LEI: 213800ZPHCBDDSQH5447

21 August 2025

NextEnergy Solar Fund Limited

("NESF" or "the Company")

 Unaudited Quarterly Net Asset Value & Operational Update

NextEnergy Solar Fund, a leading specialist investor in solar energy and energy storage, announces it has today published its Q1 Net Asset Value and Operational Update for the period ended 30 June 2025.

Key Highlights

Financial:

·      Net Asset Value ("NAV") per Ordinary Share of 91.7p (31 March 2025: 95.1p).

·      Ordinary Shareholders' NAV of £527.2m (31 March 2025: £547.4m).

·     Gross Asset Value of £1,050m (31 March 2025: £1,062m).

·      Financial debt gearing (excluding Preference Shares) of 29.1% ¹ (31 March 2025: 28.1% ¹).

·      Total gearing (including Preference Shares) of 48.5% ¹ (31 March 2025: 47.3% ¹).

·      Weighted average cost of debt (including Preference Shares) of 4.9% (31 March 2025: 4.9%).

·      Weighted average cost of capital of 6.6% (31 March 2025: 6.6%).

·      Weighted average discount rate across the portfolio of 8.0% (31 March 2025: 8.0%).

·       Reduction in Investment Management fees announced on 19 June 2025, taking effect from the start of the

        Company's current financial year (1 April 2025).

Dividend:

·   Total dividends declared of 2.10p per Ordinary Share for the Q1 period ended 30 June 2025 (30 June 2024: 2.10p), in line with full-year dividend target.

·     Full-year dividend target guidance for the year ending 31 March 2026 remains at 8.43p per Ordinary Share (31 March 2025: 8.43p).

·    The full year dividend target per Ordinary Share is forecast to be covered in a range of 1.1x - 1.3x by earnings post-debt amortisation.

·     Since inception the Company has declared total Ordinary Share dividends of £407m.

·     As at 20 August 2025, the Company offers an attractive dividend yield of c.11%.

Portfolio & Generation:

·     101 ² operating assets (31 March 2025: 101 ²).

·     Total installed capacity of 937MW ³ (31 March 2025: 937MW ³).

·     Remaining weighted asset life of 24.5 years (31 March 2025: 24.8 years).

·     During the quarter, the portfolio benefitted from irradiation in the UK being 18.9% above budget, resulting in electricity generation being 7.6% ⁴ above budget including DNO outages.  This led to an uplift to NAV per Ordinary share of 0.5p.

Share Buyback Programme:

·      As at 30 June 2025, the Company had purchased 15,621,142 Ordinary Shares for a total consideration of

       £11.5m through its up to £20m Share Buyback Programme, producing a total aggregate NAV uplift of 0.5p per Ordinary Share (0.0p during the period).  All purchased Ordinary Shares are currently being held in the Company's treasury account.

Capital Recycling Programme:

·   The remaining 100MW of the Programme is progressing through a competitive sales process to third-party buyers.  The Company will publish further updates about Phase IV of the Programme in due course.

·     As at 20 August 2025, the Capital Recycling Programme has:

o  Sold three assets totalling c.145MW of capacity from the 245MW Programme.

o  Raised £72.5m total capital.

o  Added a total estimated Net Asset Value uplift of 2.76p per Ordinary Share.

Capital Structure:

·     As at 30 June 2025:

·     Short-term RCF drawn of £152.9m (31 March 2025: £144.9m).

·     Long-term amortising debt paid down by £63.9m (31 March 2025: £62.2m).  The remaining outstanding long-term debt of £145.6m is on track to fully amortise in line with the remaining subsidy life of the portfolio's government subsidies.

·     Of the Company's total debt of £497.0m ¹:

o  69% remains at a fixed rate of interest (including the Preference Shares).

o  31% remains at a floating rate of interest via the short-term RCF.

ESG & Sustainability:

·   The Company continued to maintain its Article 9 Fund classification under the EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation and EU Taxonomy Regulation.

Paul Le Page, Interim Chairman of NextEnergy Solar Fund Limited, commented:

"NextEnergy Solar Fund's high-quality asset base continued to demonstrate resilience in the period, despite a challenging macroeconomic backdrop and a fall in long-term UK power price assumptions that reduced the NAV.  This quarter, the portfolio has delivered above budgeted electricity generation and benefitted from additional revenues as a result.  The Board reaffirms its target dividend guidance of 8.43p per Ordinary Share for the financial year ending 31 March 2026 remains fully covered by operational cash flows.

