GSF Gore Street Energy Storage Fund Plc

   20 June 2024

Gore Street Energy Storage Fund plc 

(the "Company" or "GSF") 

Full-Year Unaudited Net Asset Value

Geographically diversified revenue generation, increasing operational capacity and capital management have positioned the Company well for future growth

Gore Street Energy Storage Fund plc, the internationally diversified energy storage fund, is pleased to announce its unaudited Net Asset Value ("NAV") for the year ended 31 March 2024.

The Company's approach to valuation remains consistent and helped largely mitigate volatility in the Company's NAV due to the Investment Manager's appropriate use of valuation assumptions and capital allocation strategy. The Company's construction schedule is expected to provide support over future valuation periods, given the large amount of capacity currently in construction which is due to come online by the end of the current fiscal year. Consistent revenue generation, increasing operational capacity, and prudent capital management have positioned the Company well for strong future growth. Dividends announced with respect to the reported period are in line with the Company's stated dividend policy.

Net Asset Value

As of 31 March 2024, the unaudited NAV was 107.0 pence per share, representing a 3.6% decrease during the quarter (31 December 2023: 111.0 pence per share) and brought NAV total return since IPO to 48.4%.

The Key drivers of NAV over FY23/24 were updated macro assumptions reflecting the operating environment at the time, and active portfolio management. Key updated assumptions that negatively impacted NAV included inflation, forecast revenue curves, and discount rates, resulting in a decrease of 11.3 pence per share. Positive NAV drivers during the period due to active portfolio management included strong cash generation and a significant increase in energised capacity to 421.4MW (FY23: 291.6MW), as the Investment Manager continues to successfully execute against its diversified growth strategy. These drivers resulted in an increase of 10.1 pence per share.

Movements in Net Asset Value between March 2023 and March 2024

Operational and Financial Highlights for the 12 months ended 31 March 2024.

·    The portfolio generated £41.4 million in revenue during the fiscal year (31 March 2023: £39.3m).

·    The portfolio generated an operational EBITDA of £28.4 million. (31 March 2023: £27.8 million).

·    Energised capacity increased by 45% to 421.4MW (31 March 2023: 291.6MW).

·    Average operational capacity increased by 7% to 311.5MW (31 March 2023: 291.6MW)

·    The Company's diversified fleet achieved an average revenue of £133,000 per MW/yr (31 March 2023: £135,000 per MW/yr).

·    As at 31 March 2024, the Company had £60.7 million in cash or cash equivalents, as well as £58.6 million in debt headroom on its existing facilities, sufficient to cover all contractual obligations and continue to build out the Company's portfolio to over 750MW.

·    The Company increased its asset base on the Irish Grid to 385MW, of which 130MW is operational, following the acquisition of a 51% stake in a 75MW pre-construction energy storage project (Project Mucklagh) located in the Republic of Ireland.

·    The Company maintained a low level of gearing, equal to 6.5%[1] of GAV as at 31 March 2024. During FY24/25, the Company expects to draw down on its available debt lines and expects net debt to reach c.15 % of GAV once fully drawn.

·    The Company issued shares at NAV to strategic partners Nidec and Low Carbon, for a total consideration value of c.£27m.

Key NAV drivers

·    Offering Proceeds: The Company issued 23,700,000 new Ordinary Shares to strategic partners Nidec and Low Carbon. The shares were issued at the prevailing Net Asset Value on the date of issuance. In December 2023, 14,000,000 shares were issued to Nidec, followed by an additional issuance of 9,700,000 shares to Low Carbon in March 2024, both at the prevailing NAV.

·    Dividends (-7.4p): The Company paid 7.5 pence per share during the Financial Year. Due to the issuance of additional shares during the reporting period, the per-share dividend amounted to 7.4p.

·    Revenue Curves (-7.0p): Throughout the year, key markets, notably Great Britain, experienced a decline in the revenue forecasts driven by recent weakness in revenue being factored in by research houses. Additionally the Investment Manager maintained its prudent approach of adjusting near-term GB revenue assumptions downward, in line with current market conditions in GB. Despite an improved outlook in some markets, the net effect compared with the previous reporting period was a decrease of 7.0 pence in NAV.

·    Inflation (-1.5p): Inflation assumptions aligned with those published as part of the Company's interim results, reflecting the inflationary macro environment at the time.

·    Discount rates (-2.8p): The Investment Manager increased the discount rate by 25 bps across all asset stages and geographies. The weighted average discount rate applied to the Company's portfolio saw an increase to 10.2% as at 31 March 2024 (FY23: 10.1%). The impact of de-risking assets as they progressed through construction is included in Net Portfolio Returns and had a 2.8p per share positive impact on NAV (included in Net Portfolio Returns below).

·    Net Portfolio Returns (+10.1p): This refers to cash generation, COD changes, Opex savings, site upgrades, de-risking of sites and DCF changes and rollover. The net effect of these factors resulted in a 10.1 pence per share increase in NAV.

