Hydrogen Trust Outperforms Renewable Energy Peers

• Hydrogenone's portfolio companies in hydrogen gained new strategic investments, contributing to the trust's positive performance.
• Private investments pushed the trust's portfolio up, contributing to the NAV growth.
• The trust's private portfolio companies delivered a significant increase in revenue over the last year.

Hydrogenone Capital Growth, the investment trust focused on cash into clean hydrogen, has reported a strong performance of its underlying holdings, even though its share price has struggled.

The trust’s net asset value (NAV) has grown 0.6 percent since the start of the year, and 3.6 percent since March 2023, it reported in a quarterly portfolio update today.

Hydrogen companies in the portfolio Elcogen (19.4 per cent of NAV), HiiROC (15.3 per cent of NAV) and Sunfire (20.9 per cent of NAV) all gained new strategic investments in the period. The latter competed for a Series E financing round worth over €500m.

In April, Elcogen received a new round of funding from American oil company Baker Hughes. Hydrogenone anchored Elcogen’s first equity round in 2022, investing 24m euros (£20.6m), with South Korean manufacturer HD Hyundai adding 45m euros (£38.6m) last year.

This pushed the trust’s portfolio of private investments up, contributing 2.1p or 2.1 percent per share to the NAV.

The trust’s private portfolio companies delivered a total of £81m in revenue over the last year, an increase of 103 percent compared to the year prior.

During the first three months of the year, the trust made £1.4m in new investments itself, comprising a number of follow-ons in existing portfolio companies.

The trust’s stock price is up 5.9 percent since the start of 2024, but is still down 48 percent since it floated in July 2021

The trust has a wide 52.6 percent discount, compared to the renewable energy infrastructure trust average of 23 percent.

The only other renewable energy infrastructure trusts with a wider discount are the embattled Asian Energy Impact trust and two battery storage trusts, which have suffered from significant regulatory headwinds.

By City AM 

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:

• OPEC Resolves Compensation Plans for Overproducing Members
• Trump Seeks $1 Billion From Big Oil as He Vows to Reverse Biden Climate Rules
• Barclays Defends Fracking Finance, Citing Energy Transition Needs