As announced in June and in line with the Company's long-term efforts to narrow the discount, the investment management fee was reduced, further aligning interests between the investment manager and shareholders.  The Board is focused on protecting and enhancing shareholder returns, while reinforcing the strong foundation on which the Company continues to build. The Board remains committed to reviewing all options available to maximise value for shareholders."

Ross Grier, Chief Investment Officer of NextEnergy Capital said:

"The primary driver for the reduction in NAV during the period was a material change to long-term projected UK power price assumptions provided by NextEnergy Solar Fund's leading independent energy market consultants. This quarter benefitted from favourable generating conditions, which the NextEnergy Solar Fund portfolio was able to harness, leading to electricity generation in the UK at 7.6% ⁴ above-budget after DNO outages, providing an uplift to NAV per Ordinary Share of 0.5p.

NextEnergy Solar Fund continues to offer an attractive return for its shareholders and is proactively managing its portfolio to maximise revenues.  The Board and the Investment Adviser continue to explore opportunities to add NAV growth to the platform, whilst also prioritising the reduction in both long-term and short-term debt.^"

Q1 Quarterly NAV Bridge Breakdown:

The movement in the NAV over the period was driven primarily by the following factors.

NAV Accretive:

·     Time Value: The time value reflects the change in the valuation as a result of changing the valuation date, prior to adjusting for any outflows of the Company.  The increase in value is attributable to the unwinding of the discount applied to cash flows for the period when calculating the discounted cash flow.

·     Project Actuals: The project actuals figure was driven by generation performance, higher irradiation in the UK led to electricity generation being 7.6% ⁴ above budget including DNO outages.  This led to an uplift to NAV per Ordinary share of 0.5p.

·    Inflation Forecasts: A slight increase in short-term inflation assumptions from 2026 to 2029. The Company continues to take a consistent approach to its inflation assumptions, using external third-party, independent inflation data from HM Treasury Forecasts and long-term implied rates from the Bank of England for its UK assets. For international assets, IMF forecasts are used.  Long-term assumptions are aligned with market consensus including transition to CPI from 2030.  See breakdown of UK inflation assumptions below.

·   NextPower III LP Revaluation Including Co-investments: Movements in the fair value of the holding in NextPower III LP and the two co-investments reflecting operational and macroeconomic updates.

NAV Deductive:

·   Cash Dividends Paid: The dividends paid during the period, including both Ordinary and Preference Share dividend payments.

·     Power Price Forecasts: Driven by a material reduction in power price forecasts.  The power price forecasts are produced externally by four of the market leading power price consultants.

·     Other Residual Value Movements: Includes changes in FX rates, fund operating expenses, capital expenditure provisions for asset health, such as repowering inverters and module replacements, and other non-material movements.

Inflation Rate (UK RPI) Assumptions

Discount Rate Assumptions

Power Curve Assumptions

30 June 2025: Blended Power Curves (Capture Price)

For the UK portfolio, the Company uses multiple sources for UK power price forecasts. Where power has been sold at a fixed price under a Power Purchase Agreement ("PPA") (a hedge), these known prices are used. For periods where no PPA hedge is in place, short-term market forward prices are used. After two years, the Company integrates a rolling blended average of four leading independent energy market consultants' long-term central case projections.

For the Italian portfolio, PPAs are used in the forecast where these have been secured. In the absence of hedges, a leading independent energy market consultant's long-term projections are used to derive the power curve adopted in the valuation.

Power Purchase Agreement Strategy

c.50% of NextEnergy Solar Fund's revenues come from RPI-linked government-backed subsidies.  The remaining c.50% of revenues are secured through NextEnergy Solar Fund's PPA strategy where the Company secures PPAs over a rolling 36-month period. This proactive risk mitigation helps secure and underpin both dividend commitments and dividend cover whilst reducing volatility and increasing the visibility of cash flows. 

Forecasted Total Revenue Breakdown ⁸:

Available Capital

Out of the total £205m immediate Revolving Credit Facility available to the Company, c.£52.1m remained undrawn and available for deployment as at 30 June 2025.  The Company had c.£5.1m immediate cash balance available at the Company level as at 30 June 2025 (this is separate from the cash currently held at Holdco/SPV level).

