REG - Cordiant Digital Inf - Trading Update
14/03/2024 07:00
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RNS Number : 7777G Cordiant Digital Infrastructure Ltd 14 March 2024
LEI: 213800T8RBBWZQ7FTF84
14 March 2024
CORDIANT DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURE LIMITED
TRADING UPDATE
Cordiant Digital Infrastructure Limited (the "Company" or "CORD"), an
operationally focused, specialist digital infrastructure investor, is pleased
to provide an interim update on operating performance, balance sheet, dividend
coverage and market outlook. The Company continues to implement its "Buy,
Build & Grow" strategy of increasing the cash flow-generating asset bases
of its diversified platform companies to drive the value of these businesses.
The Company invests in "Core Plus" digital infrastructure assets and seeks to
construct a balanced, diversified portfolio. The Company's annual NAV total
return target of 9% comprises capital growth and a progressive dividend fully
supported by free cash flows generated by its portfolio.
Highlights
· Aggregate portfolio company EBITDA 1 (#_ftn1) for the nine months to 31
December 2023 increased by 6.4% to £99.4 million on a like-for-like, constant
currency, pro forma basis 2 (#_ftn2) , driven by contract wins or
enhancements, cost control and the beneficial effects of inflation on
revenues.
· Aggregate portfolio company revenue increased 8.2% to £217.4 million during
the nine months to 31 December 2023 on a like-for-like, constant currency, pro
forma basis(2).
· The dividend target for the financial year to 31 March 2024 of 4.0p, confirmed
at the time of the Company's interim results in November 2023, is 4.5x covered
by EBITDA and 1.6x covered by free cash flow after Company-level costs, net
finance costs, taxation and maintenance capital expenditure (collectively
"Adjusted Funds from Operations" or "AFFO") 3 (#_ftn3) .
· Both Directors and Investment Manager are pleased with the significant
progress on key portfolio initiatives during the nine months to 31 December
2023.
- The Company completed the acquisition of Speed Fibre, a leading open access
backbone fibre network provider in Ireland in October 2023. Speed Fibre was
bought for an enterprise value of €190.5 million (£162 million) and
generated €23 million (£20 million) of EBITDA in 2022, its last full year
of operation before acquisition. The acquisition was funded by cash on the
Company's balance sheet and a vendor loan note of €29.6 million (£26
million).
- České Radiokomunikace ("CRA", the Company's diversified Czech digital
infrastructure platform) continued to expand its data centre and cloud
business, now approaching 20% of revenues, with the completion in January 2024
of the acquisitions of Cloud4com, a leading cloud services provider in the
Czech Republic and DC Lužice, a data centre located in the "Digital Danube"
triangle between Vienna, Brno and Bratislava. These acquisitions cost CZK 1.0
billion (£35 million), with a potential earnout in relation to Cloud4Com of
up to CZK 485 million (£17 million) dependent on its 2024 EBITDA and are
expected to provide substantial revenue and EBITDA growth opportunities.
- Both CRA and Emitel S.A ("Emitel", the Company's diversified Polish digital
infrastructure platform) have won valuable long-term contracts to broadcast
digital audio broadcasting ("DAB") radio in their respective home markets.
- Emitel has successfully concluded a broadcast agreement for a new channel from
Polsat, the Polish TV broadcaster, on multiplex ("MUX") 1. The contract has a
duration of ten years and its revenues are inflation-linked.
- The World Radio Communication Conference ("WRC"), held in 2023, confirmed that
the UHF spectrum allocated to broadcast would continue without any change,
underlining the essential role of broadcast as a means of public communication
and as an efficient and sustainable method for content dissemination.
· Under the share buy-back programme announced on 8 February 2022, the Company
has bought back 7.3 million shares for £5.4 million, an average purchase
price of 74.9 pence per share. Steven Marshall, Co-Head of Cordiant Digital,
made further purchases of shares, taking his aggregate holding to 7.9 million
shares as at the date of this trading update. The Directors, Steven Marshall,
the Investment Manager and employees of the Investment Manager have also made
further purchases, and now own 1.4% of the Company's ordinary shares.
