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LONDON (Alliance News) - Greencoat UK Wind PLC on Thursday continued to guide for further dividend rises, as net asset value for 2018 rose, despite power generation being below budget.
The FTSE 250-listed renewable infrastructure fund reported a net asset value per share at 123.1 pence as at December 31, up from 111.2 pence for the same date the year before.
Net generating capacity increased to 836 megawatts from 694 megawatts after making three additional purchases to its portfolio.
Greencoat's portfolio power generation however was 2,003 gigawatt hours, 6.0% below the budget of 2,140.3 gigawatt hours for 2018, and wind speed was below the long-term mean, due to a low wind resource during the UK's hot summer.
Power generation was still up from 1,457 GWh reported for 2017.
However by the end of 2018, the fund's current average generation provided enough electricity to power 750,000 homes, and wholesale power prices remaining above budget over the year.
Greencoat UK Wind declared a total dividend of 6.76 pence per share, up from 6.49p for 2017, and is targeting a payout of 6.94p for 2019.
"2018 was another active investment year as we committed to invest over GBP500 million across six wind farms. We also increased the number of vendors we have acquired from to 14, showing the breadth of our relationships," said Chair Tim Ingram.
"Our pipeline of acquisition opportunities remains very healthy and we continue to expect the majority of future investments to be made from the GBP50 billion pool of UK Wind farms accredited under the ROC regime," Ingram added.
Shares in Greencoat UK Wind were down 0.2% at 137.31 pence on Thursday.
