Bluefield Solar reports on a positive year of operational performance – Bluefield Solar Income Fund (BSIF) has published its annual report and financial statements for the year to 30 June 2018.
Performance
The company delivered an NAV total return for the year to June 2018 of 9.25%. The share price total return was 11.68%. In the five years since IPO, total returns for shareholders on a NAV and share price basis have both exceeded 50%.
The portfolio outperformed operational expectations by 0.7%, delivering an aggregate performance ratio of the amount of solar radiation that falls on the panels converted into electricity of 82.1% versus budget of 81.5%.
Income
The company has declared total dividends of 7.43 pence per share, in line with its target of 7.43p (2017: 7.25p vs target of 7.18p). The dividends declared are covered by earnings.
Earnings growth
The company delivered underlying earnings, pre-debt amortisation, of 9.67 pence per share and, after debt service obligations (2.24p), and including brought forward dividend reserves (0.30p) has total funds available for distribution, for the period to 30 June 2018, of 7.73p.
Activity
The company announced four acquisitions during the year, amounting to 18.8MWp, taking the company’s total capacity to 460.3MWp. As at 30 June 2018, the company had a total of 45 large solar assets, 39 micro solar assets and 2 roof top assets, all of which were operational. The board has continued to value the company’s portfolio at £1.29m/MWp, conservatively in line with market transactions, which have continued to be reported at prices between £1.29m/MWp and £1.35m/MWp.
Strategy
The company has been disciplined with regard to its acquisition activity due to the present high transaction values evident in the secondary market for solar assets. The chairman looks forward to the probability that in the not too distant future that they should be able to invest in new solar projects which deliver satisfactory returns without support from government subsidy.
BSIF have also focused on amortising their long term financing with Aviva, which will support the company’s longer term income distributions. In keeping with this BSIF have confirmed the dividend target for the financial year ending June 2019 of 7.68 pence per share, again in line with the RPI change for July 2018, and after the planned debt amortisation in the year.
BSIF : Bluefield Solar reports on a positive year of operational performance