Portfolio Update

BLACKROCK INCOME AND GROWTH INVESTMENT TRUST PLC All information is at 31 July and unaudited. Performance at month end with net income reinvested One Three One Three Five month months year years Years Sterling: Share price 5.3% 3.3% 3.1% 41.5% -13.5% Net asset value (cum income) 1.7% 0.3% 0.8% 43.8% -11.4% FSTE All-Share Total Return 1.3% -1.0% 0.4% 37.7% 6.9% Sources: BlackRock and Datastream BlackRock took over the investment management of the Company with effect from 1 April 2012. At month end Sterling: Net asset value - capital only: 139.91p Net asset value - cum income*: 141.50p Share price: 134.00p Total assets (including income): £40.2m Discount to cum-income NAV: 5.3% Gearing: 6.6% Net yield: 3.8% Ordinary shares in issue**: 28,379.268 *includes net revenue of 3.19 pence per share ** excludes 4,554,664 shares held in treasury Benchmark Sector Analysis Total assets(%) Oil & Gas Producers 13.44 Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology 10.91 Mobile Telecommunications 9.39 Banks 8.01 Media 7.96 Tobacco 7.93 Mining 7.15 Food Producers 4.71 Non Life Insurance 3.59 Equity Investment Instruments 3.09 Life Insurance 2.79 Software & Computer Services 2.66 Non Equity Investment Instruments 2.49 Aerospace & Defence 2.45 Support Services 2.40 General Retailers 2.26 Electricity 1.93 Gas, Water & Multiutilities 1.79 Electronic & Electrical Equipment 1.75 Real Estate Investment & Services 1.61 Financial Services 1.44 Technology Hardware & Equipment 1.29 Oil Equipment, Services & Distribution 0.53 Net Current Liabilities (1.57) ------ Total 100.00 ------ Ten Largest Equity Investments(in alphabetical order) Company % of Total assets Antofagasta 3.89 BHP Billiton 3.61 British American Tobacco 5.16 GlaxoSmithKline 5.49 HSBC 6.26 Royal Dutch Shell B 8.90 Tullow Oil 3.47 UBM 3.91 Unilever 3.92 Vodafone 9.86 Commenting on the markets, Nick McLeod-Clarke & Adam Avigdori, representing the Investment Manager noted: Markets Equity markets continued to suffer from economic data that pointed to lower, albeit still positive global economic growth. UK GDP figures were worse than expected, with data from the Office for National Statistics showing that the economy shrank by 0.7% in the three months to June; GDP forecasts were revised down further to just 0.1% for 2012, with inflation expectations also revised down to 2%. The ECB reiterated that countries seeking assistance need to continue with austerity. China's economic growth has slowed and the economic growth target for the year had been reduced to 7.5%. In response, China's central bank has cut its key interest rates and in a bid to boost lending reduced the amount of money that the country's banks must keep in reserve. The lowered global growth forecasts and on-going uncertainty led companies with more predictable earnings to perform better, with consumer goods companies - food & beverages and tobacco in particular - the largest positive contributors to performance. Financials, led by banks, were the biggest negative contributors to index performance, following strong performance in the previous month. Portfolio performance The Company returned 1.7%* over the month, outperforming the FTSE All-Share Index, which returned 1.3%. The top contributors included technology company CSR, a global provider of multi-function semiconductor platforms, which announced the proposed transfer of its handset connectivity and location development operations and technology to Samsung. The Company also benefited from the bid by Japanese marketing agency Dentsu for UK media group Aegis, an independent media planner and buyer, which announced that it had reached an agreement on a recommended all cash offer by Dentsu. Media group UBM reported a good set of interim numbers, with the exhibitions and conferences business, which is mainly focused on emerging markets, delivering growth ahead of market expectations. Amongst the detractors, Tullow Oil reduced estimates for the resources in three of its discoveries in Ghana, although the company added that these discoveries were likely to contain a higher proportion of oil to gas than originally thought. Plumbing distributor Wolseley fell after reporting a challenging period for its European business. Outlook Macro risk has been a key feature across financial markets in 2012. The vagaries of the euro crisis, Chinese growth and broader slowdown fears across emerging markets combined with on-going concerns about the US "fiscal cliff" have dominated investor debate in the past few months. This remains an environment dominated by short term trading patterns in which macro-economic factors dominate market returns, known by most commentators as `risk-on, risk-off'. We still prefer to make investments where we believe we have a competitive edge and an information advantage, i.e., by focusing on the fundamentals of individual companies. We continue to position the portfolio towards companies where the fundamentals are strong and the business can take advantage of geographies that are growing strongly. Overall equity valuations look attractive relative to other asset classes and we continue to believe that the emerging markets exhibit the best economic fundamentals. UK equity valuations still look attractive compared to those of most other asset classes, with the prospect of high quality earnings and dividend growth. * NAV cum income including dividend reinvestment 16 August 2012 ENDS Latest information is available by typing www.blackrock.co.uk/brig 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.
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