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LONDON (Alliance News) - Trading Emissions PLC shares soared on Thursday after it said it is now in a position to resume dividend payments to shareholders despite reporting a wider loss and a fall in net asset value in the first half of the financial year.
Trading Emissions shares were up 30% to 7.15 pence per share on Thursday morning.
"Trading Emissions has continued to generate cash from its private equity investments. Coupled with the significant decline in liabilities and contingent liabilities relating to the carbon portfolio, we have now reached the point where the board can announce the resumption of shareholder distributions," said Chairman Martin Adams.
As a result, the company said it will pay a 5.0 pence per share dividend in relation to the first half of the current financial year, costing the company a total of GBP12.5 million.
That decision comes despite the closed ended investment company, which focuses on renewable energy projects and emissions instruments, reporting a fall in its net asset value in the six months to the end of 2015 to GBP26.3 million from GBP26.6 million at the end of June, leading its NAV per share to follow and fall to 10.5 pence from 10.6 pence.
The net asset value is also considerably lower than at the end of 2014, when it stood at GBP37.8 million, or 15.1 pence per share.
Trading Emissions said the fall in the first half of the current financial year was caused mainly by a reduction in the fair value of the private equity portfolio of GBP3.5 million and an increase of GBP3.4 million to the company's cash balance, alongside a GBP200,000 rise in other liabilities.
Cash at the end of the year stood at GBP13.2 million from GBP9.8 million at the end of June and from GBP4.9 million at the end of 2014.
The company's pretax loss in the first half widened to GBP326,000 from GBP100,000, leading to a basic and diluted loss per share of 0.13 pence compared to the 0.04 pence loss per share a year earlier.
"As and when further amounts are received from our remaining investments, the board intends that the proceeds will be distributed to shareholders, subject to the company retaining sufficient resources to meet liabilities and operating costs," said Adams.
By Joshua Warner; joshuawarner@alliancenews.com; @JoshAlliance
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