John Laing Infrastructure Q1 NAV up 1.84%

John Laing Infrastructure (JLIF) said underlying portfolio growth in the three months to 31 March 2018 was 1.84% to £1.37bn.

The investment trust said this was in line with the level of growth expected from the discount rate unwind. It added that the portfolio continued to trade in line with expectations.

Net asset value for the period was £1.2bn, including £35.4m of cash allocated to the dividend paid on May 15.

NAV per share was up 0.7% from December 31 to 25.5p.

JLIF, which had exposure to collapsed UK government contractor Carillion of 9.6% of its net assets said “good progress” has been made in transitioning the facilities management services at the nine projects affected by the its liquidation.

“Together these projects represented approximately 8.7% of the portfolio value as at 31 March 2018,” JLIF said.

The largest project, the M40 motorway, worth about 3.5% of the portfolio - has moved to a new provider on a long-term contractual arrangement while the rest have transitioned initially on an interim basis, JLIF said.

“The terms of the contracts with the new facilities management providers are similar to the pre-existing terms. In aggregate, across all nine projects affected by the collapse of Carillion, the costs of replacement remain within the guidance issued in January 2018 of approximately £3m.