HydrogenOne Capital Growth has published results for the year ended 31 December 2023. We’ll be publishing a note on these shortly, so here is a quick summary:

• The NAV increased by 5.8% from £125.4m at 31 December 2022 to £132.7m at 31 December 2023 due to valuation uplifts in multiple portfolio companies. The NAV per share increased to 102.99p at 31 December 2023;
• The share price fell from 79.30p to 49.65p and the discount to NAV increased from 18% to 52% as rising interest rates put pressure on investment trust discounts [and investors continued to be wary of growth stocks – but there have been signs of life elsewhere on this front as hopes of interest rate cuts have improved since last October – Schiehallion’s recent share price rise, for example, HGEN should play catch up at some point];
• Positive progress on revenue growth from portfolio companies, delivering an aggregate £74.0m in total revenue in the year to 31 December 2023, an increase of 125% compared to the year to 31 December 2022 [This could be the real confidence booster];
• Investment activity centred on follow-ons, with one new investment. During the year ended 31 December 2023, the company successfully completed its first investment in a private hydrogen project (Thierbach project in Germany) and made follow-on investments in five Private Hydrogen Assets in its portfolio, totalling £10.6m [see today’s separate announcement on HH2E];
• Strategic industrial investors have backed HydrogenOne portfolio companies in 2023, including Cemex and HD Hyundai in HiiROC and Elcogen respectively;
• At 31 December 2023, the total invested capital since IPO amounted to £113.7m;
• The portfolio weighted average discount rate at 31 December 2023 was 14.2% (31 December 2022: 13.0%) resulting in a 6.7p reduction in NAV between 31 December 2022 and 31 December 2023 [which has been more than offset by progress within the underlying companies];
• The company has retained a cash position of £4.6m as at 31 December 2023, and £2.3m of listed hydrogen companies at the end of the year;
• Post-period NanoSUN has been restructured to create a new company, Swift Hydrogen;
• The fundamentals of the clean hydrogen sector continued to strengthen, despite recent weak macro-economic conditions. The company has seen some $17bn of financial investment in green hydrogen in 2023, an over 400% increase over 2022 levels, underscoring the positive industry outlook for clean hydrogen.

HydrogenOne is an Article 9 Fund under the SFDR;

• 91,116 tonnes of Greenhouse Gas (tCO2e) emissions avoided in the year ended 31 December 2023 (an increase of 113.13% from the prior year) and 141,695 tCO2e since IPO;
• 92% alignment with EU taxonomy for sustainable activities (the “EU Taxonomy”) assessment on Private Hydrogen Assets at 31 December 2023;
• £113.7m deployed in low-carbon growth (since fund inception);
• Potential 571,294 MWh lifetime clean energy capacity in year ended 31 December 2023 and 797,294 MWh since IPO;
• 1,406 jobs supported; and
• Continued stewardship activity with portfolio companies to further enhance ESG credentials and reporting, with 6 month reporting of key metrics introduced.

HGEN : Discount ignores good progress at HydrogenOne