Foresight Group Holdings Limited (LON:FSG), a leading infrastructure and private equity investment manager, has announced a trading update for the three months ended 31 December 2023.
Financial and Operational Highlights1
Profitability
| ● | Full year core EBITDA pre-Share Based Payments (“SBP”) is on track to strongly outperform the prior year, in line with market expectations2 and driven by: | |
| ○ | Successful prior year and year-to-date fundraising into higher margin and longer tenure vehicles | |
| ○ | Annualisation of FY23 acquisition activity | |
| ○ | Maintenance of firm cost discipline in an inflationary environment | |
| ○ | Performance fees from successful realisations, contributing £1.9 million in the quarter | |
AUM/FUM3
| ● | In the period, Assets under Management (“AUM”) increased by 1% to £12.4 billion and Funds under Management (“FUM”) remained at £8.8 billion (H1 FY24: £12.2 billion AUM and £8.8 billion FUM) | |
| ○ | On course to deliver record annual retail fundraising into higher margin vehicles, with Q3 FY24 inflows of £104 million driven by Foresight’s in-house sales team | |
| ○ | The private equity division raised £60 million of institutional funds in the period by expanding its footprint with the first close of two funds in Wales and Northern Ireland, as previously announced | |
| ○ | Foresight Capital Management (“FCM”) AUM decreased by £52 million during the period. This movement included net outflows of £124 million, as well as positive NAV performance of £72 million following early signs of an improving macroeconomic environment | |
Revenue
| ● | High quality revenue visibility maintained, with recurring revenue within our target range of 85-90% |
Dividend
| ● | As previously announced and in line with our dividend policy, an interim dividend of 6.7 pence per share, a 46% uplift on the prior year (H1 FY23: 4.6 pence), will be paid on 26 January 2024, with an ex-dividend date of 11 January 2024 and a record date of 12 January 2024 |
Bernard Fairman, Executive Chairman of Foresight Group Holdings Limited, commented:
“Foresight finished 2023 strongly, against the backdrop of a challenging macroeconomic environment. During the period, we delivered robust inflows into higher margin retail vehicles, successful institutional fundraising, and profitable exits from our private equity business. Our pre marketing discussions have also shown signs of improving sentiment in the institutional infrastructure fundraising market.
As we enter 2024, we continue to believe that the energy transition is the largest investment opportunity of our generation and remain confident that the Group will continue to deliver against our strategic growth targets as our three business divisions combine to extend our consistent track record of profitable growth.”
FY24 Announcement
The next scheduled market update for Foresight Group will be a FY24 trading update in April 2024.
Notes:
| 1. | Please note that all figures contained in this announcement are unaudited and subject to change. | |
| 2. | As at 1 December 2023, the consensus estimate for FY24 core EBITDA pre-SBP was £59.3 million. | |
| 3. | AUM and FUM movement: |
| Last 3 months | Last 9 months | Constant currency basis | ||||||
| (£ billion) | 31 Dec 2023 | 30 Sep 2023 | Change % | 31 Mar 2023 | Change % | 31 Dec 2023 | Change % | |
| AUM | 12.4 | 12.2 | +1% | 12.2 | +2% | 12.4 | -1% | |
| FUM | 8.8 | 8.8 | -1% | 9.0 | -3% | 8.8 | 0% | |
Percentage movements are calculated on underlying numbers.
| AUM (£ billion) | Q3 FY24 | H1 FY24 | Change % |
| Infrastructure | 10.0 | 9.8 | +1% |
| Private Equity | 1.5 | 1.4 | +4% |
| FCM | 0.9 | 1.0 | -5% |
