1st Dec 2022 12:03
(Alliance News) - Digital 9 Infrastructure PLC on Thursday said it targets an unchanged annual dividend for 2022 at 6.0 pence per share, as the investment fund is set to join London's club of mid-cap stocks.
The London-based investor in digital infrastructure declared a quarterly interim dividend of 1.5 pence per share for the third quarter that ended on September 30.
Digital 9 aims for a dividend of 6.0p per share for the year ending on December 31, unchanged from financial year 2021, which started on January 8, 2021 and ended on December 31 that year.
Further, the company expects to update its five-year business plan in early January. It expects to release its 2022 results in March.
The company added that its investment manager Triple Point Investment Management LLP confirmed it started a formal recruitment and selection process for a permanent head of digital infrastructure.
Meanwhile, Digital 9 is set to join the FTSE 250 index on December 19. Announcing its quarter index review late Wednesday, index provider FTSE Russell said Digital 9 will join the index alongside European Smaller Cos Trust PLC, replacing Home REIT PLC and Petrofac Ltd.
abrdn PLC, Beazley PLC and Weir Group PLC will join the FTSE 100, while Dechra Pharmaceuticals PLC, Harbour Energy PLC and Intermediate Capital Group PLC will leave it.
In its most recent earnings release back in September, Digital 9 posted a half-year pretax profit rise of 64% to GBP27.4 million from GBP16.7 million in the six months to June 30 compared to a year prior. Total income grew 36% to GBP31.4 million from GBP23.1 million.
Meanwhile, its net asset value per share at June 30 improved 0.5% to 105.13 pence each from 104.62p at December 31, 2021 and 1.7% from 103.34p a year ago. However, earnings per share fell to 3.43 pence against 9.34p. The company raised GBP155 million through issuing shares in January and July 2022. In a challenging environment, the company back then noted that 69% of the total recurring revenue from its portfolio of investments has some form of inflation protection, including 58% with uncapped consumer price index/retail price index linkage.
Digital 9 Infrastructure shares were 2.3% higher at 89.24 pence each on Thursday morning in London.
By Tom Budszus; [email protected]
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