Full Year Results for the Year Ended 31 March 2026
Summary by AI BETAClose X
19 June 2026
LEI: 213800T8RBBWZQ7FTF84
Cordiant Digital Infrastructure Limited
Annual Report for the year ended 31 March 2026
Five years of value creation; another strong year and a platform for growth
Cordiant Digital Infrastructure Limited (the Company), the largest specialist operator of and investor in digital infrastructure on the London Stock Exchange, is pleased to announce its financial results for the year ended 31 March 2026.
Highlights:
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The Company delivered strong financial results in the year to 31 March 2026, supported by robust operating performance across the portfolio and disciplined value-creation initiatives. |
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Aggregate adjusted EBITDA and revenue of the portfolio increased by 7.8% and 9.9%, respectively, on a constant currency basis, excluding the contribution from Datacenter United (DCU), which was acquired in February 2025.1 |
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NAV per share increased to 146.0p at 31 March 2026 (31 March 2025: 129.6p, or 127.4p ex-dividend), generating a total return of 16.3% on the ex-dividend opening NAV, or 12.3% excluding the impact of FX. |
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Shareholder total return for the year, assuming dividends reinvested, was 24.6% (31 March 2025: 43.1%). Since year end, as of market close on 17 June 2026, the share price has risen by 22.7% and the share price discount to NAV was 14.7% (17 June 2025 discount: 25.5%). |
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Since IPO in February 2021, the Company has achieved an annualised NAV total return of 14.0%2 with a total shareholder return of 51.7% as of market close on 17 June 2026. |
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Growth in earnings was driven by contract wins, the benefit of contractual price escalators, disciplined cost management, and the positive impact of bolt-on acquisitions. Value creation during the year reflected both underlying operational performance and valuation developments. The inclusion of the development land value of Prague Gateway, together with the market value of all real estate assets intended to be sold by CRA, contributed to NAV growth. |
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This strong financial performance has been delivered alongside significant strategic and operational progress, including: o completion of groundworks and sewerage installation for CRA's flagship Prague Gateway data centre development with up to 26MW of available power, following receipt of the requisite zoning and building permits; the project is about to move into the main construction phase with a growing pipeline of prospective customers; o completion of the 1.3MW Žižkov data centre expansion in Prague; o new contract wins and product development; and o completion and ongoing integration of four bolt-on acquisitions expected to be value accretive, including enterprise and wholesale fibre assets in Ireland, a data centre in Poland, and IPTV, OTT and radio streaming capabilities in the Czech Republic. |
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Revenue visibility is supported by £952.1 million of total contracted revenue across the portfolio for the remaining life of contracts at 31 March 2026.3 |
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Growth capital expenditure of £49.4 million incurred in the year by portfolio companies to support revenue growth with nearly half of this amount relating to data centres. |
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Total dividend in respect of the year ended 31 March 2026 increased by 2.3% to 4.45p per share, up from the prior target of 4.35p. The dividend was covered 1.7x by adjusted funds from operations (31 March 2025: 1.7x), with a forward target of 4.45p per share. Over the past four years, the Company has delivered annualised dividend growth of 10.4%. |
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The ratio of total external net borrowings, calculated on a look-through basis across the Company and all its direct and indirect subsidiaries, to gross asset value, remains stable at 40.1% (31 March 2025: 40.3%). There are no external debt facilities maturing until June 2029. The Company and its subsidiaries retain £220.2 million (31 March 2025: £231.0 million) in total liquidity, comprising £74.3 million in cash and £145.9 million in undrawn debt facilities.4 |
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The Company was admitted to the FCA's Official List on 30 April 2026. Its inclusion in the FTSE 250 index was announced on 3 June 2026 and will become effective on 22 June 2026. |
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17.4 million (18 June 2025: 15.4 million) shares now held by Steven Marshall, other members of the Investment Manager's digital infrastructure team, Cordiant Capital Inc5, and the Company's non-executive directors, representing 2.3% (18 June 2025: 2.0%) of shares outstanding. |
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Management fees for the year ended 31 March 2026, calculated on market capitalisation, represented 0.68% (31 March 2025: 0.63%) of the average of the opening and closing NAV for the period. |
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1. |
Refer to footnotes under Figure 1 in the Investment Manager's report regarding the composition of pro forma revenue and EBITDA and associated adjustments. |
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2. |
14.0% assumes additive reinvestment of dividends and is annualised as a simple arithmetic average. On a compound annualisation basis with multiplicative reinvestment of dividends, the equivalent figure is 11.3%. This is ahead of the Company's annual total return target of 9.0%. |
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Contracted revenue for DCU is pro-rated for the Company's economic stake of 37.4%. Czech National Bank target inflation rates applied only on contracts with automatic indexation clauses for CRA's contracted revenue portion. All other figures are in real terms. |
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Total cash, borrowings and undrawn debt relating to DCU have been pro-rated for the Company's economic stake of 37.4% in the company. |
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Cordiant Capital Inc. including its shareholders. |
Outlook
The Company and its portfolio companies remain well positioned to benefit from structural growth in demand for digital infrastructure, driven by increasing data consumption, cloud adoption and the development of AI. Near-term performance is expected to reflect recent customer churn and project phasing, with new business anticipated to support momentum as the year progresses. Supported by resilient earnings and cash flows, strong operational performance, a diversified asset base, significant contracted revenues and a broad pipeline of growth opportunities, the Company continues to see a clear pathway to delivering attractive long-term returns for shareholders.
