14th Jun 2018 11:42
LONDON (Alliance News) - John Laing Environmental Assets Group Ltd said Thursday its net asset value per share fell in its most recent financial year due to issues with one of its investments and a drop in the assumed long-term price of electricity, though its portfolio value increased.
The investment fund, which focuses on environmental projects such as solar and wind farms, said that as at March 31 its NAV per share was 99.6 pence, down from 100.1p the year before.
The profitability of wind and solar investments depends largely on the price of electricity, which is predicted to drop 7.6% over the next 25 years. This has had a negative impact on the fund's portfolio.
The NAV per share decrease was also the result of a reduction in the value of the Dumfries & Galloway waste project, one of the trust's investments.
However, total net asset value rose to GBP392.4 million on March 31 from GBP340.0 million a year before, and the valuation of John Laing Environmental's portfolio increased to GBP429.5 million from GBP327.6 million.
Pretax profit declined to GBP21.1 million in the recent financial year from GBP25.6 million the year before.
The investment fund will pay a total dividend for the year of 6.31p per share, up from 6.14p per share the year before. The company's target dividend for the year ended March 2019 is 6.51p per share.
The company now intends to diversity its investments and look "beyond wind and solar".
"Going forward, the board intends to prioritise acquisitions with lower merchant exposure in order to maintain [John Laing Environmental's] low sensitivity to power prices, which supports the objective of paying a sustainable dividend that grows in line with inflation," said Chairman Richard Morse.
Shares in John Laing Environmental Assets Group were down 0.9% at 104.10p on Thursday morning.
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