Bluefield Solar Income Share Discussion Threads

[nimbo1] 27/1/2020 17:10

hxxps://citywire.co.uk/investment-trust-insider/news/renewable-funds-could-plunge-40-on-cannibalisation-threat-say-jpm-analysts/a1317406?re=71527&ea=1174519&utm_source=BulkEmail_Investment+Trust+Insider+Daily&;utm_medium=BulkEmail_Investment+Trust+Insider+Daily&utm_campaign=BulkEmail_Investment+Trust+Insider+Daily

[panshanger1] 17/1/2020 13:52

New all time high I wonder if we'll see some consolation In this sector ?

[masurenguy] 24/12/2019 15:05

Consistent annual growth in the shareprice over the past 3 years.
2017 - 2018: 7.9%
2018 - 2019: 11.8%
2019 - 2020: 10.5% (as at 24/12/19)
That is an actual increase of 36p, which averages 1p per month over those 3 years. Over the same period the share has also yielded 22.5p in dividends.

[tartshagger] 18/12/2019 09:26

If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck and swims like a duck it prolly is a duck! Looks like a clean breakout to me, the measured move would be to 147p

[masurenguy] 17/12/2019 17:27

Another ATH close @140p. :o)

[masurenguy] 07/12/2019 16:55

BSIF finally closed at an ATH of 138.75p yesterday.

[masurenguy] 06/12/2019 10:37

Just hit an ATH intraday price with a £40K Buyer of 28,930 shares @138.24p.

[nimbo1] 22/11/2019 08:36

I've let a whole load of these go this am at 137... price may kick on but premium too large for me and JLEN results talks of weak power prices achieved hence looking at battery storage...

[tartshagger] 19/11/2019 11:48

BSIF share price has resistance at ~137p and support at ~127p. It's been moving sideways in a rectangle since March. Eventually it will break one way or the other, assuming it's not a triple top and it breaks upwards the target would be about 147p. If it breaks downwards and reaches 117p ish, that would be a strong buy.

[masurenguy] 15/11/2019 15:12

The BSIF shareprice is proving to be a solid performer both in terms of capital appreciation and yield. The shareprice is up 12% over the past year and over the past three and a half years it is up by 37% - an average increase of 0.9% per month over that timeframe. Furthermore, it has also delivered 23.4p in dividends over that period and it remains on track for a further 5% yield increase in the current year. A very solid buy and hold investment.

[masurenguy] 04/10/2019 18:58

Bluefield: solar farms are expensive, we’ll build our own
Michelle McGagh, Citywire, 04 Oct, 2019

High-yielding Bluefield Solar Income (BSIF) is going back to its roots with investment in solar farm construction as acquisitions in the secondary market become too expensive. Increased competition in the solar market at a time when there is a lack of new projects helped the 6%-yielding investment company lift net asset value by 4.1% in the 12 months to 30 June and declare an extra dividend. NAV rose to 117.28p from 113.28p in June last year and from 114.41p at the end of December to 117, boosted also by forecast-beating sunlight and electricity generation. Although a reduction in long-term power price predictions dented NAV, this was offset by several local authorities extending the leases on some of Bluefield’s solar parks by 15 years, raising the average life of the portfolio from 21.4 years to 24.2 years.

Winterflood analysts said while there was scope for more positive asset-life extensions it cautioned that the charging review of the energy regulator Ofgem could, according to the company, knock 2.8p per share from NAV. Nevertheless, these were strong results with total dividends (four quarterly and one special) of 8.31p per share, ahead of its retail prices index (RPI) inflation-linked target of 7.68p and covered by earnings with revenue reserves doubled to 0.6p. The target dividend for 2020 was raised by 2.88%, in line with inflation, to 7.9p, offering a prospective yield of 6.1%, according to analysts at Winterflood Securities. With dividends included the NAV grew 10.8% but shareholders enjoyed a total return of 19.1% as the share price rose to a double-digit premium, currently 13.5%.

Neil Wood, Bluefield group finance director, said the valuation reflected increased competition for solar assets since 2017 when the government removed solar subsidies for new projects. ‘We have been watching the valuation of assets increase as new players seek assets that have become scarce because of the lack of new projects,’ he said. While BSIF was busy buying assets in the first few years after launch in 2013, he said prices had risen ‘dramatically’ in recent years and ‘we started to feel pricing was a little overheated’. As the company is ‘not about asset gathering’ it stepped back from acquisitions and instead of moving overseas for opportunities like some peers it focused on ‘nurturing’ the existing assets in the portfolio to make them more efficient. ‘There are not any material projects being built,’ said Wood. ‘And anything that is being built is under the new non-subsidised regime. The secondary market remains very competitive and there is a significant amount of capital on the sidelines and the return hurdle [for many buyers] has decreased, which has been a material driver in the valuation of assets going up over a number of years.’ While Wood said BSIF benefited from asset price rises it was ‘hard watching assets that you are familiar with and would like to acquire passing by’ because of cost.