Commenting, Shonaid Jemmett-Page, Chairman of Cordiant Digital Infrastructure Limited, said:
"The Company has delivered another year of strong performance, reflecting the quality of the portfolio and disciplined execution of its strategy. Since IPO, we have consistently delivered against our objectives, generating attractive NAV total returns while growing earnings and dividends, and building a diversified platform of high-quality digital infrastructure assets. This progress continued in the year, alongside our admission to the Official List and forthcoming inclusion in the FTSE 250. While we are encouraged by recent share price performance and some narrowing of the discount to NAV, the Board believes that the share price does not reflect the Company's underlying performance and long-term prospects. We remain confident in our ability to deliver attractive returns for shareholders."
Commenting, Steven Marshall, Co-founder, Executive Chairman and Managing Partner, Cordiant Digital Infrastructure Management, said:
"We are pleased with the operational performance delivered by the portfolio over the past five years. The Company benefits from a portfolio of high-quality digital infrastructure assets, supporting blue-chip and government customers through long-term contracts in growing markets. Our core businesses are leaders in their respective markets and continue to expand their infrastructure coverage, both through the construction of additional assets and bolt-on acquisitions that further strengthen their customer offering."
Annual results webcast for analysts
The Company will be hosting an analyst meeting at 10.00am London time at the offices of Deutsche Bank, 21 Moorfields, London, EC2Y 9DB. For those wishing to attend, please contact Charles Denley-Myerson at Celicourt via CDI@celicourt.uk.
The Annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 March 2026 will be available to download at www.cordiantdigitaltrust.com/investors/results-centre/.
For further information, please visit www.cordiantdigitaltrust.com or contact:
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Cordiant Capital Inc (Investment Manager)
Cordiant Digital Infrastructure Management LLP Stephen Foss |
+44 (0)20 3814 5939
CordiantDigitalTrust@cordiantcap.com |
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Aztec Financial Services (Guernsey) Limited (Company secretary and administrator) |
+44 (0)1481 749 700 cord@aztecgroup.co.uk |
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Investec Bank plc (Joint corporate broker) Lucy Lewis Tom Skinner |
+44 (0)20 7597 4000
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Deutsche Numis (Joint corporate broker) Hugh Jonathan George Shiel |
+44 (0)20 7260 1000
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Celicourt (Financial communications adviser) Philip Dennis Charles Denley-Myerson |
+44 (0)20 7770 6424 CDI@celicourt.uk
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Notes to editors:
About the Company
Cordiant Digital Infrastructure Limited primarily invests in the core infrastructure of the digital economy: data centres; fibre-optic networks; telecommunications and broadcast towers - in Europe and North America. Further details about the Company can be found on its website at www.cordiantdigitaltrust.com.
The Company is a sector-focused specialist owner and operator of digital infrastructure, listed on the London Stock Exchange under the ticker CORD, and will join the FTSE 250 index on 22 June 2026. In total, the Company has successfully raised £795 million in equity, along with a €375 million debt package, comprising a €200 million Eurobond and €175 million of capex and revolving facilities, deploying capital into six acquisitions: CRA, Hudson, Emitel, Speed Fibre, Belgian Tower Company and Datacentre United, which together offer stable, often index-linked income, and the opportunity for growth, in line with the Company's Buy, Build & Grow model.
