3 Month Review

Premier Utilities Trust PLC 10 March 2005 Premier Utilities Trust 3 Month Review (unaudited) to March 2005 28.02.05 1 month 3 months 6 months 27.02.04 - Since launch* 28.02.05 PUT Total Assets (£m) 45.98 0.68% 3.14% 12.32% 17.70% 24.95% PUT Ords Price 119.75 1.70% 16.26% 45.15% 44.28% 19.8% PUT Ords NAV 137.99 0.82% 4.40% 21.03% 28.46% 41.8% PUT ZDP Price 116.63 -1.99% 0.98% 12.41% 11.20% 16.6% PUT ZDP NAV 109.42 0.52% 1.68% 3.42% 7.08% 9.4% FTSE 100 Index 4968.50 2.39% 5.64% 11.42% 10.60% 15.9% FTSE World Index GBP 299.67 2.34% 5.83% 11.73% 10.81% 16.2% FTSE Utilities Index 4226.39 -1.14% 5.32% 9.03% 21.08% 33.9% FTSE Global Utilities GBP 2444.30 -0.68% 5.53% 10.85% 17.61% 24.8% PUT Unit** Price 118.15 -0.19% 8.42% 28.34% 27.30% 18.1% PUT Unit** NAV 123.32 PUT Ords Shares -13.2% discount PUT ZDP Shares 6.6% premium PUT Units** -4.2% discount Hurdle Rate*** Terminal Cover PUT Ords 2.5% - PUT ZDP -6.4% 1.47x 5.6% yield *launch: 03.11.03 **Unit calculated as weighted average of Ords + ZDP shares in issue ***Rate at which company's gross assets must rise to repay stated mid-market share price on wind-up With continued tightening of monetary policy from generational lows in the US, Europe and UK, the strong advances of stock markets in the final quarter of 2004 were contrary to our expectations. Utilities continued to perform well over this period, although this may have been more to do with investors' general wariness over the sustainability of the broader market rally, than the value on offer within the UK Utility sector. Perhaps the most prominent development in the European utility sector was the successful conclusion of the quinquennial water review and the resultant bid speculation surrounding the stocks such as Pennon group and AWG. This was amplified by the power of veto on UK water mergers passing to the EU competition commission on December 29th. In the event the Final Determination from OFWAT was broadly favourable to equity investors. Average household bills will rise over the five years to 2010 by 18%, whilst average annual price limits have been set at 4.2%. This is a little better than previously indicated. Also of benefit was industry capital expenditure which at £16.8bn over the period was slightly more accommodating to water company balance sheets than previously feared. The cost of capital was left unchanged at 5.1% post tax real return. This will ensure a slightly greater growth in companies' regulated asset bases which in turn will increase equity valuations over time. To this end we have sold the portfolio's investment in East Surrey Holdings, although we have maintained our holding of AWG as management undertake positive steps to improve and realise value from its non-regulated assets. We have generally tried to find some new investment opportunities selling some of our overvalued assets whilst doing so. This was evidenced from the disposal of our holdings in Macquarie Airports (Australian airport operator) and Sias (Italian toll roads). These were timely disposals with both stocks having fallen subsequently. We also sold the holding in PPC during the period as regulatory and political uncertainty weighed on the valuation, and Korea Electric Power as the sustained rise in oil price is likely to hurt earnings considerably for this year. We have redeployed the capital into Canada with the purchase of two Canadian Income Trust's. These provide an excellent play on the growth of the global renewable energy market whilst providing a yield of approximately 10%. As confidence has grown on the power price outlook in Germany and anticipation that the incoming regulator will prove toothless, we have re-purchased the utility RWE to compliment our existing holding of E.On. Both companies shares trade at reasonable multiples versus the European utility average whilst offering strong free cash flow and dividend growth. In the short term the sector is likely to remain volatile as a result of rising bond yields and a general return to favour of the technology sectors. In this regard the Trust is reasonably well positioned having about 25% of its assets in telecoms shares and only a small exposure to the highly regulated utilities which we feel are vulnerable, at least in the short term, to a sell off in the bond markets. 7th March 2005 Premier Fund Managers Source: Premier Fund Managers Limited as at 28/02/05. MAF3487 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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