25
June 2024
Foresight Sustainable
Forestry Company Plc
("FSF" or
"the Company")
Announcement of half-year
results for the six months ended 31 March 2024
Foresight Sustainable Forestry
Company Plc, an investment company that invests in UK forestry and
afforestation assets, is pleased to announce the publication of its
unaudited Interim Results (the "Interim Results") for the six months
ended 31 March 2024.
Financial highlights
- The Company
recorded a profit for the period of £6.6 million (30 September
2023: loss of £11.3 million).
- Net Asset
Value ("NAV") has increased
to £175.8 million (30 September 2023: £169.2 million).
- NAV per Ordinary
Share has increased to 102.2 pence, a NAV per share return of 3.9%
since 30 September 2023.
- The key drivers of the
uplift are the upwards revaluation of FSF's properties (+3.7p) and
carbon credit recognition (+3.7p), driven by the completion of
planting c.2.9 million trees at 13 properties.
- The Company has
delivered a total NAV return of 4.2%¹ since IPO.
- As at 31 March 2024,
the Company had £2.0 million of cash available and had drawn £18.3
million on the RCF - a gearing ratio of 9.4% of Gross Asset
Value.
Key
metrics
|
As
at 31 March 2024
|
Net Asset Value
|
£175.8 million
|
NAV per Share
|
102.2 pence
|
Total NAV return since IPO
¹
|
4.2%
|
Profit for the period
|
£6.6 million
|
¹ Calculated with IPO costs netted
off
Summary of NAV key movements in the six months ended 31 March
2024
Item
|
p/share
|
NAV at 30 September 2023
|
98.4
|
Net Afforestation & Restock
Expenditure
|
(1.1)
|
Portfolio revaluation
gains
|
3.7
|
Voluntary carbon credit valuation
gains
|
3.7
|
Asset Level Operating
Expenditure
|
(1.0)
|
Fund Operating
Expenditure
|
(1.5)
|
NAV at 31 March 2024
|
102.2
|
Portfolio highlights and outlook
Portfolio highlights
- Approximately 2.9 million trees were planted at 13
afforestation properties during the period.
- 4.3 million trees have been planted across 19 planting
properties to 31 March 2024 since IPO in November 2021.
- An additional c.334,000 carbon credits associated with new
planting have been recognised on FSF's balance sheet, taking the
total number of carbon credits to c.478,000.
- As at 31 March 2024, the total value ascribed towards the
creation of carbon credits was £9.2 million (30 September 2023:
£2.7 million).
-
The property revaluation delivered a
gain of £6.4 million in the six month
period to 31 March 2024.
Outlook
- Between 31 March 2024 and 10 May 2024, the Company planted an
additional c.650,000 trees at four afforestation
properties.
- From 10 May 2024 to 30 September 2024, the Company intends to
plant c.2.1 million trees at seven afforestation
properties.
- From 1 October 2024 to 31 March 2025, the Company intends to
plant c.2.3 million trees at 14 afforestation
properties.
- By spring 2025, the Company expects to have planted c.9.4
million trees over a total forest area of 5,379 hectares since
IPO.
Post period end update
On 29 May 2024, the Board announced
that FSF had reached agreement on the terms of a recommended
acquisition, pursuant to which Arizona Bidco Limited, a wholly
owned indirect subsidiary of Averon Park Limited ("Averon Park"),
will acquire the entire issued and to be issued Ordinary Share
capital of FSF that Averon Park's group does not already own (the
"Acquisition"). Full details of the Acquisition, including
the strategic rationale and recommendation of the Directors, can be
found here:
https://fsfc.foresightgroup.eu/offer-fsfc.
Interim Report
A copy of the Interim Report has
been submitted to the National Storage Mechanism and will shortly
be available at https://data.fca.org.uk/#/nsm/nationalstoragemechanism.
The Interim Report can also be seen on the Company website
(https://fsfc.foresightgroup.eu),
where you can find all the information about the
Company.
Richard Davidson, Chair of Foresight Sustainable Forestry
Company Plc, commented:
"We are proud of the
achievements the Company has made since its IPO. FSF has amassed
and developed a nationally significant afforestation portfolio in a
short space of time. The Company has delivered on its objectives to
increase domestic timber supply, sequester carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere, enhance biodiversity and has created hundreds of jobs
within rural communities where it operates.
We are pleased
with the Company's performance to 31 March 2024, which has seen an
unaudited NAV gain of 3.8 pence per share, an increase of 3.9% for
the six-month period, due to the successful progress of our
planting programme."
For further information, please
contact:
Foresight Sustainable Forestry Company Plc
Robert Guest
Richard Kelly
fsfc@foresightgroup.eu
|
+44 20 3667 8100
|
Stifel Nicolaus Europe Limited
Edward Gibson-Watt
Bruno Benega
Rajpal Padam
Catriona Neville
|
+44(0) 20 7663 3227
|
SEC
Newgate
Elisabeth Cowell
Alice Cho
Harry Handyside
|
+44 (0)20 3757 6882
fsf@secnewgate.co.uk
|
About the Company
Foresight Sustainable Forestry
Company Plc is an externally managed investment company investing
in a diversified portfolio of UK forestry and afforestation
assets.
Targeting a net total return of more
than CPI +5%, the Company provides investors with the opportunity
for real returns and capital appreciation driven by the prevailing
global imbalance between supply and demand for timber; the
inflation-protection qualities of UK land freeholds; and biological
tree growth of 3% to 4% not correlated to financial
markets.
The Company also offers outstanding
sustainability and ESG attributes and access to carbon units
related to carbon sequestration from new afforestation
planting.
The Company targets value creation
as the afforestation projects successfully achieve development
milestones in the process of converting open ground into
established commercial forest and woodland areas.
The Company is seeking to make a
direct contribution in the fight against climate change through
forestry and afforestation carbon sequestration initiatives and to
preserve and proactively enhance natural capital and biodiversity
across its portfolio.
The Company is managed by Foresight
Group LLP. https://fsfc.foresightgroup.eu/
Notes
This announcement does not
constitute, and may not be construed as, an offer to sell or an
invitation to purchase investments of any description, or the
provision of investment advice by any party. No information set out
in this announcement is intended to form the basis of any contract
of sale, investment decision or any decision to purchase securities
in the Company.
This announcement may include
statements that are, or may be deemed to be, "forward-looking
statements". These forward-looking statements can be identified by
the use of forward-looking terminology, including the terms
"believes", "estimates", "anticipates", "expects", "intends",
"may", "will", "targeting" or "should" or, in each case, their
negative or other variations or comparable terminology. All
statements other than statements of historical facts included in
this announcement, including, without limitation, those regarding
the Company's financial position, strategy, plans, proposed
acquisitions and objectives, are forward-looking
statements.