Gresham House Energy Storage Fund (GRID) welcomes a decision by energy regulator Ofgem to make a provisional award of 25-year cap and floor support to Ocker Hill, a 240MW battery storage project it is building in Wednesbury, West Midlands with an expected connection date of October 2029. It is one of 16 battery energy storage system (BESS) projects to be included in the UK’s Long Duration Energy Storage scheme and follows a joint letter from GRID manager Gresham House and other BESS businesses in April last year urging the government to provide a level playing field. Chair John Leggate said: “The decision underlines the strategic importance of long duration battery storage to Britain’s energy security and clean power ambitions and provides a long-term revenue framework that recognises the critical role BESS will play. For shareholders, it reinforces the strategic importance and underlying value embedded in GRID’s pipeline as we progressively deliver on the plans we set out at last month’s capital markets webinar.”

Matthew Read, senior analyst at QuotedData, said: “This is a significant positive for GRID and, perhaps just as importantly, for the role of batteries within the UK’s long-duration storage market. The provisional award to Ocker Hill gives GRID a route to bring forward an eight-hour asset backed by a 25-year cap and floor revenue framework, turning what was previously development optionality into something much more tangible. If Ofgem moves forward with these awards as hoped, this should lay the foundations for many more duration extensions for BESS assets.

“The economics will not be finalised until the award is confirmed and project-specific cap and floor levels are set, but the structure is clearly designed to give investors enough revenue certainty to finance large-scale LDES projects while limiting excess returns for consumers. For GRID, which has had a difficult period as short-duration battery revenues came under pressure, the prospect of long-term, government-backed, index-linked revenues is helpful.”

Half-year results from Ground Rents Income Fund (GRIO) show the impact of the government’s leasehold reform with net asset value falling to £30.6m or 32p per share from £52.2m or 54.5p in the six months to 31 March. Chair Judith Mackenzie said: “Market conditions remain challenging. Legislative uncertainty and a continuing lack of liquidity in the residential ground rent sector show little sign of near-term resolution. The board and manager continue to implement the shareholder-approved strategy to manage risk and realise the company’s assets to optimise returns. The new board, taking into account the size of the company, has started to evaluate costs, alongside reviewing the company’s operating model and strategy.”

Schroder UK Mid Cap (SCP), the £235m trust that bid goodbye to activist hedge fund Saba Capital with a 35% tender offer last week, incurred a 4.4% investment loss in the six months to 31 March that underperformed the 2.9% loss of the FTSE 250 index excluding investment trusts. Shareholders suffered a smaller loss of 1.9% as the share price discount narrowed to 4.7% from 7%. Top stocks in the period included hedge fund manager Man Group, Clarkson, Harbour Energy and Ecora Royalties but were offset by losses on Telecom Plus, Spire Healthcare and publisher Future.

Patria Private Equity (PPET), the £895m funds investor exposed to around 700 unquoted, mostly European, companies, generated a 3.1% investment return in the six months to 31 March. Half-year results showed a 5.5% return for shareholders as the wide share price discount narrowed slightly to 33.1% from 34.4%. PPET’s top 100 companies, accounting for 59.1% of net asset value, grew revenues by 13.7% and operating profits by 13.4% over 12 months. Valuations of its IT investments, its largest sector exposure at 23% of NAV, fell following declines in listed software companies on the threat of disruption from artificial intelligence. PPET has 19.5% in software companies, the “vast majority” of which is in business-to-business providers serving large, complex customers with high switching costs and benefiting from proprietary or regulated data that cannot be replicated. It said the exposure was well diversified by company, the biggest exposure being 2% in Visma and more than 1% in Access.

ICG Enterprise (ICGT), the £852m private equity fund run by Intermediate Capital Group, has increased dividends by 7.7%. The declaration of a first quarter dividend of 9.5p per share, up from 9p a year ago, should take the total payout to at least 42p for the 2027 financial year, up from 39p in the previous year. The portfolio of funds and stakes in unquoted companies was essentially flat in the three months to 30 April with net asset value rising 0.1% to £20.36 with share buybacks adding 9p to NAV per share. The shares ended last week at £13.96, a 31% discount to NAV and a 3% yield.

Baker Steel Resources Trust (BSRT) confirms it entered the FTSE All Share index on 21 June. Fund manager Trevor Steel said it was a “significant milestone” for the £134m mining fund that has delivered a 194.4% total return to shareholders over three years but whose shares remain on a 31% discount to net asset value. “As a constituent of the UK’s main index, BSRT will be accessible to a wider range of investors and may be included in passive investment vehicles and ETFs that replicate the FTSE All-Share.  We believe that this will provide even greater momentum to BSRT´s future growth.”

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