NextEnergy Solar Fund Ltd (LSE:NESF, FRA:5NE), a specialist investor in solar power and energy storage, has restated its belief that it can unlock between £60 million and £100 million of additional value over time.
The strategic reset, first announced in March, aims to capture value through asset-life extensions, hybridisation of part of the portfolio and the realisation of the company's development pipeline.
The trust said its underlying portfolio continued to deliver robust operational performance, with electricity generation for the year to March running 2.0% ahead of budget.
Total generation rose to 844 gigawatt hours, helped by irradiation that came in 6.7% above expectations.
The company's standalone battery storage asset, Camilla, remained among the top earners of its class on the GB grid, delivering 98% availability over the year.
NextEnergy also made progress on disposals, completing the final phase of its initial capital recycling programme with the sale of two assets totalling 100 megawatts.
That programme raised about £119 million in total from five solar assets and delivered a net asset value uplift of 2.44 pence a share.
The trust has identified a further 120 megawatts of assets for disposal over the next three years, with buyers being lined up for the first 45 megawatts.
Total income climbed to £141.3 million over the year, from £135.5 million, while cash income rose to £71.9 million.
Dividend cover strengthened to 1.2 times, from 1.1 times a year earlier.
The company repaid a net £18 million of its revolving credit facility and ended the year with cash of £25.1 million, up from £3.2 million.
As part of the reset, NextEnergy has moved to a percentage-based dividend policy targeting 75% of operating free cash flow, guiding to a payout of between 4.5 pence and 5.1 pence a share for the current year.
Net asset value per share fell to 76.1 pence, from 95.1 pence, which the board said did not reflect the quality or resilience of the portfolio's cash flows.
Chair Tony Quinlan said the trust remained in active dialogue with shareholders.
