In QuotedData’s morning briefing 3 November 2021:
- Riverstone Credit Opportunities Income (RCOI) has exited its holding in Project Mirror Realisation. RCOI committed $6.9m on 28 December 2020 to the first-lien community solar development company, before fully refinancing this loan with a new source of financing, resulting in a 36% realised IRR and 1.27x realised MOIC. This realisation represents the first exit of a green loan in the portfolio and marks the sixth realisation for RCOI since the beginning of the Covid period, which on aggregate have produced cumulative returns of a 20.4% realised IRR and 1.20x realised MOIC. RCOI is working to redeploy available capital into a pipeline of new opportunities in the infrastructure, infrastructure services and energy transition sectors.
- BlackRock Smaller Companies has posted its half-year report for the six months to 31 August 2021. During the period, its NAV return was 27.7% while its share price delivered 26.6%. This compares with a return of 15.4% from its benchmark, the Numis Smaller Companies plus AIM index (ex ICs). The chair attributed this strong performance to renewed market optimism as post-lockdown economic performance has gathered pace, buoyed by the success of vaccination programmes and fiscal stimulus. The resolution of many Brexit uncertainties provided a boost for some domestic UK businesses while 2021 has also seen a sharp rise in M&A and IPO activity, which attracted significant interest from overseas corporates and private equity investors taking advantage of the attractive UK stock valuations. BRSC’s revenue return per share for the six months amounted to 20.05p per share compared with 4.57p per share for the six months to 31 August 2020 as portfolio companies reduced or cancelled dividends in response to the impact of the pandemic. BRSC has substantial distributable reserves (£1,045.9 million as at 31 August 2021, including revenue reserves of £15.3 million) and so the board has declared an interim dividend of 13.00p per share representing an increase of 1.6% over the previous interim dividend.
- Alternative Income REIT (AIRE) has declared a dividend of 1.3p per share (up from 1.25p) for the third quarter of the year. The group added that it was on course to achieve its target annual dividend of 5.5p (fully covered by earnings) by September 2022. EPRA earnings per share for the quarter were 1.59p, representing dividend cover of 122%. The group’s property portfolio increased in value by 1.8% in the quarter to £111.2m, contributing to a 2.6% increase in its NAV to 87.8p per share.
- CLS Holdings (CLI) has revealed rent collection from its office portfolio in the UK, France and Germany for the current quarter was 97% at close on 2 November 2021. For the first three quarters of 2021, it has received 99% of contractual rents due (2020: 98%).
We also have news of a £426m acquisition by Land Securities.