Rather than watch more expensive assets pass by while new projects remain thin on the ground, the company was taking a proactive approach, and returning to investing in the construction of solar farms. Wood said Bluefield was one of the first investors to fund assets through construction while listed peers would only buy solar farms that were built and operational. Although the landscape of subsidies was different then, he was confident non-subsidised solar farms were cheap enough to build so that the returns would ‘earnings efficient’. ‘We were happy to fund through construction and the non-subsidised market offers us a great opportunity to reinstate the success we had a few years ago in this market,’ he said. A reduction in solar powerm, a government target to eradicate carbon emissions by 2050 and public alarm at climate change provided a good backdrop for prospects, Wood said. ‘Six years ago there was a limited number of green investors and now the landscape has transformed and that needed to happen to meet the ambitious targets [on emissions] that have been set,’ he said.

[zero the hero] 20/9/2019 17:48

Even if the share price is showing a small but steady increase (roughly 12% for me) these dividends are a great reason to be invested. I have called this a boring share before (and it is) but this steady accumulation without fireworks is rather nice.

[masurenguy] 19/9/2019 16:11

"there is no guarantee that it won't drop off a cliff in a few years time."

Well there is no guarantee that the world won't succumb to a nuclear holocaust, global viral disease catastrophe or climate change extinction in a few years time either ! :0). However, the technological trend even 5 years ago suggests that PV panels can productively last for a lot longer than 25 years in moderate climates like ours.

"For monocrystalline silicon, the most commonly used panel for commercial and residential PV, the degradation rate is less than 0.5% for panels made before 2000, and less than 0.4% for panels made after 2000. That means that a panel manufactured today should produce 92% of its original power after 20 years, quite a bit higher than the 80% estimated by the 1% rule. Panels in more moderate climates such as the northern United States had degradation rates as low as 0.2% per year. Those panels could retain 96% of their production capabilities after 20 years." Engineering.com 2014

What will happen to my solar panels after 25 years?

"The truth is we don`t really know – there`s not really a lot of data to look at since photovoltaics is a relatively new technology (the vast majority of all solar panels are less than 10 years old). However, from what we are seeing so far, we have reason to be excited. Here are a couple of interesting reports:
A 33W solar panel (Arco Solar 16-2000) actually outperformed it’s original factory specifications 30 years after it was manufactured.
World`s first modern solar panel still works after 60 years.
Kyocera has reported several solar power installations that continue to operate reliably and generate electricity even though they are nearly 30 years old.

The technology has improved, the solar panels on today`s market are more robust and durable. This is where it gets really interesting. What does all of this actually mean? The lifespan of a modern solar panel is far longer than the 20 years that we use to calculate costs and earnings. This basically translates into more money in your pocket. I would bet that a solar panel installed today would be up and running (and still generating a good amount of electricity) 30 – 40 years down the line."

[steve73] 19/9/2019 11:12

Recent generations of Solar Photo-Voltaic panels are indicating much lower rates of performance degradation than those of just a few years ago, although there is no guarantee that it won't drop off a cliff in a few years time.

[masurenguy] 19/9/2019 11:00

That assumes an average life of 28.75 years across the whole solar estate. Still fairly conservative in my view and this could be subject to another average increase to circa 33 years in due course, which would further increase the NAV.

[pimsim] 19/9/2019 10:51

The £18m increase in NAV came from just 2 sources; £6.8m from the acquisition of 5MW Little Bear project and £11.2m from extending the leases on 25% of the portfolio. They seem to assume that if they can get a 15 year lease extension then the life expectancy of the assets can automatically be extended by the same amount, albeit the income is subject to a higher discount rate.

No one knows how long solar panels will last or the drop-off rate in energy production but last year they assumed all portfolio assets had a (very conservative) life expectancy of 25 years. Now they assume 25% of the portfolio will last 40 years!

[stevegrass777] 19/9/2019 09:11

Results look good.

[stevegrass777] 19/9/2019 09:02

Additional dividend, that doesn't happen very often especially on companies already paying as much as bluefield does.
Great news!

