Last checked at 
18 Feb 2016 07:00
18 February 2016
JOHN LAING ENVIRONMENTAL ASSETS GROUP LIMITED
("JLEN" or the "Company")
Net Asset Value and Dividend announcement
JLEN, the listed environmental infrastructure fund, announces its unaudited Net Asset Value ("NAV") as at 31 December 2015 and interim dividend for the quarter ended on that date.
The Company's unaudited NAV as at 31 December 2015 was £215.1 million or 95.9 pence per share, compared to £227.1 million or 101.2 pence per share as at 30 September 2015.
The change in NAV per share was due principally to a downward revision of the Company's electricity price forecasts and the payment of the interim dividend of £6.8 million (3.027 pence per share) on 18 December 2015.
JLEN's valuation policy is to adopt market forward electricity prices (or, where applicable, fixed price arrangements in projects' existing power purchase agreements) over the two years from the date of each valuation followed by independent consultant's projections of long term future prices. As a result of the continuing downward trend in electricity prices since September 2015, which has impacted generators selling into the wholesale market, JLEN has, in accordance with its valuation policy, taken a conservative view and reflected the latest electricity prices in its December 2015 portfolio valuation.
On a time weighted average basis the change in the power price assumptions is approximately 8.2% over a 25 year period (being a simple average reduction over 25 years of approximately 6%, including a reduction in market forward prices over the next two years of over 20%, down to an average of £35/MWh for winter and £31/MWh for summer). This accounts for a reduction of £7.5 million in NAV at 31 December 2015 or 3.3 pence per share. The NAV also declined due to the payment of the interim dividend on 18 December 2015 of £6.8 million (3.027 pence per share). No changes have been made to the discount rates used in the valuation at 30 September 2015, however including the effect of £50 million of acquisitions during the quarter, the average discount rate is 8.5% as at 31 December 2015 (8.7% as at 30 September 2015).
Availability across both the environmental processing and the renewables portfolio during the last quarter has been good. Generation for the renewables portfolio during the quarter has been very good, in particular for the wind assets, with solar slightly behind budget. The waste management and wastewater treatment facilities were at or ahead of budgeted volumes.
The Company also announces its first quarterly interim dividend of 1.5135 pence per share for the period from 1 October 2015 to 31 December 2015, in line with the dividend target set out in the 2015 Annual Report. No scrip or other alternative will be offered in respect of this dividend.
Dividend Timetable
Ex-dividend date 25 February 2016
Record date 26 February 2016
Payment date 25 March 2016
For further details contact:
John Laing Capital Management Limited 020 7901 3559
David Hardy
Chris Tanner
Winterflood Investment Trusts 020 3100 0000
Joe Winkley
Neil Langford
Redleaf Polhill 020 7382 4769
Charlie Geller
Harriet Lynch
About JLEN
JLEN's investment policy is to invest in environmental infrastructure projects that have the benefit of long-term, predictable, wholly or partially inflation-linked cash flows supported by long-term contracts or stable regulatory frameworks.
Environmental Infrastructure is defined by the Company as infrastructure projects that utilise natural or waste resources or support more environmentally-friendly approaches to economic activity. This could involve the generation of renewable energy (including solar, wind, hydropower and biomass technologies), the supply and treatment of water, the treatment and processing of waste, and projects that promote energy efficiency.
JLEN aims to provide investors with an annual dividend per share, initially of 6.0 pence, that increases progressively in line with inflation from 1 April 2015. The target dividend for the year to 31 March 2016 is 6.054 pence per share being the initial target of 6.0 pence per share adjusted for inflation. The Company announced in its 2015 Annual Report that it expected to commence paying quarterly dividends from January 2016, with the first payment in March 2016 in respect of the three months to 31 December 2015.
Further details of the Company can be found on its website www.jlen.com