· As at 31 December 2023, the Company had total liquid resources of £162
million 4 (#_ftn4) and gross debt, on a full look-through basis, of £695
million. The Company's leverage is 4.7x on an aggregated net debt divided by
LTM 31 December 2023 EBITDA basis, including Company-level costs, and 40.6% on
a net debt divided by gross asset value ("GAV") basis 5 (#_ftn5) .
Shonaid Jemmett-Page, Chairman of Cordiant Digital Infrastructure Limited,
said:
"The Board continues to be encouraged by the Company's progress in the three
years since its IPO. Operational performance across the portfolio is strong
and we are seeing the results of the Investment Manager's hands-on expertise
coming through in revenue and EBITDA growth. We remain disappointed with the
share price performance, as we believe the discount to NAV at which the
Company trades is not warranted by the Company's performance. We remain
confident that the Company's progress and achievements will be better
reflected as current market conditions improve."
Steven Marshall and Benn Mikula, Co-Heads of Cordiant Digital, said:
"The diversified portfolio of assets we have assembled at a comparatively low
entry multiple to EBITDA continues to perform well operationally. Under our
management, the portfolio has grown revenues and EBITDA from the existing
asset base, and we have judiciously deployed growth capital expenditure into
accretive projects. We continue to execute our Buy, Build & Grow model in
order to deliver a larger, more diversified digital infrastructure platform,
capital growth and a progressive dividend over time."
Analyst Call
The Investment Manager will host a remote presentation for analysts at 12 PM
GMT today. For those wishing to log in to this please contact Ali AlQahtani at
Celicourt via CDI@celicourt.uk.
Capital Allocation
The Board continues to be disappointed at the discount to NAV at which the
Company's shares have been trading for some time, although it notes that
market conditions have adversely impacted share prices across the alternative
investment company sector. The NAV per share was 110.7p at the last reported
date of 30 September 2023, after adjusting for the 2.0p interim dividend paid
in December 2023.
In February 2023, the Board approved a discretionary programme of share
buybacks of up to £20 million with no cut-off date. During the life of the
programme to date, the Company has acquired 7.3 million ordinary shares for
£5.4 million, at an average price per share of 74.9p, or an average discount
to 30 September 2023 NAV of 32.3%.
The mathematical result of the Company buying 7.3 million of its own shares at
such a discount is to increase NAV per share by c.0.4p.
The Company has a number of opportunities to deploy growth capex in the
existing portfolio into projects that are expected to deliver substantial
returns which would be accretive to the Company's target net return of 9% per
annum. These include the planning and construction of a large data centre at
Zbraslav, Prague, on land owned by CRA, and supplied with power and fibre
connectivity; and the build-out of DAB networks in the Czech Republic and
Poland in respect of recently won DAB radio contracts in each country.
The Company's pipeline of opportunities consists of high-quality opportunities
with attractive growth potential in the UK, Western Europe and the United
States. The Board and the Investment Manager both believe that this is a very
good time to add mid-sized growth platforms or highly accretive bolt-on
acquisitions to the Company's portfolio but will remain extremely selective in
deploying further capital seeking outsized returns.
Dividend cover
The Company's dividend policy continues to be based on the underlying
principle that, at the point the Company is fully invested, the dividend must
be covered by free cash flow generated by the portfolio and be sustainable in
future periods. The Company also continues to remain committed to a
progressive dividend policy.
The Company monitors dividend cover using an Adjusted Funds From Operations
("AFFO") metric calculated over a 12 month period. AFFO is calculated as
normalised EBITDA less net finance costs, tax paid and maintenance capital
expenditure.
For the 12 months to 31 December 2023, the 4.0p dividend was approximately
4.5x covered by EBITDA and 1.6x by AFFO.