Dividend Declaration

The Board has approved a fourth dividend of 1.5 pence per share, bringing the total dividend for the period ending 31 March 2024 to 7.5 pence per share as per the dividend target of 7% of average NAV over the reported period. Based on the 31 March 2024 share price, this dividend was equal to a 11.6% yield.

The ex-dividend date will be 27 June 2024, and the record date is 28 June 2024. The dividend will be paid on or around 15 July 2024.

Any such dividend payment to Shareholders may take the form of either dividend income or "qualifying interest income", which may be designated as an interest distribution for UK tax purposes and, therefore, subject to the interest streaming regime applicable to investment trusts. Of this dividend declared, 1.5 pence is treated as qualifying interest income.

Notice of Results

The Company will release its audited results for the twelve months ended 31 March 2024 on 15 July 2024.

A virtual presentation for analysts will be held at 9:30 am BST on the day of the results. To register for the event, please contact gorestreet@buchanan.uk.com.

Additionally, the Investment Manager will hold a live presentation for investors relating to the Annual Results via the Investor Meet Company platform on 15 July 2024 at 11:00 am BST.

The presentation is open to all existing and potential shareholders. Questions can be submitted pre-event via the Investor Meet Company dashboard up until 9:00 am the day before the meeting or at any time during the live presentation.

Investors can sign up to Investor Meet Company for free and add to meet GORE STREET ENERGY STORAGE FUND PLC via:https://www.investormeetcompany.com/gore-street-energy-storage-fund-plc/register-investor

Following the presentation, materials will be posted on the Company's website: www.gsenergystoragefund.com

Factsheets

The Company produces a monthly factsheet, in addition to quarterly updates, to communicate developments from across the portfolio and markets in which it operates. The publications are available on the Company's website here.

Alex O'Cinneide, CEO of Gore Street Capital, the investment manager to the Company, commented:

"During the financial year, the Company has achieved significant success, demonstrating the effectiveness of our diversification strategy in a challenging environment. The spread of the Company's portfolio across geographies, revenue streams, and regulatory environments has proven invaluable, allowing us to deliver best-in-class operational performance and consistent revenues averaging £133,000 per MW/yr.  These results demonstrate the soundness of our capital allocation decisions in providing consistent and sustainable returns to our investors. As a part of our active management approach, we continuously review alternative revenue approaches, including tolling agreements, to optimise the performance of the portfolio. With our substantially unlevered portfolio, we are in a position to drive our revenue hedging strategy by what is in GSF's long-term interest rather than the short-term demands of lenders. In the future, it may be appropriate to consider longer-term contracts. However, at the moment, we do not believe it is the right time to enter into these contracts, as we are currently experiencing a low point in the cycle in GB. Entering into a multi-year contract at this stage would mean securing low revenues with little downside protection while forfeiting any potential upside.

"The investments made to enter the Irish market in 2019, and Texas in 2022 have been proven out, as record revenues were captured in those markets at various points throughout the year, and we see strong performance over the summer months from Texas.

"I am proud of the Investment Manager's ability to raise funds and add to the total portfolio, which now stands at 1.248GW. As we look ahead to the rest of 2024 and beyond, these achievements have served to maintain the Company's strong position, which we will build on with the energisation of new capacity - led by the 200MW / 400MWh Big Rock asset in California - in the coming months.

"The fundamental drivers of energy storage remain strong, driven by climate action, energy security and legislation worldwide. The Company has a strong position, with a solid diversification strategy and unique exposure across multiple revenue streams in uncorrelated markets - and will continue to play an important role in the decarbonisation of energy systems globally."

For further information:  

Gore Street Capital Limited           

Alex O'Cinneide / Paula Travesso / Ben Paulden 

Email: ir@gorestreetcap.com                                                                                     Tel: +44 (0) 20 3826 0290  

Shore Capital (Joint Corporate Broker)    

Anita Ghanekar / Fiona Conroy / Sophie Collins                                               Tel: +44 (0) 20 7408 4090  

(Corporate Broking)              

J.P. Morgan Cazenove (Joint Corporate Broker)                                                               

William Simmonds / Jérémie Birnbaum (Corporate Finance)                        Tel: +44 (0) 20 3493 8000  

Buchanan (Media Enquiries)        

Charles Ryland / Henry Wilson / George Beale                                                    Tel: +44 (0) 20 7466 5000  

Email: gorestreet@buchanan.uk.com  

Notes to Editors  

About Gore Street Energy Storage Fund plc  

Gore Street is London's first listed and internationally diversified energy storage fund dedicated to the low-carbon transition. It seeks to provide Shareholders with sustainable returns from their investment in a diversified portfolio of utility-scale energy storage projects. In addition to growth through increasing operational capacity and a considerable pipeline, the Company aims to deliver consistent and robust dividend yield as income distributions to its Shareholders.  

https://www.gsenergystoragefund.com