Important information

Strong asset performance drives 13% NAV Total Return over the period.

Asset performance and capacity growth positions the portfolio to continue to capture market opportunities.

Gore Street Energy Storage Fund plc (ticker: GSF), London's first listed energy storage fund supporting the transition to low carbon power, is pleased to announce its Audited Full Year results for the year ended 31 March 2022.

Financial Highlights for the year ended 31 March 2022

• NAV increased 154% to £369.6 million[1] (31 March 2021: £145.1 million)
• NAV per share increased 6% to 107.1 pence[2] (31 March 2021: 100.9 pence), NAV Total Return of 13%
• Total share returns of 11% since 31 March 2021 and 37% since inception
• Net income increased 191% to £42.5 million (31 March 2021: £14.6 million) 
• EBITDA of operational portfolio increased 704% to £23.3 million (31 March 2021: £2.9 million) 
• Dividend declared for the March-end quarter of 1.0 pence per share. Total dividend declared for the year of 7.0 pence per share, as targeted, with operational dividend cover of 1.09x[3]
• The Company raised a total of £208.6 million in two oversubscribed issuances: £135 million in April 2021, and a further £73.6 million in October 2021. Issued Share Capital (ISC) increased to 345.0 million shares (31 March 2021: 143.9 million shares)
• Earnings per share (basic and diluted) of 14.15 pence (31 March 2021: 16.1 pence)

Operational Highlights for the year ended 31 March 2022

• Portfolio increased substantially to 628.5[4]MW as at 31 March 2022 (31 March 2021: 380 MW)
• 37% of the portfolio operational and 63% under construction/pre-construction (31 March 2021: 55% operational and 45% under construction/pre-construction)
• Operational assets producing income increased to 12 projects, with a total capacity of 231.7 MW (31 March 2021: 11 projects with 209.7 MW capacity)
• 5 Construction/pre-construction portfolio assets with a total capacity of 396.8 MW
• Operational assets performed at or above expectations during the period:
• All operational GB assets showed strong performance for the period: The average revenue per MW for the fiscal year was over 68 per cent higher than the 2021 fiscal year average and 18.3 per cent. higher than internally forecasted for the period
• The Company’s two assets in Northern Ireland, driven high payments under DS3 uncapped contract
• The newly acquired operational asset in Germany, driven by ancillary services high rates
• Portfolio expansion continued across attractive markets:
• First acquisition in Mainland Europe, a 22MW operational asset in Germany
• Acquisition of two assets in Great Britain: Stony (79.9 MW) and Enderby (57MW)
• The Company secured rights to expand one of its assets in the Republic of Ireland (“ROI”), Kilmannock by an additional 90MW, which, following the 60MW expansion grant for Porterstown, will increase the Company’s total portfolio size in the ROI from 60MW on acquisition to 210.0 MW upon completion

Post Period-end Highlights

• Gross proceeds of £150 million raised in April 2022 through an oversubscribed institutional placing and retail offer at 110.0 pence per Ordinary Share, with the resultant total ISC increasing to 481.4 million.
• Portfolio increased to 21 projects with a total capacity of 668.3 MW of which 291.6 MW is operational
• The Company completed the acquisition of energy storage projects in the ERCOT market in the United States. 29.9MW of the newly acquired U.S. assets (Synder, Westover and Sweetwater) are operational and are of two-hour duration. The fourth asset (Mineral Wells) is pre-construction with operation targeted by the end of 2023.
• The Company is actively reviewing opportunities in GB, Ireland, Western Europe, North America and Australia, in accordance with the Company’s investment policy. The total pipeline stands at c. 1.7 GW or 3.6 GWh with transactions in exclusivity or advanced negotiations amounting to c. 495 MW or 980 MWh as of the date of publication

Net Asset Value

As at 31 March 2022, the audited estimated NAV per Ordinary Share increased to 107.1 pence, compared with 100.9 pence per Ordinary Share at 31 March 2021, representing a total return including dividends over the period of 13%. The weighted average discount rate is 8.3%.

Dividend Payment

The 1.0 pence per share declared dividend will be paid on or around 26 August 2022 to shareholders on the register on 05 August 2022. The ex-dividend date will be 04 August 2022.

Environmental, Social, and Governance

As a pure-play energy storage fund, the Company takes pride in its contribution to supporting clean energy ambitions for increased integration of renewable energy into global power systems. 