The free cash flow generated by the portfolio amply covers the 4.0p dividend
target. The table shows aggregate financial information for the portfolio and
the Company for the 12 months to 31 December 2023:
12 months to 31 December 2023* (unaudited) £m
Revenues 301.1
Portfolio company normalised EBITDA 137.5
Company-specific costs (12.7)
Net finance costs (37.8)
Net taxation, other (20.7)
Free cash flow before all capital expenditure** 66.3
Maintenance capital expenditure (18.4)
Adjusted Funds From Operations*** 47.9
Dividend at 4.0 pence per share (30.8)
Dividend cover 1.6x
* At average 2023 foreign exchange rates
** Aggregate growth capital expenditure of £32.4 million was invested in 2023
across the portfolio
*** Adjusted Funds from Operations comprises normalised EBITDA less
Company-specific costs, aggregate net finance costs, taxation payments and
maintenance capital expenditure
Dividend cover has increased to 1.6x from the 1.5x as at 30 September 2023
(which was pro forma for the acquisition of Speed Fibre, which closed in
October 2023). The key driver for this increase is higher EBITDA resulting
from EBITDA growth in the existing portfolio, together with the addition of
Norkring Belgïe, the acquisition of which was announced in November 2023 and
completed in January 2024, and which is included here in the 31 December 2023
AFFO on a pro forma basis.
Other movements in AFFO cash flow items since 30 September 2023 are largely
driven by the timing of individual cash items such as debt interest payments
and taxation payments.
The increase in finance costs since the Company's first AFFO calculation in
respect of 31 December 2022, is the result of the full drawdown of the €200
million Eurobond in June 2023 (83% of which is at a fixed interest rate), and
the increase in the interest cost of Emitel's facility, refinanced in August
2023. Emitel has subsequently fixed 50% of its interest cost in the context of
low forward swap rates in Polish Zloty and Euro, the two currencies in which
the debt is denominated. CRA's debt facility interest continues to be 100%
fixed rate at comparatively low cost. Speed Fibre's interest under its
facility is c.73% fixed rate.
Portfolio Financial update
The Company's portfolio consists of two diversified platform assets, CRA in
the Czech Republic and Emitel in Poland; a fibre business, Speed Fibre, in
Ireland; a standalone data centre, Hudson Interxchange in the USA; and a
discrete broadcast and colocation business, Norkring Belgïe, in Belgium.
These assets together generated aggregate revenues of £217.4 million in the
nine months to 31 December 2023, an increase of 8.2% on the prior comparable
period, on a like-for-like, pro forma, constant currency basis. The EBITDA of
the portfolio was £99.4 million for the same period, an increase of 6.4% on a
like for like, pro forma, constant currency basis. The accretive effects of
2023 inflation are expected to be reflected in the 61% of revenue contracts
across the portfolio with full or partial indexation from January 2024
onwards.
The Company had total liquidity equivalent to £162 million at 31 December
2023, comprising £66 million held directly at the Company, £36 million held
at portfolio company level and undrawn facilities at portfolio company level
equal to £60 million. These cash balances are pro forma for the acquisitions
of Cloud4com, DC Lužice and Norkring Belgïe that completed in January 2024.
In aggregate, the Company and its portfolio companies had gross debt
equivalent to £695 million at 31 December 2023, and therefore net debt of
£593 million. This resulted in gearing as at 31 December 2023 of 4.7x
measured as net debt divided by LTM EBITDA (including Company-level costs) or
40.6% measured as net debt divided by GAV 6 (#_ftn6) .
72% of all debt at portfolio company level and the fund-level 7 (#_ftn7)
Eurobond is on a fixed interest basis, with the remainder at floating
interest; none is inflation-linked. The weighted average margin across all
debt facilities is c.2.9%.
Update on Portfolio Platforms
Emitel
Emitel is the largest operator of digital terrestrial television ("DTT") in
Poland as well as IPTV platforms, the leading radio broadcast emissions
provider and a leading provider of network neutral towers and fibre
infrastructure. The company performed well during its first full year under
the Company's ownership. Emitel earned revenue of PLN 441.5 million (£83.9
million) for the first nine months of its financial year 8 (#_ftn8) , an
increase of 8.1% on the prior comparable period.
EBITDA has grown 3.7% to PLN 285.9 million (£54.4 million) in the first nine
months of the year over the prior comparable period. This performance
reflected increases in revenue partially offset by increases in costs for the
period, particularly energy costs which have since reduced.
Revenue performance was driven by growth in TV broadcasting revenues over the
prior period as a result of inflation indexation and an additional TV
broadcast agreement on MUX1. Revenue targets were met despite a regulatory
delay to the issue of licences for new channels on MUX8; these are now
expected to launch in 2024.
