Foresight Slr Fnd Ld Foresight Solar Fund Limited : Interim Management Statement And Dividend Announcement - Replacement
May 08 2015 - 12:23PM
UK Regulatory
TIDMFSFL
FORESIGHT SOLAR FUND LIMITED
This replaces the announcement released at 7:00am on 27 April 2015. The
original announcement incorrectly stated the NAV per share as 101.1
pence as at 31 March 2015. This was due to an error in the NAV per share
calculation. The total NAV for the portfolio and all other details of
the announcement remain unchanged.
Replacement: Interim Management Statement and Dividend Announcement
Foresight Solar Fund Limited ("FSFL" or the "Company"), the listed
renewable infrastructure fund investing solely in operational UK Solar
plants today announces its Interim Management Statement ("IMS").
This statement relates to the period from 1 January 2015 to 31 March
2015. Unless otherwise noted, the financial information provided in this
IMS is unaudited.
Highlights
-- Net Asset Value ("NAV") increased from GBP209.8m as at 31 December 2014
to GBP244.7m as at 31 March 2015, taking the NAV per Ordinary Share to
100.2p (31 December 2014: 100.9p).
-- The Company raised GBP36.1 million of gross proceeds in the second
fundraising under its placing programme in March 2015.
-- The acquisition of the 37MW Kencot asset reached financial completion on
27 March 2015. The Company has the contractual right to all revenue
generated by Kencot since the start of its operations in September 2014.
-- The Company finalised the connection of the 2.2MW extension at its
Wymeswold plant, increasing capacity by 7% to 34.4MW. The extension was
connected to the Grid in March 2015 and will therefore be eligible for
the 1.4 ROC rate.
-- All ten assets in the Company's 233MW portfolio are fully operational and,
more critically, all received ROC accreditation ahead of the 31 March
2015 cliff edge deadline for ROC projects greater than 5MW.
-- Several large project acquisitions are currently under consideration by
the Company that are part of a significant pipeline of assets under
exclusivity.
-- The second interim dividend of 3.0 pence per Ordinary Share was paid on
27 March 2015, representing a 6.0 pence dividend per Ordinary Share in
respect of the Company's first full financial period ended 31 December
2014.
-- The first quarterly dividend of 1.52 pence in respect of the period from
1 January to 31 March 2015 was approved on 23 April 2015 and will be paid
on 30 June 2015.
Dividend Timetable
Ex-dividend Date 18 June 2015
Record Date 19 June 2015
Payment Date 30 June 2015
Operational Assets
-- The Company's 233MW, ten asset UK Solar portfolio is fully operational.
-- The acquisition of the 37MW Kencot asset reached financial completion on
27 March 2015. The plant was connected to the Grid in September 2014 and
received ROC accreditation at the rate of 1.4 ROCs/MWh. The Company has
the contractual right to all revenue generated by Kencot since the start
of its operations in September 2014.
-- The 2.2MW extension at Wymeswold was connected to the Grid in March 2015
and will therefore be eligible for the 1.4 ROC rate. The extension does
not affect the 2.0 ROC accreditation for the original 32.2MW plant which
was acquired by the Company in November 2013, having been connected to
the Grid in March 2013.
-- There is no debt at the underlying project level in line with the
Company's stated strategy.
-- Performance of the portfolio for the period has been in-line with the
expectations of the Investment Manager.
Financing Strategy
-- The Company has refinanced and extended its revolving acquisition
facility from GBP100 million to GBP120 million with the objective of
supporting future project acquisitions.
-- The facility has been refinanced through RBS and Santander on
preferential terms against the originally facility as follows:
-- GBP100 million, 3 year tranche at a cost of 225 bps + Libor; and
-- GBP20 million, 1 year tranche at a cost of 185 bps + Libor.
-- The Company has announced its intention to introduce long-term financing
and is currently evaluating a number of opportunities available in the
market.
-- Foresight Group, the Company's investment adviser, has previously
implemented long-term financing facilities having successfully refinanced
an existing retail solar fund which recently crystallised a doubling of
the investors' original investment.
