Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust (ORIT) has announced its target dividend for the current financial year (ending 31 December 2023) at 5.79p per share. This is an increase of 10.5% over ORIT’s dividend target for the financial year just ended of 5.24p per share. ORIT says it is on track to deliver its target for the year ended 31 December 2022 and it expects the dividend to be fully covered by cashflows arising from its operating assets.
ORIT has a progressive dividend policy and the increase in the dividend target of 10.5% is in line with the increase to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the 12 months to 31 December 2022. The announcement of the 5.79p per share target marks the second consecutive year that ORIT has increased its dividend target in line with inflation. Furthermore, the increase in the dividend target is in line with CPI, rather than the lower CPIH. ORIT says that it expects the 5.79p per share dividend target to also be fully covered by cashflows generated from the Company’s operating portfolios.
Comments from Phil Austin, Chairman of Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust
“Increasing our annual dividend target by 10.5%* for the new financial year reflects the positive progress made by the Company to date. This has been driven by our diversified portfolio of assets, spanning 7 countries and 4 technologies, from which 53% of forecast revenues over the next 10 years are explicitly inflation linked. Along with our Investment Manager’s successful delivery of construction projects, the existing operational portfolio has allowed for 546 MW of operational capacity to now contribute to ORIT’s dividend cover.”