US Solar Fund PLC NAV UPDATE AND FACTSHEET (4718Y)

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RNS Number : 4718Y

US Solar Fund PLC

09 September 2020

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9 September 2020

US SOLAR FUND PLC (USF, the "Company")

NAV UPDATE AND FACTSHEET

US Solar Fund Plc ( LON:USF (USD) / USFP (GBP) ) is pleased to announce that its unaudited NAV at 30 June was $193 million or $0.964 per ordinary share, unchanged from its prior NAV released for 31 March 2020. The payment of a 0.5 cent dividend in May along with normal operating expenses was offset by a small gain in the fair value of operating projects.

In accordance with Company policy, operating assets held for the half year ending 30 June 2020 have been externally valued, with the Company recognizing a small gain across the Acquisition Three and Acquisition Four portfolios with electricity sales less expenses during the period resulting in a positive working capital adjustment. Other acquisitions continue to be held at cost but will be externally valued at 31 December 2020.

Highlights for the quarter to 30 June:

-- As announced in January, the Company has effectively committed all the funds raised in the IPO with the five acquisitions completed to date. Almost 70% of the assets are now operating, with the remainder on track to be fully operational by year-end.

-- The USF portfolio has PPAs with contracted prices for 100% of electricity generated for a weighted average PPA term of 15.3 years, and all PPA counterparties are investment grade (S&P rated A to BBB+).

-- USF acquired a 61 megawatt (MW(DC) ) portfolio of five mechanically-complete projects in Oregon from Southern Current LLC, in June 2020, and subsequently closed tax equity financing and a binding loan commitment from the long-term debt provider. The portfolio was commissioned during and after the quarter, in June and July, and is now fully operational.

-- As of 30 June, the Investment Manager's pipeline (Pipeline) included 3,379 MW(DC) of assets with a cash equity value of $3.2bn and a weighted-average PPA term of 17 years.

-- On 22 May, USF paid a dividend of 0.50 cents per share for the quarter ending 31 December 2019. USF announced its fourth dividend of 0.50 cents per share for the period ending 31 March (paid on 14 August 2020). As almost 70% of USF projects are now operating, USF expects to cover the remaining 2020 dividends with operating cashflows and continues to be in a strong position to commence the 5.5 cents target dividend in FY 2021.

-- The Company appointed Thomas Plagemann as an independent non-executive director. Thomas is based in New York and has almost 30 years of experience with renewables, energy and infrastructure assets in the US and globally.

-- Throughout the period of the pandemic there has been no material impact on USF's operational assets. USF's most recent fifth acquisition experienced a minor delay in plant commissioning due to COVID-19 work restrictions in Oregon however, due to the transaction structure, USF's purchase price was not fully funded until the utility work was completed, thus protecting USF against COVID delays. All four sites in this portfolio are now fully operational and selling power to their investment grade offtaker under their PPAs.

Highlights post period end

-- In July and August, four of the projects in the Acquisition Two portfolio began operating. USF's three remaining in-construction assets are well-progressed and USF expects these to be completed on schedule in the third and fourth quarters of 2020.

-- In early September, USF's largest asset, the 128MW(DC) Milford in Utah sent its first test power to the grid. Milford is on track to be completed in Q4 2020.

The Company's factsheet for Q2 2020 is available on the Company's website at: www.ussolarfund.co.uk/investor-centre .

For further information, please contact:

 
US Solar Fund 
 Whitney V oûte              [phone] 
Cenkos Securities plc 
 Will Rogers 
 Rob Naylor 
 Will Talkington                  [phone] 
Jefferies International Limited 
 Stuart Klein 
 Neil Winward 
 Gaudi le Roux                    [phone] 
KL Communications                 [phone] 
Charles Gorman 
 Charlotte Stickings 
 

About US Solar Fund plc

US Solar Fund plc listed on the premium segment of the London Stock Exchange in April 2019, following its successful US$200m IPO. The Company's investment objective is to provide investors with attractive and sustainable dividends with an element of capital growth by investing in a diversified portfolio of solar power assets in North America and other OECD countries in the Americas.

The Company acquires or constructs, owns and operates solar power assets that are expected to have an asset life of at least 30 years and generate stable and uncorrelated cashflows by selling electricity to creditworthy offtakers under long-term power purchase agreements (or PPAs).

Further information on the Company can be found on its website at http://www.ussolarfund.co.uk .

About the Investment Manager

USF is managed by New Energy Solar Manager (NESM). NESM also manages New Energy Solar, an Australian Securities Exchange (ASX)-listed fund which has committed over US$900m to US and Australian solar plants since late 2015.

NESM is owned by Walsh & Company, the funds management division of Evans Dixon, an ASX listed company (ASX: ED1) with over A$21 billion of funds under advice.

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September 09, 2020 04:22 ET (08:22 GMT)