But the trust’s board has had to make “concessions to shareholders”.
Source: Trustnet
The HICL Infrastructure trust produced a strong set of results as it looks to move on from its failed merger attempt with The Renewables Infrastructure Group (TRIG).
The trust made a 10.3% net asset value (NAV) return for the year to the end of March 2026, including dividends of 8.35p per share, which were fully supported by portfolio cash generation. It also retained dividend cover of 2.38x the total payout.
During the year, HICL Infrastructure completed £536m worth of disposals, taking its total sold over the past three years to more than £1bn at an average premium of 11%. It also conducted £103m of share buybacks during the year.
Looking ahead, Edward Hunt, head of core infrastructure at InfraRed Capital Partners, HICL's investment manager, said the world is “in the midst of a long-term infrastructure supercycle, underpinned by significant global investment needs across energy, digital, transport and social infrastructure”.
Matthew Read, senior analyst at QuotedData, said: “HICL’s results provide a good illustration of why its shareholders were not keen on the now-abandoned merger proposals with TRIG, with HICL benefitting from strong portfolio performance, accretive disposals, disciplined buybacks and improving dividend cover.
“The £536m of disposals is particularly interesting, showing that HICL can realise assets at or above carrying value, highlighting that the wide discount that the shares trade on does not make sense.”
Analysts at Jeffries said it was a “strong set of results” but noted that the trust has had to make “material concessions to shareholders” that were much needed in the wake of the aborted merger.
These included moving to a biennial continuation vote starting in 2028 if its shares trade at a 10% discount or more to its NAV. They currently stand on an 18% discount.
Over the previous year this would have amounted to an 11% reduction in the management costs incurred and 24% lower than the gross asset cost.
Read noted: “The move to calculate InfraRed’s fee entirely by reference to market capitalisation is a welcome step, as is the proposed conditional biennial continuation vote.”
The trust is also looking for a new chair as incumbent Mike Bane is set to have served the maximum nine years by midway through next year.
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