Greencoat UK Wind Plc (LON:UKW) today announced the final results for the year to 31 December 2018 as below. These results were approved by the Board of Directors on 27 February 2019.
Greencoat UK Wind PLC is the leading listed renewable infrastructure fund, invested in UK wind farms. The Company’s aim is to provide investors with an annual dividend that increases in line with RPI inflation while preserving the capital value of its investment portfolio in the long term on a real basis through reinvestment of excess cash flow and the prudent use of gearing.
2018 Highlights
Performance in line with expectations with cash generation on budget
· The Group’s investments generated 2,003GWh of electricity, 6 per cent. below budget owing to low wind resource.
· On budget cash generation (Group and wind farm SPVs) of £117.3 million.
High quality acquisitions and oversubscribed equity raising
· Acquisition of 3 further wind farms and an additional interest in Clyde increased the portfolio to 32 wind farm investments, net generating capacity to 836MW and GAV to £1,872.8 million as at 31 December 2018.
· Agreement to acquire 75 per cent. of Tom nan Clach and 100 per cent. of Douglas West, the Group’s first CFD and subsidy free investments respectively.
· Issuance of further shares raising £118.8 million in May 2018.
Dividends, returns and balance sheet
· The Company has declared total dividends of 6.76 pence per share with respect to the year and is targeting a dividend of 6.94 pence per share for 2019 (increased in line with December 2018 RPI).
· NAV growth of 11.8 pence per share (adjusting for dividends).
· £480 million outstanding borrowings at 31 December 2018, equivalent to 26 per cent. of GAV.
Subsequent events
· On 1 February 2019, the Company announced a £452 million investment in the Stronelairg and Dunmaglass wind farms with SSE.
· Completion to occur at the end of March 2019, increasing total number of investments to 34 operating UK wind farms with a net generating capacity of 950MW.
· On 27 February 2019, the Company issued an additional 103 million new shares at a price of 127p per share, raising gross proceeds of £131 million in an oversubscribed share placing.
Commenting on today’s results, Tim Ingram, Chairman of Greencoat UK Wind, said:
“Today’s results represent another year of consistent delivery with performance in line with expectations, achieving strong NAV growth of 11.8p. With our continuing strong cashflow and robust dividend cover we confidently target a dividend of 6.94 pence per share with respect to 2019, again increased in line with RPI.
“2018 was another active investment year as we committed to invest over £500m across 6 wind farms. We also increased the number of vendors we have acquired from to 14 (including commitments), showing the breadth of our relationships.
“Our portfolio is now reducing carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 1 million tonnes per annum through displacing thermal generation.
“Our pipeline of acquisition opportunities remains very healthy and we continue to expect the majority of future investments to be made from the £50bn pool of UK Wind farms accredited under the ROC regime.”