About the Investment Manager
Cordiant Capital, the Investment Manager appointed by the Company, is a sector specialist investor focused on middle market 'Infrastructure 2.0' platforms in digital infrastructure, energy transition infrastructure and the agriculture value chain.
The Investment Manager's digital infrastructure team, Cordiant Digital Infrastructure Management, or CDIM, was co‑founded by Steven Marshall, who chairs all the major portfolio companies. The team consists of 21 professionals, who bring considerable hands-on investing and operating expertise to its investment approach. This investing strategy can be summarised as acquiring and expanding cash‑flowing digital infrastructure platforms across Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand.
Chairman's statement
I am pleased to present the Annual Report for the Company for the year ended 31 March 2026.
Introduction
The Company delivered strong operational and financial performance in the year to 31 March 2026. On an adjusted basis, excluding the impact of DCU (acquired in February 2025), aggregate EBITDA and revenue for the most recent financial years of the portfolio companies increased by 7.8% and 9.9% respectively on a constant currency basis1. Portfolio company EBITDA and revenue, including DCU, totalled £171.5 million and £367.6 million respectively. Growth was driven by contract wins, the benefit of contractual price escalators, disciplined cost management, and the impact of acquisitions.
NAV per share increased to 146.0p at 31 March 2026 (31 March 2025: 129.6p, or 127.4p ex-dividend), generating a total return of 16.3% on the ex-dividend opening NAV, or 12.3% excluding the impact of FX. Value creation during the year reflected both underlying operational performance and valuation developments. Following receipt of the zoning permit in 2025, successful progress on groundworks, and a growing pipeline of prospective customers, the development land value of Prague Gateway was included in the CRA valuation for the first time. In addition, the market value of all real estate assets intended to be sold by CRA was recognised. Together, these contributed to NAV growth.
The Company delivered important strategic progress during the year, including continued deployment of growth capital expenditure, advancement of key development projects, ongoing integration of acquisitions and optimisation of the capital structure. The successful migration of the Company's listing to the Official List of the FCA on 30 April 2026 represents a further milestone in its evolution.
The move to the Official List broadens the potential investor base and the Company's inclusion in the FTSE 250 index will increase visibility among investors and supports demand for the shares through index-tracking funds, improving liquidity. The Board believes these developments, combined with the Investment Manager's team's consistent and disciplined execution of the Company's strategy, strengthen the Company's positioning within the listed infrastructure sector and provide a more robust platform for long-term growth.
Investment strategy and capital allocation
The Investment Manager continues to implement its Core Plus strategy, targeting stable and predictable income alongside capital growth through active asset management. This is delivered through the Company's Buy, Build & Grow model - acquiring high‑quality platforms, investing in expansion and enhancing operational performance.
The Board maintains a balanced approach to capital allocation, focusing on delivering attractive risk-adjusted returns while recognising the current market environment. Capital has been directed towards bolt-on acquisitions, growth capital expenditure initiatives and disciplined balance sheet management, while continuing to support a progressive dividend policy.
The Company was pleased to be recognised at the 2025 Investment Week Awards, winning Infrastructure Investment Company of the Year. The award highlights the strength of our investment strategy and the quality of the portfolio, focused on essential digital infrastructure supporting data growth, connectivity and cloud adoption.
A central focus during the year has been the progression of Prague Gateway, a flagship data centre development by CRA with up to 26MW of available power. Completion of groundworks was achieved and construction of the core, shell and first module is set to begin imminently, and its inclusion in the valuation has been an important contributor to NAV growth in the period. The Board expects this project to be a key driver of future value creation as it moves through subsequent phases of development and commercialisation.
During the year, portfolio companies completed several value‑accretive acquisitions, including CRA expanding its presence in IPTV/OTT services and Emitel's entry into the data centre sector. The Company also supported a broad programme of organic investment, including data centre expansion, the building of new mobile towers, and other upgrades across the portfolio. Speed Fibre continued to integrate the BT Ireland acquisition, completed in September 2025, with integration progressing well and early synergies beginning to emerge. DCU raised new debt facilities and progressed its expansion strategy, while Hudson advanced development of new capacity to support future growth.
The Company also benefited from the syndication of a minority stake in DCU, demonstrating the Company's ability to raise additional external funding to support diversification and the attractiveness of its assets to third-party capital.
