TIDMUSF TIDMUSFP
RNS Number : 9871G
US Solar Fund PLC
21 November 2022
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ANY OFFER TO PURCHASE, SUBSCRIBE FOR OR OTHERWISE ACQUIRE, ANY
INVESTMENTS IN ANY JURISDICTION.
21 November 2022
US SOLAR FUND PLC (USF, 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 2022 was $322.2
million or $0.970 per ordinary share, a 0.3% increase from the 30
June 2022 NAV of $321.2 million or $0.967 per ordinary share.
USF is also pleased to declare an Interim Dividend of 1.52 cents
per Ordinary Share for the quarter ended 30 September 2022. The
Interim Dividend will be paid in line with the timetable below:
Ex-Dividend Date: 15 December 2022
Record Date: 16 December 2022
Pay ment Date: 6 January 2023
Of this dividend, 1.52 cents are declared as dividend income
with no portion treated as qualifying interest income. The Company
confirms its target 5.58 cents per Ordinary Share annual
cash-covered dividend target for FY2022.
Highlights for the quarter to 30 September 2022:
-- USF's unaudited NAV at 30 September 2022 was $322.2 million
or $0.970 per share, an increase from the 30 June 2022 NAV of
$321.2 million or $0.967 per share. An increase in working capital
and cash balances drove the increase in fair value of the
portfolio's underlying solar investments. Discount rates and other
macro assumptions were held steady for this period, as is typically
done for USF outside of year-end and interim results. They will be
reviewed at 31 December and included in NAV.
-- During the period, the portfolio produced 281GWh (including
reimbursed curtailment). Year-to-date generation remains within the
expected range of annual variance and USF expects to continue to
cash cover the dividend.
-- All assets in the portfolio have power purchase agreements
(PPAs) with contracted prices for 100% of electricity generated.
The portfolio weighted average PPA term is 14.0 years as of 30
September 2022, and all PPA counterparties are investment-grade
(S&P rated A to BBB).
-- The Company paid its Q2 2022 dividend of 1.27 cents per
ordinary share on 21 October 2022. The dividend is consistent with
the Company's target full year dividend of 5.58 cents per ordinary
share. USF expects to continue covering dividends paid in 2022 with
cashflow from portfolio operations.
-- Reflecting the normal seasonality of cash flows, dividend
cover for the nine months to 30 September was 1.46x.
-- In August, USF announced it has sold a purchase option
(Option) over its 50% interest in its 200MWDC Mount Signal 2 (MS2)
to MN8 Energy LLC (MN8), a renewable energy business formerly known
as Goldman Sachs Renewable Power LLC. Under the terms of the
Option, MN8 paid USF a non-refundable option fee of US$1 million
and has the option, for an initial term of six months extendable
for a further three months by mutual agreement, to acquire USF's
50% interest in MS2 for an additional US$52.2 million excluding
working capital. If executed, the proceeds would be consistent with
the net asset value at which USF held MS2 at 31 March 2022 and the
sale would imply a gross return of 11% per annum [1] since USF
announced the agreement to acquire up to 50% of MS2 from New Energy
Solar (NEW) in December 2020. A further announcement will be made
in due course.
Highlights post period end:
-- The USF Board has announced that it is undertaking a
strategic review of the options available to the Company to
maximise value for shareholders. Although USF has successfully
executed its strategy of delivering a sustainable dividend for
shareholders, structural challenges in the US solar sector
alongside a recent sustained discount of the share price to its net
asset value have impeded the Company's ability to grow its asset
base. The Board will consider all options available to the Company,
including, but not limited to, a sale of the entire issued, and to
be issued, share capital of the Company which is being conducted
under the framework of a "formal sale process" in accordance with
the Takeover Code, selling the Company's portfolio and returning
funds to shareholders or changing the investment management
arrangements of the Company. There is no certainty that any changes
will result from the Strategic Review. The Board will make further
announcements in due course.
The NAV update and the Company's factsheet for Q3 2022 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 +44 20 7029 8000
KL Communications +44 20 3995 6673
Charles Gorman
Charlotte Francis
Millie Steyn
About US Solar Fund plc
US Solar Fund plc, established in 2019, is listed on the premium
segment of the London Stock Exchange. The Company's investment
objective is to provide investors with attractive and sustainable
dividends with an element of capital growth by owning and operating
solar power assets in North America and other OECD countries in the
America.
The solar power assets that the Company acquires or constructs
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). The Company's portfolio consists of 42 operational solar
projects with a total capacity of 543 MW(DC) , all located in the
United States.
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. Combined, US Solar Fund and New Energy Solar
have committed approximately US$1.3 billion to 57 projects
totalling 1.2GW(DC) .
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.
[1] Before tax and based on USF's announcement date of 31
December 2021, second 25% option exercise date of 10 February 2022,
MN8 option date of 21 August 2022, and an assumed completion date
of 31 March 2023.
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END
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