Digital 9 Infrastructure PLC on Tuesday said its portfolio continues to meet expectations and reported progress on its attempts to remedy its share price discount, ‘optimise the capital structure’ and strengthen its balance sheet.

The London-based digital infrastructure investor acknowledged ‘recent volatility’ in its share price. Nonetheless, the stock was up 8.4% at 57.86 in London on Tuesday morning.

Regardless, Digital 9 said it ‘maintains confidence in [our] diversified portfolio which continues to perform well, in line with management expectations.’ It said the board and Digital 9’s investment manager, Triple Point Investment Management LLC, were ‘unaware of any portfolio specific factors’ that had driven a recent decline in the share price.

‘The board remains focused on narrowing the discount to [net asset value] through a plan of comprehensive actions...which it believes will, in turn, support a sustainable recovery of the share price over the medium-term,’ Digital 9 said.

‘There continues to be strong growth potential for the underlying investment portfolio, with the demand for infrastructure that underpins the digital economy continuing to increase.’

Digital 9 reaffirmed its total dividend target of 6.0p per share for 2023, unchanged from 2022.

Digital 9 noted ‘several key initiatives’ it recently undertook to ‘optimise the capital structure and balance sheet’. These include investee Arqiva Group Ltd entering an inflation collar in late June and refinancing £262 million of its senior debt earlier this month.

Additionally, Digital 9 reaffirmed its confidence in the ‘ongoing competitive process’ to syndicate a stake in data centre solution provider Verne Global to strategic capital partners, which it said ‘has received considerable investor interest’. The company also signed a $100 million, or £80 million, green term loan debt facility with Verne Global Iceland in early June.

Digital 9 said Triple Point will announce terms of the syndication in the third quarter. It expects the syndication to ‘generate significant cash proceeds,’ which it will use to partially pay down the £18.8 million remaining undrawn amount of its £375 million revolving credit facility.

Digital 9 also noted volcanic activity in Iceland last Monday, but does not anticipate this posing any risk to Verne Iceland’s facilities or operations. It also reassured shareholders that Verne Iceland has local natural catastrophe insurance already in place.

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