COVID-19 Statement

RNS Number : 1203H

SDCL Energy Efficiency Income Tst

23 March 2020

 

23 March 2020

SDCL Energy Efficiency Income Trust plc
("SEEIT" or the "Company")

COVID-19 Statement

SEEIT, the UK-listed investment company investing in the energy efficiency sector, announces an update in light of the ongoing market uncertainty associated with COVID-19. The SEEIT Board of Directors (the "Board") and the Company's Investment Manager, Sustainable Development Capital LLP (''SDCL''), believe that the Company's portfolio is well placed to continue to generate an attractive total return for investors.

The Company's portfolio currently consists of 26 energy efficiency investments located in the UK, continental Europe and North America. The assets provide essential and critical energy services, which are typically availability rather than demand based, with the Company's clients including the public sector as well as large, well-capitalised commercial and industrial counterparties. The Company's priority is the continuation of these services to its counterparties. The portfolio is well diversified by asset and source of revenue and, as a whole, is insulated against material short term energy market volatility as offtake agreements are typically structured and contracted on pre-determined terms.

The Investment Manager is monitoring the performance of all the projects in its portfolio and can confirm that all the assets are currently performing as expected. While it is, of course, too early to provide any meaningful assessment of any possible future financial or operational effects from COVID-19 given the uncertainty over the duration and impact of the virus, appropriate contingency plans have been put in place for operations and maintenance.

The Investment Manager is working closely with key subcontractors and co-shareholders, implementing contingency plans where required. Where individuals are required to be physically present for operations and maintenance, the Company and the Investment Manager are focused on taking appropriate steps to ensure the health, safety and wellbeing of the workforce and to allow for an uninterrupted service to continue. To date, none of the Company's counterparties have raised any COVID-19 project specific concerns that are material to the Company's current performance.

The Company remains on track to achieve the target dividend of 5.0p per share for the year to 31 March 2020. Based on current portfolio performance and assuming the return to more normal operating conditions post COVID-19 in the short to medium term, the Board remains confident in the forecast future portfolio cashflows which allows it to reiterate the previously published dividend guidance of 5.5p per share for the next financial year to March 2021 and a progressive dividend thereafter.

The Company has a healthy liquidity position and benefits from holding significant cash balances.

Both the Company and the Investment Manager are taking all necessary steps to protect its staff members from health risks associated with COVID-19. All staff members that are able to work remotely have been doing so.

For Further Information

Sustainable Development Capital LLP Jonathan Maxwell Eugene Kinghorn Keith Driver	T: [phone]
Jefferies International Limited Gary Gould Tom Yeadon Gaudi Le Roux	T: [phone]
TB Cardew Ed Orlebar Lucas Bramwell	T: [phone] M: [phone] E: [e-mail]

About the Company

SDCL Energy Efficiency Income Trust plc is the first listed company of its kind to invest exclusively in the energy efficiency sector. Examples of the projects in the portfolio include combined cooling/heating and power plants, as well as Energy Efficiency Projects in the UK and the US. Since acquisition of its seed portfolio following its IPO, the Company has announced further investments in a number of diversified portfolio of energy efficiency projects, including a portfolio of rooftop solar photovoltaic projects for Tesco in the UK and a portfolio of cogeneration assets in north east United States, which were identified as pipeline projects in its IPO prospectus, as well as an additional investment in a portfolio of energy efficiency loans in the United States, a  portfolio of cogeneration assets in Spain and a portfolio of recycled energy and cogeneration projects in the United States .

The Company's total assets are currently allocated across the UK, Europe and North America in broadly equal proportions.

The Company aims to deliver shareholders value through its investments in a diversified portfolio of energy efficiency projects which are driven by the opportunity to deliver lower cost, cleaner and more reliable energy solutions to end users of energy.

The Company is targeting an attractive total return for shareholders of 7-8 per cent. per annum (net of fees and expenses and by reference to the Placing price of £1.00 per Ordinary Share), with a stable dividend income, capital preservation and the opportunity for capital growth. The Company is targeting a dividend of 5.0p per share in respect of the current financial year to 31 March 2020 and 5.5p per share in respect of the next financial year to 31 March 2021. SEEIT's last published NAV was 99.0p per share as at 30 September 2019.

Further information can be found on the Company's website at www.sdcleeit.com.

Investment Manager

The Company's investment manager is Sustainable Development Capital LLP ("SDCL"), an investment firm established in 2007, with a proven track record of investment in energy efficiency and decentralised generation projects in the UK, Continental Europe, North America and Asia.

SDCL is headquartered in London and the group also operates worldwide from offices in New York, Dublin and Singapore. SDCL is authorised and regulated in the UK by the Financial Conduct Authority.

 

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