Cordiant Digital Infrastructure Ltd (LSE:CORD) said it will increase its dividend target “well ahead of the schedule” after completing its third acquisition and a Eurobond financing, while increasing net asset value (NAV) per share and profit so far this year.
The investment trust, which floated in February 2021 to invest in the ‘plumbing of the internet’ such as data centres, fibre-optic networks and mobile towers, reported net assets of £832mln or NAV per share of 107.5p as at its half-year to 30 September, an increase of 2.6% year on year.
A half-year dividend of 2p was declared, which was said to be underpinned by good cash generation from the portfolio.
Shonaid Jemmett-Page, chair of the trust, confirmed that the company expects to pay a dividend target of 4.0p in respect of the year to 31 March 2023, having previously announced that the dividend target would be increased pending the successful completion of the Emitel deal.
“This dividend is well ahead of the schedule indicated at the time of the IPO, which envisaged a 4p per share dividend by the fifth full year,” she said.
A profit of £21mln, up from £14mln a year ago, was reported for the first half, a period which included the securing of a €200mln Eurobond facility, after deploying the proceeds of its initial public offer in three acquisitions so far.
The third and largest of these investments, the purchase of Emitel, a Polish multi-asset digital infrastructure platform, was completed this month, meaning the portfolio currently comprises 1,235 telecommunications and broadcast towers, seven data centres with 17MW of capacity, 4,325km of fibre network, 4,671 microwave connections, nine multiplexers and 58,000 active IoT sensors.
“Against the backdrop of what has been a volatile time for the markets and many industries, I am pleased to report a solid underlying operational and financial performance for the period,” said Jemmett-Page.
She said the operational performance of the company's investments has been “stable and in line with plan”, with the portfolio benefiting from “a good element of inflation resilience and both the company and its investments benefit from a conservative approach to interest rate risk”.
The ordinary shares delivered a total shareholder return of -7.5% from inception to 30 September 2022, equivalent to -4.6% per annum over that period.
With the share price performance attributed to market volatility and negative sentiment in UK equity markets across all sectors, Jemmett-Page said the board has kept the company's share price under review and considered the potential use of share buybacks.
"The board currently believes that it is in the best interests of shareholders to continue to deploy the company's capital in support of its Buy, Build & Grow strategy rather than undertake a share buyback programme but will continue to actively monitor this."