TIDMUSF TIDMUSFP
RNS Number : 1881T
US Solar Fund PLC
23 November 2021
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23 November 2021
US SOLAR FUND PLC ("USF" or the "Company")
DIVIDEND, QUARTERLY TRADING AND NAV UPDATE
US Solar Fund plc (LON: USF (USD)/USFP (GBP)) is pleased to
announce that its unaudited NAV at 30 September 2021 was $314.7
million or $0.947 per ordinary share, a 0.4% increase from the 30
June 2021 NAV of $313.3 million or $0.943 per ordinary share.
USF is also pleased to announce its Interim Dividend for the
three month period ended 30 September 2021 (Third 2021 Interim
Dividend) of 1.5 cents per Ordinary Share. The Third 2021 Interim
Dividend will be paid on 7 January 2022 to shareholders on the
register as at the close of business on 17 December 2021. The
ex-dividend date is 16 December 2021.
Of this dividend, 1.5 cents are declared as dividend income with
no portion treated as qualifying interest income.
This Third 2021 Interim Dividend is in line with the Company's
target full year dividend of 5.5 cents per Ordinary Share. The
Company expects to declare modestly lower quarterly dividends in
the first and second quarters and slightly higher quarterly
dividends in the third and fourth quarters due to the cash flow
profile of the assets. USF expects to continue covering dividends
paid in 2021 with operating cashflows.
Highlights for the quarter to 30 September 2021:
-- Consistent with the Company's policy, USF's assets were
internally valued this quarter . An uplift in long-term electricity
prices from one of USF's two electricity price forecasters
increased asset valuations which, combined with working capital
movements and dividends paid and accrued, resulted in the small NAV
uplift. USF's other electricity price forecaster expected to
release an updated forecast in November which will be incorporated
in the 31 December 2021 valuations. Discount rates remained
unchanged this period and will be reviewed in the 31 December 2021
valuations.
-- Portfolio production was 7.9% below budgeted expectations for
the quarter. Production over the period had a smaller impact on
revenue generated for the quarter, with revenue 5.9% below budget.
Approximately half of the losses were due to below-average
irradiation with the remaining losses largely attributable to an
equipment outage at Milford in Utah and some other equipment and
grid-related issues across the portfolio. The equipment issue at
Milford was repaired in October 2021 and the project has resumed
normal operations. The other equipment and grid issues have been
resolved and were determined to be transitory.
-- Despite below budget performance, the dividend was
comfortably covered, at 2.57x for the nine months ended 30
September 2021.
-- USF's dividend for the quarter ended 30 June 2021 of 1.25
cents per ordinary share was paid on 29 October 2021. Including the
Third 2021 Interim Dividend, dividends paid and declared for the
2021 financial year thus far total 4.0 cents per ordinary
share.
-- All assets in the portfolio have power purchase agreements (
PPA s) with contracted prices for 100% of electricity generated.
The portfolio weighted average PPA term is 14.6 years as at 30
September 2021, and all PPA counterparties are investment-grade
(S&P rated A to BBB).
-- As of 30 September 2021, the Investment Manager's pipeline
included 4,300MW(DC) of high-quality assets, with an aggregate
value of approximately $4.2 billion in cash equity value and a
weighted-average PPA term of 16.9 years.
The NAV update and the Company's factsheet for Q3 2021 are
available on the Company's website at:
www.ussolarfund.co.uk/investor-centre . A separate Solar Market
Update can be found on the website at:
www.ussolarfund.co.uk/media-and-insights .
For further information, please contact:
US Solar Fund
Whitney Voute +1 718 230 4329
Cenkos Securities plc
James King
Tunga Chigovanyika
Will Talkington +44 20 7397 8900
Jefferies International Limited
Stuart Klein
Gaudi le Roux
Neil Winward +44 20 7029 8000
KL Communications +44 20 3995 6673
Charles Gorman
Will Sanderson
Millie Steyn
About US Solar Fund plc
US Solar Fund plc listed on the premium segment of the London
Stock Exchange in April 2019, following its successful US$200m IPO,
and raised a further $132m in May 2021 taking cumulative proceeds
to $332 million. The Company's investment objective is to provide
investors with attractive and sustainable dividends with an element
of capital growth by investing in a diversified portfolio of solar
power assets in North America and other OECD countries in the
Americas.
US Solar Fund acquires or constructs, owns and operates solar
power assets that are expected to have an asset life of at least 30
years and generate stable and uncorrelated cashflows by selling
electricity to creditworthy offtakers under long-term power
purchase agreements (or PPAs).
Further information on the Company can be found on its website
at http://www.ussolarfund.co.uk .
About the Investment Manager
USF is managed by New Energy Solar Manager (NESM). NESM also
manages New Energy Solar, an Australian Securities Exchange
ASX-listed fund (ASX:NEW) which has committed over US$900m to US
and Australian solar plants since late 2015.
NESM is owned by E&P Funds, the funds management division of
E&P Financial Group, an ASX-listed company (ASX: EP1) with over
A$20 billion of funds under advice.
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END
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