or any?, investment trusts that are on a decent discount and a big yield. Before you say the dividend could be cut well they can cut it by a whopping 20% and this will still yield 5%.

[essentialinvestor] 24/8/2016 12:57

The short term outlook may depend on whether
they retain a priority on reducing discount to NAV,
and the action they are prepared to take to manage this.

If that is not reiterated then you can take a guess where the SP
is going.

[orinocor] 24/8/2016 12:01

NAV up to over 124p which is up 0.25p from yesterday.

[essentialinvestor] 21/8/2016 16:55

Recent review statement indicates they are unable to
maintain the current dividend in the context of capital preservation-
NAV falls makes that clear.

So what direction they now take is unclear before the review conclusion,
that includes the level of dividend.

[praipus] 21/8/2016 16:09

How much risk does the option strategy represent?

I.e. do they write options?

[orinocor] 21/8/2016 15:39

the suspension of the buyback has created an oportunity methinks. At a 10% discount to NAV and a 5.9% yield I think this is now a very good buy. Blackrock may change the trust's investment aims but this is an income trust and Im sure whatever they decide to do it will continue to pay a big dividend.

[wolstencroft] 02/8/2016 08:52

It looks like they are throwing in the towel after just a year - really bad black mark for the board and Blackrock. This was supposed to be an investment pensioners could hold for years! I hope they allow NAV exits seeing as how they seem to be letting shareholders down so much.

[wolstencroft] 12/7/2016 09:35

I bought yesterday - there is a zero discount policy and I expect to get a 5-10% return within a few months relatively low-risk. I looked at the annual reports and actually quite like their strategies.

[essentialinvestor] 10/7/2016 11:06

Approx a 6% discount to NAV on Friday.

Yield is nearing 6% here.

Recent performance has been dire in the context of a capital preservation
mandate, all be it this is framed over a cycle of 5-7 years.

Looking interesting here on a 2-3 year view, just imv only.

[essentialinvestor] 01/4/2016 12:24

Added a few.

[essentialinvestor] 31/3/2016 14:21

Over a year since the last post and the yield now well in excess of 5%,
performance - 8% on a 1 year, allow for the dividend and not a disaster
is perhaps the best you can say.

[redsonning] 09/3/2015 21:23

Annual dividend has in fact been 6.44 pence per share (a yield of 4.7% on the present share price. Blackrock indicate that "We expect to continue paying dividends at least at the current level of 6.44 pence per annum...".
Contrary to what one might think from the comments passed here, this share has been a rather nice stock to make money from. Yield generally has been in the range 4.5 to 5%, with dividends paid quarterly, and a varying discount to assets on an underlying holding of rather safe blue chips. Judicious timing based on correct judgement of market movements and shifting discount has meant capital as well as income gains, whilst underlying risk has in the past remained low.
This has been the attraction of this kind of share. Whether it will now continue to be so depends to some extent on the new risks introduced by the new investment managers, but one cannot take it for granted that it will automatically be better. Personally I liked it just fine as it was, and made perfectly good returns over time.

[cwa1] 09/3/2015 16:52

Thanks for the "heads up" on those two(HVTR and CGI), will have a glance at them when time permits. 30% discount is certainly interesting for CGI, but what will it narrow is one of the questions....

[hugepants] 09/3/2015 16:44

Also worth checking out Canadian General Investments (CGI). Currently at a 30% discount to NAV and yielding 4%.

[jonwig] 09/3/2015 16:09

CWA - yes, worth watching the discount, as it will be an indicator of sentiment.

I'd hope a lot quicker than that, badtime!

For a potentially massive turnaround play, Henderson Value (HVTR) takes some beating, with a discount to NAV of 21%. Henderson took over a year ago and so far have done little to stem the tide.
Look at the chart here:



I started the thread but can't bring myself to buy!

[badtime] 09/3/2015 15:47

Hopefully a bit quicker than 25 years

[cwa1] 09/3/2015 15:43

Hi jonwig

I definitely agree with that. It will take the new management a while to get their feet under the table and hopefully turn the ship around BUT turn it round they may well do. I like to have a little "skin in the game" if I think there is some potential, hence my modest punt here. We'll see how things pan out in the medium term and have my fingers crossed meantime!

[jonwig] 09/3/2015 14:49

When it was British Assets (till a couple of weeks ago) it paid about 6p a year dividend (yield 4.4%) recently, but historic capital performance was pretty awful. I remember being warned off it about 25 years ago.

Of course, the new managers can do lots of stuff, but they can't do it quickly - dripping big positions onto the market takes time.

Current discount to NAV is about 9%, which looks about right.