John Laing Infrastructure sees strong portfolio growth

FTSE 250 new entrant, the John Laing Infrastructure Fund (JLIF), grew the underlying value of its portfolio faster than expected in 2011, its first full year as a public listed company.

The group was created late in 2010 with a £270m capital raising, since when it has raised further funds of £157m and has spent the money buying stakes in 33 private finance initiatives (PFI) and public private partnerships (PPP), as it looks to cash in on the UK government's new penchant for infrastructure investment.

The group's portfolio valuation grew by £115.7m during 2011 on the back of £109.5m spent on 10 new acquisitions and two top-up investments. The majority of assets were acquired from John Laing, the specialist owner, operator and manager of public sector infrastructure assets.

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Underlying portfolio growth was 9.2%, which the group said was ahead of expectations, while the net asset value per share grew 3.8% over 2010 to 104.6p after dividend payments of 3.5p.

A dividend for the second half of the 2011 has been announced at 3p, bringing the total dividend to the year to 6p, in line with the company's annual target.

Profits before tax for the full year were £23.4m and the firm says it is in line to achieve an internal rate of return of 7-8%.

Paul Lester, the group's Chief Executive commented: "JLIF paid its first dividend in April and interim dividend in October and, combined with resilient capital growth, has delivered a total shareholder return of 12.1% for the 13 month period since launch."

"We continue to see opportunities for efficiencies through active management of the JLIF portfolio and strong growth potential in the infrastructure market through acquisitions," Lester added.

The stock was flat at the open, remaining at 110p per share.

BS