(Alliance News) - Pantheon Infrastructure PLC on Wednesday said net asset value rose across the first half of 2023, while it bought back shares GBP3.8 million worth of shares since announcing a programme in March and beyond the half-year period.

The London-headquartered investment fund focused on infrastructure interests said NAV per share on Jun 30 rose to 101.0 pence each from 98.9p each on December 31.

Shares in Pantheon Infrastructure were down 0.2% to 76.82 pence each in London on Wednesday morning.

This represented a NAV total return of 3.1% in the six months that ended June 30, when it including a 1p dividend paid during the period.

Pantheon Infrastructure also declared its first interim dividend of 2p, while targeting 4p for all of 2023.

This was alongside saying it bought back 1.2 million shares for GBP979,000 as of June 30, as part of a buyback programme announced at the end of March looking to repurchase up to GBP10 million in shares.

Post-period, Pantheon Infrastructure has bought back a further 3.7 million shares for GBP2.9 million, which it said resulted in a NAV increase of 0.18p per share. In total, the company has now bought back 4.8 million shares for GBP3.8 million since the buyback programme was announced,

"This is the second interim report since the company's launch, and it is pleasing to see the progress of the company in deploying its funds into a diversified portfolio of high-quality infrastructure assets, generating dividends in line with its pre-[initial public offering] target and positive NAV total returns," said Chair Vagn Sorensen.

Investment Manager & Pantheon Ventures Partner Richard Sem commented: "[Pantheon Infrastructure] continues to build out its strong, diversified portfolio and we remain optimistic about the future growth potential of our assets.

"The portfolio's focus on sub-sectors which benefit from long-term tailwinds - such as the path to net zero and the increased global requirement for digital infrastructure - provides a solid backdrop for [Pantheon Infrastructure]'s investments going forward.

"As an asset class, infrastructure continues to benefit from downside protection and inflation-linkage, which is especially important in uncertain times. The team remains excited about [Pantheon Infrastructure]'s investment prospects and believe we are well positioned to help deliver the for our investors."

By Greg Rosenvinge, Alliance News reporter

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