Share price performance
The Board was encouraged by the total shareholder return of 24.6% delivered during the financial year and notes the continued strong momentum in the share price since year end, with the shares up 22.7% at 17 June 2026. The Board considers this a positive development. However, notwithstanding this recent performance, the Board remains dissatisfied with the persistent discount to NAV, which it does not believe reflects the Company's strong financial and operational delivery, and considers there remains scope for further share price progression to more fully recognise the Company's underlying performance. As in prior periods, we believe this reflects broader macroeconomic factors affecting the investment company sector rather than Company‑specific issues.
At 17 June 2026, the discount to 31 March 2026 NAV was approximately 14.7%.
The Board expects that the Company's move to the Official List and its forthcoming inclusion in the FTSE 250 index will, over time, support improved share liquidity, broaden the shareholder base and contribute to narrowing this discount.
The Board and the Investment Manager remain focused on addressing the discount through continued delivery of strong underlying performance and disciplined capital allocation, while maintaining proactive engagement with shareholders and policymakers.
Dividend
The Company follows a progressive dividend policy, aiming to pay dividends from portfolio free cash flow in a way that is sustainable over time. Dividend cover is measured using a 12‑month consolidated AFFO metric, calculated as normalised EBITDA minus finance costs, tax, mandatory debt repayments and maintenance capital expenditure.
In June 2025, the Board approved an increase in the targeted annual dividend to 4.35p with the payment of the second interim dividend of 2.25p per share in July 2025. In November 2025, the Board declared a dividend of 50% of the 4.35p target of 2.175p, which was paid in December 2025.
In June 2026, in line with the Company's progressive dividend policy and reflecting Company performance and planned capital expenditure, the Board approved a further increase in the dividend target of 2.3% to 4.45p, with 2.275p to be paid on 30 July 2026 to shareholders as at the record date of 3 July 2026.
For the 12 months to 31 March 2026, the 4.45p dividend was approximately 5.1x covered by EBITDA and 1.7x by AFFO.
Sustainability
As a long‑term investor, the Company places sustainability at the heart of its strategy, with a continued focus on reducing environmental impact across its portfolio. Over the past year, this has resulted in a 13% reduction in Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions, increased energy efficiency and decarbonisation efforts, and growth in renewable energy usage to 81% of total consumption. Progress has also been supported by ongoing net zero analysis, alignment with science‑based targets, and investment in energy‑efficient technologies. The responsible investment approach remains focused on integrating ESG and climate considerations throughout the investment lifecycle to support risk management and long‑term value creation. Additional information, including our voluntary climate-related financial disclosures, is provided in our standalone Responsible Investment Report, available at www.cordiantdigitaltrust.com.
Governance
The Board receives regular updates on Company and portfolio performance from the Investment Manager and the Company's other advisors. We provide active and objective oversight of those activities, and periodically seek to meet local management of portfolio companies to gain direct insight into various initiatives that are being progressed. In May 2026, the Board attended a series of site visits and meetings hosted by Emitel in Kraków, Poland, enabling the Board to develop further its understanding of the day‑to-day operations of the business and receive an update on Emitel's long-term strategy directly from local management.
During the year, the Investment Manager again demonstrated to shareholders the benefits of its extensive, senior-level experience in: managing and operating world-class digital infrastructure businesses; arranging debt facilities in-house without using a debt advisor to raise growth financing for DCU; and overseeing completion of the strategic BT Ireland acquisition. The Investment Manager charges a relatively low level of management fee, based on market capitalisation and not NAV, unlike some of the Company's peers.
Outlook
Demand for digital infrastructure remains underpinned by structural growth drivers, including increasing data consumption, cloud adoption, the rapid advancement of AI, and continued investment in connectivity networks.
Near-term performance is expected to reflect recent customer churn and project phasing, with new business anticipated to support momentum as the year progresses. The Board is confident that the strength and diversification of the portfolio, the resilience of its cash flows and the breadth of its growth opportunities position the Company well to continue delivering attractive returns over the long term.
The Company has consistently delivered on its stated objectives, achieving total NAV growth of 14.0%2 per annum since inception, demonstrating both the effectiveness of the investment strategy and disciplined execution. Looking ahead, we remain confident in the Company's positioning, supported by FTSE 250 index inclusion. We believe continued operation will enable shareholders to benefit from further value creation and sustained long-term returns. Accordingly, the Board recommends that shareholders vote in favour of the continuation of the Company at the forthcoming Annual General Meeting.