Emitel also showed strong growth in telecom infrastructure revenues of 19%
year-on-year, driven by indexation and growth in rental of telecom
infrastructure to mobile network operators ("MNOs"), the addition of the AMT
Poland tower portfolio, which has been integrated into the overall telecom
infrastructure portfolio, and performance of the Smart City/Internet of Things
business.
Overall, costs have increased in the period, primarily driven by increased
staff costs and the impact of inflation on other expenses. Increases in energy
costs in 2023 were partially mitigated by the impact of the company's past
power hedging contracts and a small contribution from recently installed solar
panels.
Cash balances were PLN 115 million (£23 million) and third-party bank debt
was PLN 1,290 million (£258 million) as at 31 December 2023. Following the
refinancing of the debt facilities announced in July 2023, the Investment
Manager and the Emitel finance team have carefully monitored market
conditions, including interest rate and inflation forecasts in Poland and the
Eurozone for the facilities which are denominated in PLN and EUR. Third party
forecasts published by banks and other bodies indicate that both inflation and
interest rates are on a downward trend in Poland. Since the pricing of
interest rate swaps capture this expected trajectory, swaps fixing 50% of the
total interest on the drawn facilities have been implemented. The Investment
Manager and the Emitel team are keeping the hedging of the remaining interest
rate exposure under active review.
In November 2023, Emitel announced that it had won a nationwide tender to
extend DAB coverage to 17 regional radio stations for state broadcaster,
Polskie Radio. As a result of this, Emitel expects to extend DAB coverage
across the country, from 67% to 88% of households. The contract is a renewal,
and an expansion, of an existing contract held by Emitel and is also expected
to result in incremental extra revenues. The contract runs to Q3 2027 and has
a gross value of PLN 59.5 million (£12 million), with revenues linked to
inflation. DAB is far more energy efficient than FM or AM radio, and so as
Emitel (and CRA) progressively decommission AM radio sites, there is a
consequential reduction in carbon footprint. Post the election in November
2023, the company's contracts with the state-owned media providers have
continued in accordance with their terms, with payments being made as
expected.
Emitel recently signed a new ten-year DTT broadcast contract expiring in 2034
with Polsat, the most watched free-to-air TV channel in Poland. The channel
will be broadcast from MUX1, and revenues under the contract are
inflation-linked. The National Broadcast Council has extended Polsat's DTT MUX
licence to 2034.
As it seeks to expand its products and services, Emitel has also been working
on the development and commercial implementation of new technology to deliver
dynamic advertisement insertion ("DAI") which enables the delivery of targeted
advertising which is adapted to the viewer. Proof of concept trials were
completed in partnership with the Warsaw Stock Exchange. Commercial launch is
planned for 2024.
A further illustration of its forward-looking approach has seen Emitel partner
with IS-Wireless to create a 5G campus network at Bialystok University of
Technology, the first of its kind in Poland. As part of this initiative,
Emitel provided the distributed antenna system ("DAS") to this innovative
network. 5G networks operate at high frequencies and require advanced levels
of design and implementation. It is believed that the creation and operation
of the network will also educate future 6G specialists working at the
University.
CRA
CRA is a diversified digital infrastructure company, operating mobile towers,
a broadcast network, data centres, a fibre network and Internet of Things
networks serving utilities. The company has delivered a strong performance for
the first three quarters of its financial year. The company's revenues for the
last nine months to 31 December 2023 increased 9.3% on the prior comparable
period to CZK 1.82 billion (£65 million equivalent), and EBITDA for the same
period was CZK 0.91 billion (£33 million equivalent), a 7.4% increase on the
prior comparable period.
EBITDA growth has been driven by strong performance across all business units.
New contracts such as the T-Mobile tower contract, announced in July 2023,
renew existing revenues and expand those through offering new services on
existing infrastructure. On the cost side for the nine months to 31 December
2023, CRA has also benefited from energy costs being substantially fixed
before the spike in energy prices in 2022.
