John Laing Infrastructure sees growth as mature markets slow

International infrastructure investment company John Laing Infrastructure Fund updated the market on its trading on Monday, reporting underlying growth in its portfolio value for the nine months to 30 September of 5.5% to £1.23bn, on a rebased value of £1.16bn.

The FTSE 250 firm claimed a net asset value of £1.22bn as at 30 September, including £34.5m of cash allocated to the dividend that was paid in October.

Its net asset value per share as at 30 September was 123.1p cum-div, or 119.6p ex-div, which was up 2.4% on 31 December 2016.

The company paid a dividend of 3.48p per share in October, resulting in total dividends paid in 2017 of 6.96p per share.

It also agreed the acquisition of interests in six UK-based public-private partnership projects for a combined consideration of approximately £148.8m.

“Overall, the portfolio continues to perform well, with distributions remaining strong in the third quarter,” the board noted in its statement.

“The market for operational, availability-based PPP projects remains competitive in all mature jurisdictions.”

It said that in some cases, such as the UK and parts of continental Europe, that was largely a consequence of a lack of deal flow, with the majority of projects already under the ownership of long-term investors.

“In other markets, such as the US, Canada and Australia, the level of funding available for new investment continues to drive competition and prices.

“The investment adviser, John Laing Capital Management, continues to seek to develop bilateral deals based on long-standing relationships with developers and continues to review other markets and sub-sectors that may also be a source of projects with the characteristics JLIF seeks.”