(Alliance News) - HICL Infrastructure PLC on Wednesday said its dividend guidance is unchanged until 2024 amid a year of "strong" financial growth.
The London-based infrastructure investment firm reported that income for the year ended March 31 more than doubled. It was up to GBP405.8 million, compared to GBP188.7 million in financial 2021.
Pretax profit also more than doubled to GBP368.4 million from GBP152.1 million year-on-year.
The company said that growth in the period was principally driven by the current high inflationary environment, the agreed sale of the Queen Alexandra Hospital PPP project for GBP108 million in March and the continued competitive pricing of infrastructure assets.
HICL added that high inflation fed through to asset valuations. Net asset value per share increased by 7.1% to 163.1p from 152.3p in 2021.
HICL Infrastructure said that the total dividend paid would be unchanged at 8.25 pence per share, while total return for shareholders was up 12.8% in the year, from 5.5% in 2021. The company said this "demonstrates the resilient and defensive nature of HICL's investment proposition in a range of market conditions."
The company added that there will be unchanged dividend guidance of 8.25p for 2023 and 2024.
Looking forward, HICL said it "continues to position itself for growth" due to its strong pipeline of core infrastructure opportunities.
Chair Ian Russel said: "With a robust balance sheet and well-developed pipeline curated by InfraRed, the company continues to position itself for growth to capture the significant investment opportunity identified across HICL's core markets."
Shares in HICL were up 1.0% to 179.60 pence each in London on Wednesday morning.
By Sophie Rose; sophierose@alliancenews.com
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HICL Infrastructure (HICL)