31st Oct 2018 18:29
LONDON (Alliance News) - Foresight Solar & Infrastructure VCT PLC on Wednesday said its net asset value diminished in its most recent year due to lower than expected electricity production during the year.
As at June 30, the end of the venture capital trust's year, net asset value per share stood at 93.0 pence, dropping from 95.9p per share year-on-year.
Total electricity production during the year from the trust's investments was 0.3% below expectations, aligning it with lower-than-expected irradiation levels at its UK solar plants.
"There will be annual movements in performance caused by irradiation or the efficiency of the plan but this does not require adjustment to the long term forecasts for the plants," the company said.
Foresight S&I's pretax profit was GBP538,000, a fraction of its GBP3.1 million profit the year before.
The trust merged its C and D class shares with its ordinary shares fund, pooling their assets. C shares had a total return of 104.2p per share, down from 105.1p year-on-year. D shares had a total return of 92.2p, dropping from 96.8p.
Prior to the merger, total dividends of 6.0p per ordinary share and 5.0p per C share were paid. A next interim dividend of 3.0p per share will be paid November 23.
"The strategic focus of the board remains the optimisation of the portfolio's performance and valuation through a number of initiatives. In this respect, the investment manager continues to examine opportunities such as refinancing assets at lower interest rates and fixing power price agreements when they are deemed attractive," said Foresight S&I Chairman David Hurst-Brown.
"Operationally we have benefited from good irradiance conditions in the first quarter of the current year," Hurst-Brown added.
Shares in Foresight S&I closed down 0.6% at 89.50p on Wednesday.