Downing Renewa. Regulatory News (DORE)

25 November 2021

Downing Renewables & Infrastructure Trust plc 

("DORE" or "the Company")

Net Asset Value and Dividend Declaration

The Board of Downing Renewables & Infrastructure Trust plc (the "Company" or "DORE") is pleased to announce the Company's unaudited Net Asset Value ("NAV") as at 30 September 2021 and the declaration of an interim dividend in respect of the period from 1 July to 30 September 2021.

Net Asset Value as at 30 September 2021

The Company reports that, as at 30 September 2021, its unaudited NAV rose to £125.6 million or 102.5 pence per share. This is an increase of 2.3% from the Company's NAV as at 30 June 2021. The NAV was calculated after the payment of a 1 pence per share dividend on 30 September 2021. Including the 1 pence per share dividend, the Company's NAV return for the period was 3.3%.

The increase in NAV over the quarter is attributable to various factors. The most significant of these was the performance of the Company's hydro and solar assets, which generated a portfolio operating profit for the quarter that was 9% over budget. This strong performance resulted in a positive impact on NAV of approximately 1.5 pence per share.

An upward revision in short-term power price forecasts, due to the strengthening in commodity and carbon prices in the short and medium term, added a further 0.8 pence per share.

Dividend Declaration

The Board has declared an interim dividend in respect of the period from 1 July 2021 to 30 September 2021 of 1.25 pence per Ordinary Share. The dividend will be paid on or around the 31 December 2021 to shareholders on the register on 3 December 2021. The ex-dividend date will be 2 December 2021.

As detailed in the Company's prospectus dated 12 November 2020 (the "Prospectus"), a portion of the Company's dividends may be designated as an interest distribution for UK tax purposes. The interest streaming percentage for the Q3 2021 dividend is 65%.

The Q3 dividend is in line with the updated dividend guidance announced by the Company on 2 September 2021. The Company increased the target dividend to 5 pence for the year to 30 June 2022 (representing a dividend per share of 1.25 pence per quarter starting from 30 September 2021).1

Tom Williams, Partner, Head of Energy and Infrastructure at Downing LLP, further commented:

"We are delighted with the operating and financial performance which has contributed to the uplift in net asset value for the quarter. This demonstrates the benefits of DORE's strategy of investing meaningful proportions of DORE's gross assets in different technologies in multiple locations, selling power into different electricity markets. We have an active pipeline of assets that we are looking to execute, which will further enhance our ability to generate stable and sustainable returns for our shareholders."

DORE has today published its quarterly factsheet and commentary to the end of September 2021. Copies can be downloaded from the Company's website: www.doretrust.com 

1. The dividend targets stated above are targets only and not profit forecasts. There can be no assurance that these targets will be met, or that the Company will make any distributions at all and they should not be taken as an indication of the Company's expected future results. 

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