CRA's cash balance held was CZK 140 million as at 31 December 2023 (£5
million, pro forma for the CZK 1.0 billion acquisition of Cloud4com and DC
Lužice in January). This balance also reflects a CZK 550 million (£19
million) repayment of shareholder loan to the Company in December 2023. This
balance has been swapped into pounds sterling and placed on deposit.
Third party bank debt remained unchanged from 31 December 2022 at CZK 3.9
billion (£138 million). The interest on this debt is 100% hedged until the
second half of 2025 when the loan falls due. The Investment Manager, together
with the CRA finance team, has begun work on the refinancing project.
CRA successfully bid for and won the spectrum tender which will enable one
national commercial DAB network and seven regional networks, including Prague.
The Company will install DAB transmitters during 2024 and expects to conclude
agreements with existing FM radio clients (representing additional incremental
revenues) which are expected to commence in 2025.
In January 2024, CRA announced that it had completed the acquisition of
Cloud4com, a leading cloud services provider in the Czech Republic (acquired
for CZK 870 million, £30.6 million), and DC Lužice, a Tier III data centre
(acquired for CZK 130 million, £4.6 million). A further potential payment of
up to CZK 485 million (£17 million) is payable subject to Cloud4com's EBITDA
for 2024.
The acquisition of these businesses, funded by organic cash flow at CRA,
substantially increased the DC and cloud proportion of CRA's revenue mix and
marked an important step in CRA's continued growth in the Czech data centre
and cloud services markets. On a pro-forma basis for 2023, CRA's broadcast
revenues would have accounted for less than 50% of the company's overall
revenues. This will inevitably reduce further as CRA's data centre and other
businesses expand at a faster rate than the growth in the broadcast business.
CRA continues to see strong demand for its data centre business. In the period
to 31 December 2023, the number of racks utilised increased 14.4%, to 85% of
existing capacity. Power usage has also increased 24%. As a result, CRA has
developed a further edge data centre at Cukrák outside Prague which will add
78 racks and come online in March 2024. Work also continues to prepare the
former AM radio broadcast site at Zbraslav outside Prague for a new 26MW data
centre on land owned by CRA. Planning and utilities approvals are being
obtained and the tall AM transmitter masts formerly on the site have now been
demolished.
The acquisition of Prague Digital TV (a regional TV operator) by CRA at the
beginning of 2024, has enabled the Company to consolidate transmissions from
its sites and cease transmission from Prague Digital's three locations,
reducing energy and other expense for the company.
Speed Fibre
The Company announced the acquisition of Speed Fibre, a leading open access
backbone fibre network provider in Ireland, in August 2023 and the acquisition
was completed in October 2023.
Speed Fibre was acquired by the Company for an enterprise value of €190.5
million (£165 million), a multiple of 8.3x 2022 audited EBITDA. The
acquisition was funded by a combination of cash on hand plus a vendor loan
note of €29.6 million (£26 million) bearing initial interest of 6.0% and
repayable in four years.
Speed Fibre's revenues for the first nine months of its financial year 9
(#_ftn9) increased 6.5% to €62.8 million (£55 million), and EBITDA
increased 11.9% to €17.3 million (£15 million) over the same period. The
increase in EBITDA was driven by higher than expected recurring service
revenue and lower than expected customer churn in the wholesale business.
Speed Fibre had cash balances of €8.0 million (£7 million) at 31 December
2023 and gross debt of €115.9 million (£101 million) at the same date. The
gross debt is made up of a term loan of €100 million (£87 million) and
drawn RCF of €15.9 million (£14 million), both due for repayment in 2029.
The interest on the term loan is 85% fixed and the RCF interest is floating
rate.
Speed Fibre's near-term focus is to continue to build world class, state of
the art, customer-focused, national and metropolitan area fibre networks in
Ireland; and maintain its status as a leading supplier of both wholesale
(through Enet, which accounts for 67% of revenues) and business retail
(through Magnet, which accounts for 33% of revenues) connectivity to the Irish
market, with a network that is mission-critical for major blue-chip customers
and carriers.
Hudson Interxchange
Hudson Interxchange is a data centre business located in 60 Hudson Street, New
York. Following a leadership change made in 2023, Hudson's interim management
is showing steady progress in growing revenues and managing costs and cashflow
effectively.