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Refer to footnotes under Figure 1 in the Investment Manager's report section regarding the composition of pro forma revenue and EBITDA and associated adjustments. |
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14.0% assumes additive reinvestment of dividends and is annualised as a simple arithmetic average. On a compound annualisation basis with multiplicative reinvestment of dividends, the equivalent figure is 11.3%. This is ahead of the Company's annual total return target of 9.0%. |
Investment Manager's report
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Figure 1: Headline financial performance based on financial year end of portfolio companies on a constant currency basis1 |
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31 March 2026 £m |
31 March 2025 £m |
Change £m |
Change % |
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Portfolio revenue |
367.6 |
326.0 |
41.6 |
12.8% |
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Portfolio EBITDA |
171.5 |
156.7 |
14.8 |
9.4% |
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Adjusted portfolio revenue2 |
353.0 |
321.1 |
31.9 |
9.9% |
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Adjusted portfolio EBITDA2 |
169.0 |
156.8 |
12.2 |
7.8% |
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1. |
CRA, Hudson and BTC have 31 March financial year ends. Emitel, Speed Fibre and DCU have 31 December year ends. All EBITDA figures exclude profits from asset disposals at CRA. Portfolio revenue and EBITDA include the contribution from the BT Ireland tuck‑under acquisition by Speed Fibre in September 2025. Some revenue relating to the former BT Ireland business may be discontinued in 2026/27.
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2. |
Portfolio revenue and EBITDA have been adjusted to enhance comparability across periods by excluding the contribution from DCU, acquired in February 2025, and BTC, reflecting the discontinuation of certain broadcast operations in Belgium in early 2025 (a known and expected event at the time of acquiring BTC). Adjusted portfolio EBITDA incorporates IRU-related adjustments associated with Speed Fibre. Excluding the BT Ireland acquisition, adjusted portfolio EBITDA would have grown by 6.8%.
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Figure 2: NAV movements for the year
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Year ended 31 March 2026 (£m) |
Year ended 31 March 2025 (£m) |
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£m |
p/share |
%3 |
£m |
p/share |
%3 |
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Opening NAV |
992.5 |
129.6 |
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920.7 |
120.1 |
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Final dividend in respect of the prior year |
(17.2) |
(2.3) |
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(16.9) |
(2.2) |
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Ex-dividend opening NAV |
975.3 |
127.4 |
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903.8 |
117.9 |
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Net profit for the period |
159.3 |
20.8 |
16.3 |
105.2 |
13.7 |
11.6 |
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Interim dividend in respect of the current year |
(16.7) |
(2.2) |
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(16.1) |
(2.1) |
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Net shares issued/buybacks |
- |
- |
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(0.4) |
0.0 |
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Closing NAV |
1,117.9 |
146.0 |
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992.5 |
129.6 |
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3. On ex-dividend opening NAV.
Introduction
The Company delivered strong financial results in the year to 31 March 2026, driven by robust operating performance of the portfolio and other value-accretive activities. Pro forma adjusted portfolio EBITDA increased by 7.8% year on year, while adjusted portfolio revenue increased by 9.9%. NAV per share increased from 127.4p (ex-dividend) at 31 March 2025 to 146.0p at 31 March 2026, driving a total return of 16.3% on ex-dividend opening NAV (31 March 2025: 11.6%). In the year, the portfolio benefited from the appreciation of the Czech koruna and Polish zloty against sterling. Excluding the impact of FX, the total return for the period was 12.3% (31 March 2025: 11.9%).
Earnings and NAV growth were driven by successful implementation of the Company's Buy, Build & Grow model: the purchase of good-quality platforms at attractive prices and making subsequent bolt-on acquisitions; building new assets at construction cost from which new revenues can be earned; and growing existing revenues using the operational and financing expertise of the Investment Manager's team.
Capital allocation
The Company's balanced, multi-pronged approach to capital allocation aims to maximise overall returns to shareholders, while recognising current limits on capital availability. The Board continues to pursue a progressive dividend policy, which exceeds that set out at the time of the IPO and is made possible by the operating performance of the underlying portfolio companies.
