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Investing.com -- International Public Partnerships (LON:INPP) on Thursday reported a sharp increase in profit before tax for the first half of 2025, with earnings rising to £142.6 million from £16.7 million a year earlier, supported by stronger portfolio valuations and disposals completed at premiums.
The FTSE 250-listed infrastructure investment company said its net asset value rose 1% to £2.74 billion as of June 30, compared with £2.71 billion at the end of 2024.
NAV per share increased 2.8% to 148.7p from 144.7p. The company recorded a portfolio return of 5.7% in the period, while its weighted average discount rate remained stable at 9.0%.
Chair Mike Gerrard said the portfolio continued to deliver resilient cash flows. “We are encouraged by early signs of improving market sentiment and remain confident that our strategy will deliver long-term value for shareholders,” he said in a statement.
Dividend payments will shift to a quarterly schedule, with the first interim dividend of 2.14p due Sept. 15.
The company maintained its target of about 2.5% annual dividend growth for 2025 and 2026, extending a track record of increases each year since its 2006 listing.
Cash dividends during the period were fully covered at 1.1 times operating cash flows, compared with 1.0 times a year earlier. Based on the June 30 share price, the dividend yield stood at 7.1%.
INPP completed about £90 million of realisations during the period, taking total disposals since June 2023 to more than £345 million, equal to roughly 13% of the portfolio.
Transactions included the sale of minority equity stakes in seven U.K. education assets, a refinancing of the Priority Schools Building Aggregator Programme, and a partial disposal of Angel Trains worth about £32 million.
The company reiterated plans to return up to £200 million of capital by March 2026 through its buyback program.
The company also made new investment commitments. These included about £250 million for Sizewell C, a nuclear power project backed by the U.K. government, and selection as preferred bidder for the Moray West offshore transmission project valued at about £65 million.
Both are expected to extend the portfolio’s life and strengthen inflation-linked revenues. Inflation linkage across the portfolio stood at 0.7% at mid-year.
Operational performance remained high, with asset availability reported at 98.7% across the portfolio and 97.7% for offshore transmission assets.
Tideway, the £4.2 billion Thames “super sewer,” was fully connected in February and by July had prevented 7.8 million tonnes of sewage from entering the river.
Repairs to the Beatrice offshore transmission cable were completed in August, and gas distributor Cadent received Ofgem’s draft RIIO-3 determination in line with expectations.