For the first nine months of the financial year, Hudson had revenues of $16.8
million (£13 million), 11.2% higher than the prior comparable period. EBITDA
continued to be negative, at $(3.6) million for the nine months (£3 million),
a loss 5.3% less than the prior comparable period.
Hudson has access to 15MW of power and substantial growth capacity, as it is
operating below 30% capacity utilisation. This is a long-term investment to
build value in one of the most interconnected buildings in the world. The core
and back-end infrastructure is now complete to support the full build-out of
the floors, and Hudson only incurs incremental capital expenditure once a
contract for space has been signed with the customer, effectively de-risking
the expenditure and linking it directly to revenue contracts.
Norkring Belgïe
The acquisition of Norkring Belgïe was announced by the Company in November
2023 and completed in January 2024. The consideration on completion was €6.2
million (£5.4 million). Norkring operates 25 communication and broadcast
towers in Belgium. It also holds two DAB radio licences and one DTT multiplex
licence. It provides radio and TV broadcasting services to commercial stations
and distributors, and offers colocation and site-hosting to broadcasters,
niche communications operators and MNOs.
Of particular interest for the Company are the 5G broadcast trials that
Norkring is conducting as part of a consortium, which is expected to provide
it with the ability to offer additional services to broadcast and mobile
operator customers. The trials support and supplement similar trials that are
underway in the Czech Republic and Poland involving the Company's other
portfolio companies, CRA and Emitel.
Market Overview and Pipeline
The Company has acquired its portfolio platforms at an average multiple of
EBITDA of 9.4x, well below the average level of current trading multiples of
most digital infrastructure companies listed on major stock exchanges and
observable private market transactions. Interest rates in the Company's
countries of operation appear to be on a downward trajectory, and the Company,
working with the Emitel finance team, has taken advantage of this in fixing
50% of the interest on Emitel's new credit facilities. More broadly, Poland,
the Czech Republic and Ireland are all forecast to outperform the EU's overall
economic growth rate in 2024.
Deal flow in the Company's target sectors remains solid, with M&A activity
being driven by balance sheet deleveraging at some large digital
infrastructure companies and a separation of telecom infrastructure assets at
some telecom operators. Transaction multiples remain relatively stable, held
up by large volumes of undeployed capital allocated to the sector. In the
mid-market, we expect to see strong demand for good quality assets with high
growth prospects.
The World Radio Communication Conference ("WRC"), held in 2023, confirmed that
the UHF spectrum allocated to broadcast would continue without any change.
Spectrum allocations generally, not just DTT, are periodically reviewed, with
the next review by the WRC of UHF spectrum used for DTT being scheduled for
2031. This positive outcome confirms the essential role of broadcast as a
means of public communication and provides strong support for its use as an
efficient and sustainable method for content dissemination.
For further information, please visit www.cordiantdigitaltrust.com
(http://www.cordiantdigitaltrust.com/) or contact:
Cordiant Capital, Inc. +44 (0) 20 7201 7546
Investment Manager
Stephen Foss, Managing Director
Aztec Financial Services (Guernsey) Limited +44 (0) 1481 74 9700
Company Secretary and Administrator
Chris Copperwaite / Laura Dunning
Investec Bank plc +44 (0) 20 7597 4000
Joint Corporate Broker
Tom Skinner (Corporate Broking)
Lucy Lewis (Corporate Finance)
Jefferies International Limited +44 (0) 20 7029 8000
Joint Corporate Broker
Stuart Klein/Gaudi Le Roux
Celicourt +44 (0)20 770 6424
Public Relations Advisor
Philip Dennis/Felicity Winkles/Ali AlQahtani
Notes to Editors:
About the Company
Cordiant Digital Infrastructure Limited primarily invests in the core
infrastructure of the digital economy - data centres, fibre-optic networks and
telecommunication and broadcast towers in Europe and North America. Further
details about the Company can be found on its website at
www.cordiantdigitaltrust.com (http://www.cordiantdigitaltrust.com) .
