International PPL performance 'fully in line'

Global infrastructure project investment company International Public Partnerships Limited updated the market on its portfolio performance for the period from 1 January to 26 May on Tuesday, with the board claiming its portfolio of 127 investments in regulated and public infrastructure projects was performing fully in line with expectations.

The FTSE 250 firm said an additional £298.1m of investments were made during the period, including a £274m investment into the National Grid's gas distribution network, which was since rebranded ‘Cadent’.

It also highlighted the successful completion of a “significantly oversubscribed” £330m capital raising during the period, the proceeds of which would be used in repayment of the company's cash drawn portion of its existing debt facility.

The portfolio currently had 10% of assets in physical construction, providing opportunities for capital growth as those assets progressed to full operation.

International PPL said it maintained an “attractive pipeline” of investment opportunities across the UK, Northern Europe, Australia and North America, and would continue to deploy capital to meet its existing investment commitments to the landmark Thames Tideway Tunnel project.

On the financial front, the company reported a 9.2% increase in net asset value per share to 142.2p for the twelve months to 31 December 2016, up from 130.2p a year earlier, with an estimated NAV at 31 March 2017 of not less than 140.5p per share.

The portfolio maintained a leading level of inflation-linkage such that a 1.00% increase in inflation lead to a 0.89% increase in return, the board said.

A second half year 2016 dividend of 3.325p per share was declared on 30 March, and was expected to be paid on 7 June, with the board confirmed its minimum target dividend for the 2017 and 2018 financial years had been set at 6.82p and 7.00p per share respectively - in line with an average increase of around 2.5% or greater each year.

The company had delivered a Total Shareholder Return - comprising share price growth and aggregate dividends - since IPO in November 2006 to 24 May 2017 of 166.90%, or 9.76% on an annualised basis.

“The successful completion of INPP's largest single investment to date underpins our differentiated approach to primary origination and active asset management, whilst growing the company's footprint in the large-scale regulated asset sector,” said chairman Rupert Dorey.

“The significantly oversubscribed capital raise further endorses the company's investment strategy and demonstrates the growing appetite from new and existing shareholders for INPP's predictable, long-term and substantially inflation-linked return profile.

“We continue to be confident in the growth prospects of the company, with a healthy pipeline of diverse regulated and government-backed infrastructure investments in all of our key markets.”