Foresight Solar assets generated 400GWh clean energy over H1 – Foresight Solar (FSFL) has released results covering the six month period to end-June 2019, with financial and operational highlights including:
- The portfolio generated over 400GWh of clean energy;
- NAV decreased to £601.5m (31 Dec 2018: £610.3m), being 109.6p per share (31 Dec 2018: 111.2p). This was predominantly driven by a downward revision of UK power price forecasts but partially offset by a 0.25% reduction in the discount rate applied to the UK portfolio and improved financing terms;
- FSFL says that its operating portfolio produced enough clean electricity to power around 130,000 UK homes and avoid the equivalent of over 309,283 tonnes of C02 production.
Keeping an eye on subsidy-free expansion
Commenting on the company’s outlook, Alex Ohlsson, chairman, said: “Following the various optimisation initiatives we undertook during the first half of the year, and the post-period refinancing, we expect our UK portfolio to enter more of a steady state. We are extremely pleased with the progress made to date by the manager and asset management team in delivering value-enhancing initiatives and optimising performance across the portfolio and we will continue to explore new opportunities and initiatives to optimise performance further. The fourth Australian asset, which is currently under construction, is expected to become operational before year end. We also remain active in exploring opportunities to further optimise the company’s capital structure.
The manager continues to review international investment opportunities in markets that benefit from regulatory support, however European markets are showing signs of increased consolidation and inflated asset valuations at present. We maintain a disciplined approach to acquisitions, only acquiring assets that meet return requirements on a risk adjusted basis, and, as previously noted, the subsidised market in the UK remains highly competitive with limited investment opportunities based on current market valuations.
We are closely monitoring the development of subsidy-free markets in Southern Europe and the UK. In Southern Europe, this market has developed rapidly and a number of relevant transactions have recently been announced in Spain and Portugal with attractive PPA structures. In the UK, whilst this market has progressed, we remain of the view that the current market economics are not yet in-line with the company’s return requirements. However, we expect this will present significant opportunity for the company in the future.”
FSFL: Foresight Solar assets generated 400GWh clean energy over H1
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