Future Pipeline

The Company owns the project rights for, or has exclusivity over, a carefully selected £500m pipeline of development projects in utility-scale solar (>400MW UK & OECD target markets) and UK energy storage (>250MW UK BESS).  In addition to this proprietary £500m pipeline, the Company benefits from the right of first offer on relevant assets across both the NextEnergy Capital and Starlight development pipelines as and when projects in that pipeline have progressed to the necessary stage.  The Company will evaluate future investments into the pipeline relative to the returns available from all alternative capital uses, including paying down debt and additional share buybacks. 

Footnotes:

1.   Excludes short and long-term debt at NextPower III LP (NPIII), Agenor and Santarém (in which the Company has co-invested). At 30 June 2025 the aggregate debt proportionate to the Company's investments in those entities was £25.4m (31 March 2025: £23.5m).   

2.    Excluding the $50m investment into private equity vehicle (NPIII).

3.   On a look-through MW equivalent basis, this includes investment NPIII, where it owns 6.21%.  Ownership in the international co-investments (13.6% of Santarém (210MW in Portugal) and 24.5% of Agenor (50MW in Spain)), and 70% ownership of the Company's standalone energy storage asset Camilla through its joint venture partnership.

4.    UK portfolio includes both ground mount and rooftop assets, and excludes standalone energy storage asset, co-investments and investment in NPIII

5.    Unlevered discount rate for Italian operating assets implying 1.50% country risk premium to 7.50%.

6.    Unlevered discount rate for subsidy-free uncontracted operating assets implying 1.0% risk premium to 7.50%.

7.    1.0% risk premium added to UK unlevered (7.50%) and UK levered assets (8.20% - 8.50%) for cash flows after 30 years where leases have been extended.

8.   As at 30 June 2025, fixed revenues include subsidy income, figures are stated to the nearest 0.1% which may lead to rounding differences. NextEnergy Solar Fund minimises its merchant exposure through its active rolling PPA Programme. The Programme locks in PPAs in the liquid market to ensure maximum contracted revenues are achieved. Fixed prices (£/MWh) covered 83% (776MW) of the total portfolio as at 30 June 2025. Excludes Solis portfolio.

Notes to Editors ¹:

About NextEnergy Solar Fund

NextEnergy Solar Fund is a specialist solar energy and energy storage investment company that is listed on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange.

NextEnergy Solar Fund's investment objective is to provide Ordinary Shareholders with attractive risk-adjusted returns, principally in the form of regular dividends, by investing in a diversified portfolio of utility-scale solar energy and energy storage infrastructure assets.  The majority of NESF's long-term cash flows are inflation-linked via UK government subsidies.

As at 30 June 2025, the Company had an unaudited gross asset value of £1,050m.  For further information please visit www.nextenergysolarfund.com

Article 9 Fund

NextEnergy Solar Fund is classified under Article 9 of the EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation and EU Taxonomy Regulation.  NextEnergy Solar Fund's sustainability-related disclosures in the financial services sector are in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2019/2088 and can be accessed on the ESG section of both the NextEnergy Solar Fund and NextEnergy Capital websites.

About NextEnergy Group

NextEnergy Solar Fund is managed by NextEnergy Capital, part of the NextEnergy Group.  NextEnergy Group was founded in 2007 to become a leading market participant in the international solar sector which now employs over 400 professionals.  Since its inception, NextEnergy Group has been active in the development, construction, and ownership of solar assets across multiple jurisdictions.  NextEnergy Group operates via its three business units: NextEnergy Capital (Investment Management), WiseEnergy (Operating Asset Management), and Starlight (Asset Development).

·    NextEnergy Capital: has over 18 years of specialist solar expertise having invested in over 530 individual solar plants across the world.  NextEnergy Capital currently manages four institutional funds with a total capacity in excess of 3GW+ and has assets under management of $4.5bn.  More information is available at www.nextenergycapital.com   

·    WiseEnergy®:  is a leading specialist operating asset manager in the solar sector.  Since its founding, WiseEnergy has provided solar asset management, monitoring and technical due diligence services to over 1,600 utility-scale solar power plants with an installed capacity in excess of 3.5GW.  More information is available at www.wise-energy.com

·   Starlight: has developed over 100 utility-scale projects internationally and continues to progress a large pipeline of c.11.5W of both green and brownfield project developments across global geographies.  More information is available at www.starlight-energy.com

Notes:

^1: All financial data is unaudited at 30 June 2025, being the latest date in respect of which NextEnergy Solar Fund has published financial information.