In total, the Company has successfully raised £795 million in equity, along
with a further €200 million through a Eurobond with four European
institutions; deploying the proceeds into five acquisitions: CRA, Hudson
Interexchange, Emitel Speed Fibre and Norking België, which together offer
stable, often index-linked income, and the opportunity for growth, in line
with the Company's Buy, Build & Grow model.
About the Investment Manager
Cordiant Capital Inc ("Cordiant") is a specialist global infrastructure and
real assets manager with a sector-led approach to providing growth capital
solutions to promising mid-sized companies in Europe, North America and
selected global markets. Since the firm's relaunch in 2016, Cordiant, a
partner-owned and partner-run firm, has developed a track record of exceeding
mandated investment targets for its clients.
Cordiant focuses on the next generation of infrastructure and real assets:
sectors (digital infrastructure, energy transition infrastructure and the
agriculture value chain) characterised by growth tailwinds and technological
dynamism. In addition, Cordiant applies a strong sustainability and ESG
overlay to its investment activities.
With a mix of managed funds offering both value-add and core strategies in
equity and direct lending, our sector investment teams (combining seasoned
industry executives with traditional private capital investors) work with
investee companies to develop innovative, tailored financing solutions backed
by a comprehensive understanding of the sector and demonstrated operating
capabilities. In this way, Cordiant aims to provide value to investors seeking
to complement existing infrastructure equity and infrastructure debt
allocations.
Cautionary Statement
This announcement aims to provide an update of developments that have taken
place since the release of the Company's interim results to 30 September 2023
in November 2023 and the resulting financial position of the Company and the
Company's portfolio companies. The financial position of the Company and the
Company's portfolio companies are subject to a number of risks and
uncertainties and could change from that described in this announcement.
Factors which could cause or contribute to such changes include, but are not
limited to; general geopolitical, economic and market conditions, including
interest rates, inflation rates and rates of foreign exchange, as well as
specific factors affecting the financial and operational performance and
prospects of the Company and the Company's portfolio companies.
This announcement contains forward looking statements, including, without
limitation, statements containing the words "believes", "estimates",
"anticipates", "expects", "intends", "may", "might", "will", or "should" or,
in each case, their negative or other variations or similar expressions. Such
forward looking statements involve unknown risks, uncertainties and other
factors which may cause the actual results, financial condition, performance
or achievement of the Company and/or the Company's portfolio companies to be
materially different from any future results, performance or achievements
expressed or implied by such forward looking statements. These forward looking
statements speak only as at the date of this announcement.
1 (#_ftnref1) All numbers throughout this trading update are unaudited.
2 (#_ftnref2) Assuming all portfolio companies were owned by the Company for
the nine months to 31 December 2023 and the prior comparable period.
3 (#_ftnref3) AFFO calculated over the 12 months ending 31 December 2023.
4 (#_ftnref4) Calculated pro forma, deducting the consideration paid in
January 2024 for Cloud4com and Norkring.
5 (#_ftnref5) GAV calculated on a pro forma basis using published 30
September 2023 Net Asset Value and net debt as at 31 December 2023, adjusted
for the Cloud4com/DC Lužice and Norkring acquisitions which closed in January
2024.
6 (#_ftnref6) Using 30 September 2023 published NAV, updated for cash and
debt balances at 31 December 2023.
7 (#_ftnref7) The Eurobond is issued by Cordiant Digital Holdings Two
Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company.
8 (#_ftnref8) Emitel has a 31 December financial year end; the data for Q3
results presented here is therefore for the nine months to 30 September 2023.
9 (#_ftnref9) Speed Fibre has a 31 December financial year end; the data for
Q3 presented here is therefore for the nine months to 30 September 2023.
This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact
rns@lseg.com (mailto:rns@lseg.com)
or visit
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. END TSTFLFEAVSIVLISRecent news on Cordiant Digital Infrastructure
See all newsREG - Cordiant Digital Inf - Investment Manager Share Purchases
AnnouncementREG - Cordiant Digital Inf - Director/PDMR Shareholding
AnnouncementREG - Cordiant Digital Inf - Trading Update
AnnouncementREG - Cordiant Digital Inf - Transaction in Own Shares
AnnouncementREG - Cordiant Digital Inf - Holding(s) in Company
Announcement