The Board of Directors of the Company is responsible for defining the Company’s environmental strategy and has committed to measuring and reporting the Company’s environmental sustainability in accordance with the SFDR framework. The Investment Manager is responsible for the day-to-day implementation of that environmental strategy, including the evaluation and possible amendment of the Company’s construction and asset management processes as necessary to embody or improve environmental measurements under the SFDR framework. The Board of Directors of the Company is responsible for defining the Company’s social impact strategy and has committed for the Company to measure and report the social impact of its investments in accordance with the SFDR framework. 

A summary of the Company’s performance under SFDR and under the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) will be available on the Company’s website in August 2022, as part of the Company’s first ESG Pillars Report.

The Company is also a signatory to the United Nations Principles of Responsible Investment (UN PRI) and will participate in the next mandatory submission period, in 2024. Additionally, the Company has committed to comply with the ‘Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures’ (TCFD) framework by the end of 2022. 

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

“I am pleased to report that the Company continues to enjoy a sustained period of rapid growth, responding to the pressing and global increasing need to enable the energy transition to a low carbon society through energy storage solutions and in the process, further diversifying our portfolio for shareholders. We have achieved this through a mixture of financial and operational success, raising additional capital via highly successful, oversubscribed fundraises, from both institutional and retail investors; as well as delivering on our strategy, first laid out in our IPO of 2018 when we defined this category of investing, of building the industry-leading international portfolio of energy storage assets, now totalling 628.5 MW.

Our active asset management approach continues to optimise Capex of the portfolio’s assets, which increases both performance and profitability, providing greater returns for shareholders. Additionally, the Company has had great success to date with keeping construction on time and within budget, even in this period of supply chain challenges; as well as carefully designing each asset to be optimised for maximum efficiency once operational.

The 291.6 MW operational portfolio^[5] continues to deliver significant cash flow for the Company and has ensured we have maintained our robust dividend of 7 pence per share. The end of the period saw the GB and Northern Irish assets perform extremely well, outperforming revenue expectations considerably.

We have also successfully raised, through oversubscribed fundraises, £135.0 million in April 2021 and a further £73.6 million in October 2021, with an additional £150.0 million raised post-period end. The substantial increase of investible capital has given the Company additional headroom to continue our strategy of expanding into other geographies, with our first acquisition in Germany, during the period, and in the United States post-reporting period, which add a layer of geographical and revenue diversity to our already highly diverse portfolio of energy storage assets, de-risking Gore Street further for our shareholders.  

We look ahead to the next year with optimism and look forward to updating shareholders on our progress during regular intervals throughout 2022 and beyond."

Annual Report

A copy of the annual report has been submitted to the National Storage Mechanism and will shortly be available at https://data.fca.org.uk/#/nsm/nationalstoragemechanism. The annual report and presentation for analysts will also be available on the Company’s website at https://www.gsenergystoragefund.com/ where further information on Gore Street can be found. Further, the annual report can be found on the Company’s website under Reports and Accounts: https://www.gsenergystoragefund.com/content/investors/shareholder-literature

There will be a virtual presentation for analysts at 9:30am followed by a live Q&A today. The webinar will be hosted by Gore Street Capital, the Company’s investment adviser. To register for the event please contact [email protected]

A recording of the presentation will be posted on the Company’s website at https://www.gsenergystoragefund.com/

The Legal Entity Identifier of the Company is 213800GPUNVGG81G4O21.

The person responsible for releasing this announcement is Susan Fadil.

For further information:

Notes to Editors

About Gore Street Energy Storage Fund plc

Gore Street is London's first listed energy storage fund and seeks to provide Shareholders with a significant opportunity to invest in a diversified portfolio of utility scale energy storage projects. In addition to growth through exploiting its considerable pipeline, the Company aims to deliver consistent and robust dividend yield as income distributions to its Shareholders.

The Company targets an annual dividend of 7.0% of NAV per Ordinary Share in each financial year, with a minimum annual target of 7.0 pence per Ordinary Share, payable quarterly. Dividends are discretionary.

Gore Street Energy Storage Fund plc is listed on the LSE's Premium Segment of the main market and is LSE Green Economy Mark accredited.

https://www.gsenergystoragefund.com