[masurenguy] 19/9/2019 08:05

An excellent set of results !



Net Asset Value (NAV)
£436.4m £419.0m

Total Dividend per Share
(Consisting of target dividend of 7.68pps and additional dividend of 0.63pps)
8.31pps 7.43pps

NAV per share
117.98p 113.28p

Underlying Earnings (pre amortisation of debt)
£40.7m £35.8m

Underlying Earnings (pre amortisation of debt)
11.01p 9.67p

Total return to Shareholders2
19.12% 11.68%

Total return to Shareholders since IPO
73.48% 50.35%

Underlying Earnings (post amortisation of debt)
8.91p 7.72p

MWh Generated per MWp
1,030 965

Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)
Achieved Guernsey Green Fund status
Delivered Carbon Savings of 162,320 tonnes of CO2

Forward Focus

Increased access to funding to support asset growth
Extended leases and planning permissions
Kept a watchful eye on market changes and new technologies

Chairman's Statement

"The performance of the Company in the year ended 30 June 2019 has been excellent, in recognition of which your Board is declaring an additional dividend. We have delivered earnings, net of debt amortisation, which significantly exceed our target dividend of 7.68pps; in the previous year we paid out our target dividend level and retained all earnings as a reserve for future distribution, but for 2018/19 your Board has decided to make an additional payment to shareholders in recognition of the outstanding performance achieved.

In addition to a fourth interim dividend of 1.98pps - which brings total dividends for 2018/19 to the target level of 7.68pps - we are declaring an additional dividend of 0.63pps. This still allows us to add 0.30pps to reserves, resulting in carried forward surplus earnings of 0.60pps, enabling us to enter the 2019/20 financial year with robust distributable reserves. Our dividend target for the financial year ending June 2020 is 7.90pps, reflecting the June 2019 RPI number of 2.88%, as applied to the previous target dividend of 7.68pps.

At the year end the Company's NAV was 117.98pps (113.28pps as at 30 June 2018); Total Return for the period was 10.89% and Total Return to Shareholders was 19.12%. The annualised average total return to shareholders since IPO in 2013 is 9.61%.

Key Events

The year has been outstanding with above target earnings and dividends, a satisfying result for a Company that has as its first priority the delivery of attractive levels of sterling income, covered by earnings. The explanation for the outperformance is straightforward. The period had higher than average irradiation (+6.6%), favourable conditions which were effectively translated into high levels of actual generation (+7.5%), made possible by the quality of the operating portfolio and a credit to the work of BSL. This increased generation was then converted into high levels of revenue, enhanced in the period by the Company being able to respond to, and capture, higher power prices.

The Company has also seen a modest increase in its NAV. The main driver for this is the significant progress the Company has made in lease extensions on the portfolio, which have offset the lower power price forecasts since December 2018. As detailed in the Investment Adviser's report, the Company has had several successful planning determinations on 15 year lease extensions (amounting to over 100MWp), with a further 64MWp still awaiting an outcome or under negotiation. Significantly, the Company has not had, at the time of writing, any planning rejections.

Acquisition activity has again been very limited, consistent with last year. However, the Investment Adviser has been working throughout the period on developing the next phase of growth for the Company, the non-subsidised investment programme, an investment theme that is arriving in the UK, as highlighted in earlier reports.

Underlying Earnings and Dividend Income

The underlying earnings for the year were GBP40.7m or 11.01pps (2017/18 numbers were GBP35.8m and 9.67pps respectively). After amortising our long term leverage, the available profits, including brought forward reserves, were GBP33.0m or 8.91pps (2018/19: GBP28.6m or 7.73pps)

The Board has elected to pay out our target dividend of 7.68pps and to add to this an additional dividend of 0.63pps, resulting in carried forward surplus earnings of 0.60pps. This adds to the Board's confidence that target dividends can continue to be increased in line with RPI for the year."

[rik shaw] 19/9/2019 08:02

Fourth interim dividend and special (additional) dividend declared.

[tournesol] 30/8/2019 23:47

11-p

You are a shareholder in PMG and I claim my £5

[11_percent] 30/8/2019 19:55

Hi guys, I am after some info.

Is it the case that you can no longer get planning permission for onshore wind turbines in Scotland.

Cheers.

[18bt] 22/8/2019 08:57

Decline in Foresight Solar's NAV caused by decline in power prices. Presumably we are expecting the same.

[masurenguy] 27/7/2019 14:17

That director Buy was on Wednesday at 133.8p which looks like he took advantage of a small pullback from the ATH of 138p last week. Agree that it is a positive sign.