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LONDON (Alliance News) - Bluefield Solar Income Fund Ltd Monday reported an increase in its net asset value since its initial public offering in July 2013.
The fund raised GBP130.3 million before expenses through a July 2013 initial public offering before topping up that sum through a GBP13.2 million tap issue in February 2014.
Chairman John Rennocks said it is too early to sensibly review the portfolio performance as the majority of the assets became operational only in the first quarter of 2014. However, he said he was encouraged as the company's projects achieved their base case projections through a combination of "higher irradiation and effective contract management" with the company's suppliers in the early phases of building and operating our portfolio of projects.
"It should be noted that this achievement was in the context of a drop in power prices during the period which had some impact on the short term power purchase agreements entered into by the investments," Rennocks said in a statement.
"I expect the company to use this advantage in the coming months as we seek to achieve disciplined growth of the portfolio through the use of our short term acquisition facility and further equity issuance," Rennocks added.
The Chairman said there are challenges ahead for future investments as the market moves to different pricing mechanisms through contracts for difference and targets a wider range of projects including commercial and industrial sites.
"We believe this will lead to new and exciting projects in which to invest and that we are well placed as the leading solar specialist investor to continue to give our shareholders access to a market leading dividend yield from a growing and diverse solar operating base," Rennocks said.
The Guernsey-registered investment company focuses on large scale agricultural and industrial solar assets. It has an objective of long-term stable dividends growing in-line with the retail price index measure of inflation.
"The board is confident that the portfolio will deliver the target returns to our shareholders and, importantly, will provide the company with a solid platform from which to grow its asset base. We are pleased to meet our first year target for dividends and remain confident that we can deliver our projected returns in the coming years," Rennocks added.
| At June 30 2014 | |
| Market Capitalisation | GBP147.2 Million |
| Share Price | 102.62p |
| First interim dividend paid in the period | 2.0p per share |
| Second Interim Dividend | 2.0p per share |
| NAV | GBP147.7 Million |
| NAV Per Share | 102.96p |
| Total Return (based on NAV increase and dividends) | 7.00% |
| Total Return To Shareholders (based on share price and dividends) | 4.60% |
| Valuation movement during the period to June 30 2014 | ||
| Proceeds raised at IPO | 130.3 | |
| Further Tap issue of shares | 13.2 | |
| Raising costs for IPO and Tap issue | -2.7 | |
| Opening valuation position | 140.8 | |
| DCF Valuation uplift | 4.5 | |
| Investment income released to Group | 2.8 | |
| Retained income within SPV investment companies | 4.3 | |
| Net Operational costs | -2.1 | |
| Cash distributions in the period | -2.6 | |
| Closing Valuation before second interim dividend | 147.7 |
By Samuel Agini; samagini@alliancenews.com; @samuelagini
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