Cordiant Digital Infrastructure Limited (LON:CORD), the FTSE 250 specialist investor in and operator of digital infrastructure, has provided its first quarter (Q1) trading update for the financial year ending 31 March 2027.[1]
Highlights
| Resilient quarter with growth phasing as anticipated. For the three months to 30 June 2026, portfolio revenue grew 20.2% and EBITDA 2.0% on the prior comparable period, on a constant currency basis. As flagged in the recent Annual Report, EBITDA growth in the quarter partly reflected project revenue phasing and customer churn, with momentum expected to build through the year as new contracts commence and management work to convert a growing pipeline of opportunities. Revenue growth was supported in part by the lower-margin BT Ireland business acquired in September 2025, with good progress made to date on integration and synergy-generating initiatives. | |
| AI-driven demand converting into contracted revenue across the portfolio. CRA has signed six GPU-as-a-service (GPUaaS) contracts worth approximately £6.5 million of committed annual revenue; Hudson secured a five-year 1.8MW contract with an AI cloud provider, helping to take its sixth floor to around 83% utilised and run-rate EBITDA significantly closer to breakeven; and DCU signed a 3MW high-density contract at Machelen in Belgium. Revenue directly attributable to AI use cases is estimated at less than 1% of portfolio revenue in the quarter, with this demand representing a new and attractive source of growth for the Company. | |
| Construction of Prague Gateway under way. Following the signing of the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract with Skanska in August 2026, construction of the first phase (up to £74 million) has begun. Letters of intent with anchor customers, including for up to 15MW, have been signed, and CRA is progressing its bid for the site to become an EU AI Gigafactory. | |
| Growing, high-return investment pipeline. Costed opportunities, both committed and uncommitted, within the portfolio, represent at least £410 million of potential growth capital expenditure, with the potential to deliver attractive double-digit IRRs. Including opportunities still being costed, such as the EU AI Gigafactory bid, DCU’s potential development of additional data centre capacity and portfolio company bolt-on acquisitions, the total pipeline could exceed £1 billion. The Company is evaluating options to fund this pipeline. | |
| Robust balance sheet and cash generation. Total group liquidity, excluding DCU, of £193.3 million, consolidated gearing of 39.8%[2], net leverage of 4.5x[3] and no debt facilities maturing before June 2029. Portfolio companies distributed over £34 million to the group between July and September 2026, and the target dividend of 4.45p is 1.6x covered by adjusted funds from operations (AFFO) after scheduled debt repayments. | |
| Secured power and data sovereignty are increasingly decisive. With secured or available power at sites in the Czech Republic, Belgium, Poland and New York, and European policy prioritising sovereign data and compute capacity, the Company’s platforms are well positioned to capture demand in areas where new capacity is most constrained. |
Shonaid Jemmett-Page, Chairman of Cordiant Digital Infrastructure Limited, said:
“The structural forces reshaping our sector, such as AI-driven demand, the scarcity of secured power and Europe’s focus on data sovereignty, are playing directly to the strengths of the Company’s platforms. The result is a portfolio of strongly performing digital infrastructure businesses with their own pipelines of compelling growth opportunities.”
Steven Marshall, Executive Chairman of Cordiant Digital Infrastructure Management, said:
“The Company’s Buy, Build & Grow strategy is delivering. We acquired well-positioned platforms with secured power and strong customer relationships, and we are now building on them by expanding capacity, entering adjacent markets such as AI compute and winning medium- to long-term contracted revenue from enterprise, cloud and public sector customers. The growth phase is where value is created, and the investment opportunities in front of us are expected to deliver attractive returns above the Company’s target net return of 9% p.a. Demand for what our platforms offer currently exceeds the capital available to meet it, and securing the funding to pursue these high-return investments is our central priority.”
Financial highlights for the three months to 30 June 2026
| Portfolio revenue[4] for the three months to 30 June 2026 | £106.6 million |
| Portfolio revenue growth (constant currency basis)[5] over prior comparable period | 20.2% |
| Portfolio EBITDA[6] for the three months to 30 June 2026 | £43.6 million |
| Portfolio EBITDA growth (constant currency basis) over prior comparable period | 2.0% |
| AFFO dividend cover[7] after scheduled debt repayments on target dividend of 4.45p per share | 1.6x |
| Total available group liquidity excluding DCU, comprising cash and undrawn borrowing facilities | £193.3 million |
| Consolidated group gearing (total external net borrowings, on a look-through basis, to gross asset value (GAV))[8] | 39.8% |
| Consolidated net leverage (total external net borrowings, on a look-through basis, to total annualised EBITDA after Company-level costs) | 4.5x |
| Insider ownership (of the Directors, the Investment Manager and the Investment Manager’s Digital Infrastructure team) | 17.6 million shares (2.3%) |
| Last 12 months investment management fees as a % of 31 March 2026 NAV | 0.7% |
Dividend cover
For the 12 months to 30 June 2026, the target dividend of 4.45p is 5.2x covered by EBITDA and 1.6x covered by AFFO after scheduled debt repayments. AFFO dividend cover reduced slightly from 1.7x for the 12 months to 31 March 2026 due to further scheduled repayments on Emitel’s term debt. Loan amortisation represents an efficient use of capital for Emitel which at 30 June 2026 held the equivalent of £57.3 million in cash. Net Company-specific costs also increased since 31 March 2026 mainly due to a higher average share price increasing investment management fees which are linked to market capitalisation.
| 12 months to30 June 2026*£m | 12 months to 31 March 2026*£m | |
| Portfolio revenues | 415.7 | 394.6 |
| Portfolio normalised EBITDA** | 176.9 | 174.9 |
| Dividend cover, EBITDA basis | 5.2x | 5.1x |
| Net Company-specific costs | (12.4) | (11.8) |
| Net finance costs | (52.1) | (52.2) |
| Net taxation, other | (28.2) | (28.7) |
| Free cash flow before all capital expenditure | 84.1 | 82.2 |
| Maintenance capital expenditure*** | (19.3) | (20.0) |
| AFFO before scheduled debt repayments | 64.8 | 62.2 |
| Scheduled repayments of borrowings | (9.9) | (4.9) |
| AFFO after scheduled debt repayments | 54.9 | 57.3 |
| Dividend at 4.45p per share | (34.1) | (34.1) |
| AFFO dividend cover before scheduled debt repayments | 1.9x | 1.8x |
| AFFO dividend cover after scheduled debt repayments | 1.6x | 1.7x |
* At average FX rates for the period.
** Portfolio normalised EBITDA includes IRU adjustments for Speed Fibre.
*** Aggregate growth capital expenditure of £55.2 million was invested across the portfolio in the 12 months to 30 June 2026 (12 months to 31 March 2026: £49.4 million).
