Greencoat UK Wind targets more dividends after hitting £1bn market cap

Renewable infrastructure fund Greencoat UK Wind told investors on Monday that power generation across its portfolio had been in line with its budget for the past calendar year, keeping the firm on track for its dividend and capital growth targets.

FTSE 250-listed Greencoat, which holds a stake in 29 offshore wind farms, declared a dividend for its 2017 trading year of 6.49p before announcing that was already targeting a 4.1% increase to 6.76p for 2018, matching December's RPI inflation number.

Net asset value expanded 2.6p to 109.6p over the course of the year, with net cash generation moving ahead to £80.1m.

Greencoat raised £340m in October by way of a share issue, with the funds collected as a result of the issue being used to make investments in ten additional wind farms, which sent net generating capacity soaring to just shy of 700Mw from 420Mw and its market capitalisation comfortably beyond the £1bn milestone. Last year power generation across its portfolio hit 1,457GWh.

But, Greencoat's chairman Tim Ingram, highlighted further investment opportunities in the wind power sector.

"Wind continues to remain the most mature and widely deployed renewable energy technology available in the UK, and the company is in a good position to benefit as electricity production from wind becomes an increasingly important part of the UK's generation mix," he said.

Greencoat had £265m of outstanding debt as of 31 December, up from £100m twelve months earlier.

"Looking ahead, wind remains the most mature and widely deployed renewable energy technology in the UK, and the Group is well placed to continue to take advantage of the abundant pool of operating wind assets in the UK. I remain confident that we will continue to meet our objectives of dividend growth in line with RPI and capital preservation in real terms," Ingram added.

As of 0900 GMT, shares had inched forward 0.67% to 120.80p.