Portfolio Valuation
-- Net Asset Value increased from GBP209.8m as at 31 December 2014 to
GBP244.7m as at 31 March 2015, taking the NAV per Ordinary Share to
100.2p (31 December 2014: 100.9p).
-- The Company has adjusted its forward power curve forecast to reflect the
most recent forecasts released by independent energy market consultants.
Excluding all other factors, this led to a reduction in NAV. It should be
noted that the independent forecasts continue to assume an increase in
power prices in real terms over the medium to long-term.
-- The negative impact of power curves on NAV has been more than offset
through a combination of increased operational efficiencies within the
portfolio through the re-negotiation and improvement of key contractual
terms, together with the continued reduction of the discount rate.
Dividend
-- A second interim dividend of 3.0 pence per Ordinary Share was paid on 27
March 2015, representing a 6.0 pence dividend per Ordinary Share in
respect of the Company's first full financial period ended 31 December
2014.
-- The Directors continued intention is to pay a sustainable, index-linked
dividend to Shareholders. The Directors target is accordingly to deliver
a dividend of 6.08 pence (6.00 pence inflated by RPI for 2014) for the
year from 1 January to 31 December 2015, in line with the Company's
dividend policy.
-- The first quarterly dividend of 1.52 pence in respect of the period from
1 January to 31 March 2015 was approved on 23 April 2015 and will be paid
on 30 June 2015.
Placing Programme
-- The Company has established a Placing Programme under the Prospectus
dated 25 September 2014 in respect of proposed issues of up to 200
million new Ordinary Shares.
-- Through this Placing Programme, the Company raised GBP60.1 million of
gross proceeds in its initial placing in October 2014, with an additional
GBP36.1 million of gross proceeds raised in its second placing in March
2015.
Pipeline
-- The Company has a significant pipeline of assets under exclusivity.
-- The March 2015 1.4 ROC banding deadline for assets over 5MW drove large
amounts of activity and new capacity being installed in the first quarter
of 2015. This scale of UK installed solar capacity has created an active
market in large-scale secondary assets, and as such the Company is
reviewing a number of secondary opportunities.
-- Portfolios of new projects under 5MW planned to be installed under the
1.3 ROC banding period are also expected to provide an attractive source
of new investment opportunities in the short-term.
ENDS
For further information, please contact:
Foresight Group
Elena Palasmith epalasmith@foresightgroup.eu +44 (0)20 3667 8100
Stifel +44 (0)20 7710 7600
Mark Bloomfield
Neil Winward
Tunga Chigovanyika
J.P. Morgan Cazenove
William Simmonds +44 (0)20 7742 4000
Notes to Editors
About Foresight Solar Fund Limited ("The Company" or "FSFL")
FSFL is a Jersey-registered closed-end investment company. The Company
invests in ground based UK solar power assets to achieve its objective
of providing shareholders with a sustainable and increasing dividend
with the potential for capital growth over the long-term.
The Company raised proceeds of GBP150m through an initial public
offering ("IPO") of shares on the main market of the London Stock
Exchange in October 2013. In October 2014, the Company announced a
GBP200m Placing Programme open until September 2015, of which GBP96.2m
has been raised to date.
About Foresight Group
Foresight Group was established in 1984 and today is a leading
independent infrastructure and private equity investment manager with
GBP1.4 billion of assets under management. As one of the UK's leading
solar infrastructure investment teams Foresight funds currently manage
GBP1 billion in 50 separate operating Photovoltaic ("PV") plants in the
UK, the USA and southern Europe.
In May 2013 Foresight executed an innovative refinancing of its existing
UK solar assets through the issue of a GBP60m London Stock Exchange
listed index-linked Solar Bond.
Foresight Group has offices in London, Nottingham, Guernsey, Rome and
San Francisco.
www.foresightgroup.eu
This announcement is distributed by NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions on
behalf of NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions clients.
The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely
responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information
contained therein.
Source: Foresight Solar Fund Limited via Globenewswire
HUG#1920276
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