15 February
2024
Bluefield Solar Income Fund
Limited
('Bluefield Solar' or the 'Company')
NAV Update and £20m Share Buyback
Programme
Dividend Guidance Reaffirmed with Earnings
Cover for the Full Year of Approximately Two
Times
Bluefield Solar (LON: BSIF),
the London listed UK income fund focused primarily on acquiring and managing solar
energy assets, has
today announced the Unaudited Directors' Valuation as at 31
December 2023, equivalent to a Net Asset Value ("NAV") of £831.3
million, or 136.0 pps (September 2023 136.4 pps, June 2023 139.7
pps).
Unaudited Net Asset Value as of 31 December
2023
Key movements in the NAV since 30
September 2023 include recognition of value from the Company's
Renewable Energy Guarantees of Origin certificates ("REGOs") until
2030, which have been included in the valuation for the first time
owing to sustained market prices over the last 12 months and
expectations of future value from forecasters. In addition, the
Company has recognised a slight uplift in expected power prices due
to a small increase in long term power forecasts whilst short term
hedging has predominantly offset reductions from near term power
price weakness. There was additionally a minor negative adjustment
due to operational cost updates and working capital
movements.
The discount rate being applied
remains unchanged at 8.0% (30 September 23: 8.00%) and inflation
assumptions also remain unchanged from 30 September 23 (2024:3.5%,
2025-2029:3.0%, 2.25% thereafter). All other core assumptions also
remain unchanged.
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Pence per Ordinary
Share
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Unaudited NAV as at 30 September 2023
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136.4
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REGOs
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0.9
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Power prices
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0.4
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Operational cost update
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-1.0
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Other movements
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-0.7
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Unaudited NAV as at 31 December 2023
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136.0
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Full details on the movements for the 6 month
period to 31 December 2023 will be outlined in the Company's
Interim Statement due for release on 28 February 2024.
Share Buyback
Programme
The Board notes the recent
weakness in the Company's share price and the significant discount
that the current share price represents to the value of the
Company's assets. Adjusting for the first interim dividend , the
closing price of 99 pence per share (as at 14 February 2024)
represents a discount of 26% to the 31 December 2023
NAV.
The Board of the Company keeps its
capital allocation policy under regular review, evaluating the
relative merits of further investment (into both new and existing
assets), the management of debt and returning value to shareholders
via dividends or through other methods such as share buybacks. As
part of this review, and in the context of addressing what the
Board views as the excessive discount at which the Company's shares
currently trade relative to the underlying NAV, the Board announces
its intention to commence a share buyback programme. In the first
instance it has allocated £20 million for the purchase of its own
shares.
Share repurchases will be carried out under the
existing shareholder authority granted at the last Annual General
Meeting, held on 28 November 2023, which allows for purchases of
Ordinary Shares by the Company in the market for up to 14.99% of
the Company's issued share capital. Any share repurchases will be
funded from a combination of available liquidity, excess operating
cash flows from the portfolio and the proceeds from any asset sales
as already announced. It is expected that any share repurchases
will be accretive to NAV per share.
The Company expects to
announce its interim results for the half year ended 31 December
2023 on Wednesday, 28 February 2024. Until such announcement, the
Company remains in a closed period in respect of those results and
thus unable to buy its own shares, but the Board intends to
commence share buybacks following the release of the interims and
while the Company's shares continue to trade at an excessive
discount to NAV.
Dividend Guidance
Reaffirmed
Shareholders will be aware that the
Board of Bluefield Solar has recently declared a first interim
dividend for the current financial year of 2.20 pps and has
reiterated its target dividend for the full year of not less than
8.80 pps. This represents a dividend yield of 8.9% based on
the closing share price of 99p per share on 14 February 2024. The
Company's operations remain robust, trading conditions are
attractive, and the Board expects this year's dividend to be
approximately two times covered.
- Ends -
For
further information:
Bluefield Partners LLP (Company Investment
Adviser) James Armstrong / Neil
Wood / Giovanni Terranova
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Tel: +44
(0) 20 7078 0020 www.bluefieldllp.com
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Deutsche Numis (Company Broker) Tod Davis / David Benda / Matt Goss
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Tel: +44
(0) 20 7260 1000 www.dbnumis.com
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Ocorian
(Company Secretary & Administrator)
Chezi Hanford
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Tel: +44
(0) 1481 742 742 www.ocorian.com
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Media enquiries:
Buchanan (PR Adviser) Henry
Harrison-Topham / Henry Wilson
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Tel: +44 (0) 20 7466 5000
www.buchanan.uk.com
BSIF@buchanan.uk.com
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About
Bluefield Solar
Bluefield Solar is a London listed income fund
focused primarily on acquiring and managing solar energy assets.
Not less than 75% of the Company's gross assets will be
invested into UK solar assets. The Company can also invest up
to 25% of its gross assets into other technologies, such as wind
and storage. Bluefield Solar owns and operates a UK portfolio of
834MW, comprising 776MW of solar and 58MW of onshore
wind.
Further information can be viewed at
www.bluefieldsif.com
About
Bluefield Partners
Bluefield Partners LLP was established in 2009
and is an investment adviser to companies and funds investing in
renewable energy infrastructure. It has a proven record in
the selection, acquisition and supervision of large-scale energy
assets in the UK and Europe. The team has been involved in
over £6.5 billion renewable funds and/or transactions in both the
UK and Europe, including over £1 billion in the UK since December
2011.
Bluefield Partners LLP has led the
acquisitions of, and currently advises on, over 100 UK based solar
PV assets that are agriculturally, commercially or industrially
situated. Based in its London office, it is supported by a
dedicated and experienced team of investment, legal and portfolio
executives. Bluefield Partners LLP was appointed
Investment Adviser to Bluefield Solar in June 2013.