Foresight Group (FSG) Share Price Rose 3% on Upbeat H1 Profits

The Foresight Group Holdings Ltd (LON: FSG) share price rose 2.9% after releasing its half-year results for the six months ended 30 September 2023. The company revealed that its diversified and resilient business model continues to deliver profitable growth. 

The prominent sustainability-focused infrastructure and private equity investment manager revealed that it achieved robust growth in Core EBITDA pre-Share Based Payments (SBP), witnessing a 28% increase, reaching £27.6 million compared to last year when it recorded £21.5 million in H1 fiscal year 2023. 

Foresight Group is a British private equity and venture capital firm focused on clean energy generation and associated infrastructure. The company attributed its growth to several factors, including successful fundraising in higher margins and longer tenure investment vehicles in the previous year and year-to-date.

The company also annualised its acquisition activities from fiscal year 2023 as it maintained disciplined cost control measures in the face of an inflationary environment. The firm reported an incremental rise in Assets under Management (AUM) to £12.2 billion in the six months ending on 30 September 2023. 

The firm’s Funds under Management (FUM) were slightly lower at £8.8 billion (compared to FY23, where it had £12.2 billion AUM and £9.0 billion FUM). On a constant currency basis, AUM increased to £12.4 billion in the same period, with FUM at £8.9 billion.

The company raised £247 million in higher-margin retail investment vehicles. It also achieved successful institutional fundraising in the private equity division through a £30 million third close of the Foresight North East Fund.

The Board announced the extension of its robust dividend track record by declaring an interim dividend of 6.7 pence per share (H1 FY23: 4.6 pence). 

Bernard Fairman, Executive Chairman of Foresight Group, commented: “With Core EBITDA pre-SBP up by 28% and AUM at £12.2 billion, Foresight's diversified business model has successfully delivered a strong and resilient performance during one of the steepest increases in interest rates in living memory. We are well positioned to benefit from interest rate stabilisation and normalisation. The energy transition is the largest investment opportunity of our generation. Foresight is ideally placed to realise this opportunity through our multiple international strategies and extensive track record of raising capital to invest in sustainable infrastructure.”

Foresight Group (FSG) share price. 

The Foresight Group share price rose 2.90% to trade at 425.5p from Wednesday’s closing price of 413.5p.