The Company paid two dividends during the period: the second interim dividend relating to the year ended 31 March 2025, of 2.25p per share or £17.2 million, paid on 30 July 2025; and the first interim dividend relating to the year ended 31 March 2026, of 2.175p per share or £16.7 million, which was paid on 22 December 2025.
The Company remains committed to its progressive dividend policy, and has allocated capital to a 2.3% increase in dividend from 4.35p per year to 4.45p per year, to take effect from the second interim dividend expected to be paid in July 2026. This level of dividend remains well covered (1.7x) by AFFO, being portfolio recurring EBITDA less fund-level costs, net finance costs, tax, mandatory debt repayments and maintenance capex.
Several bolt-on acquisitions were undertaken by portfolio companies with support from the Investment Manager's team to expand and complement existing asset bases and service offerings, including CRA's acquisition of nangu.TV to expand its presence in the OTT/IPTV space and Emitel's acquisition of a colocation data centre near Warsaw, marking Emitel's entrance to the sector. Further tuck-under acquisitions are being explored by portfolio companies, and these transactions are typically highly IRR-accretive due to the potential for significant operational and financial synergies.
In addition, the Company, leveraging the operational expertise of the Investment Manager, is supporting investments in growth‑oriented capital expenditure projects at the portfolio level, such as adding data centre capacity and constructing new mobile towers.
The Investment Manager considers that there is no easy answer to resolve the Company's share price discount to NAV, but that continued strong operational performance, value-creating capital expenditure, maintaining acquisition price discipline, investor engagement and significant alignment of interests should all be recognised if issues affecting the investment company sector abate. The Investment Manager is encouraged by the positive market reaction that followed the Company's migration to the Official List and pending inclusion in the FTSE 250 index.
Alignment of interests
Since 18 June 2025, the Directors and the Investment Manager's team have made further purchases of the Company's shares, acquiring in total 2.9 million more shares to bring the combined total to 17.4 million shares. This includes Steven Marshall, Executive Chairman of Cordiant Digital Infrastructure Management, who acquired a further 2.4 million shares, bringing his total personal holding to 15.3 million shares. At the date of this report, the Directors, the Investment Manager and its team owned 2.3% of the ordinary issued share capital of the Company. Cordiant Capital sold 0.9 million shares in the period4.
The Investment Manager's fee continues to be based on market capitalisation as opposed to NAV, ensuring even closer alignment between the Investment Manager's team and the Company's shareholders.
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Figure 3: Summary of insider ownership |
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18 June 2026 |
18 June 2025 |
Change |
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Number of shares owned thousands |
% of shares outstanding |
Number of shares owned thousands |
% of shares outstanding |
Number of shares owned thousands |
% of shares outstanding |
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Steven Marshall |
15,328.0 |
2.0% |
12,890.2 |
1.7% |
2,437.8 |
18.9% |
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Other members of CDIM |
980.7 |
0.1% |
717.5 |
0.1% |
263.2 |
36.7% |
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Cordiant Capital Inc. and its shareholders |
560.6 |
0.1% |
1,410.6 |
0.2% |
(850.0) |
(60.3)% |
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The Board of Directors |
495.7 |
0.1% |
345.0 |
0.0% |
150.7 |
43.7% |
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Total |
17,365.0 |
2.3% |
15,363.3 |
2.0% |
2,001.7 |
13.0% |
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4. |
Most of the shares originally bought by Cordiant Capital were acquired through the mandatory share purchase arrangement under the original Investment Management Agreement and transferred to Cordiant Capital's ownership from Cordiant Digital Infrastructure Management LLP in the financial year ended 31 March 2026. |
Activity during the period
The portfolio delivered strong operational progress in the year, with significant milestones achieved across data centre development, execution and integration of bolt-on acquisitions, and asset growth. The portfolio companies made notable strides in next-generation technologies, including AI-ready infrastructure and 5G broadcast trials, positioning the Company to capture emerging opportunities in digital connectivity and cloud services. These developments reinforce the Investment Manager's confidence in the portfolio's ability to generate sustainable growth and attractive returns.
At CRA, Prague Gateway was a key operational focus during the year, with groundworks and sewerage installation completed and the project about to move into the main construction phase. Phase I is expected to deliver the core and shell together with an initial 4MW IT module, supporting CRA's ambition to build a scalable, high‑specification data centre campus in Prague. CRA also continued to develop its customer pipeline and progress the carve-out of its data centre and cloud activities into a separate subsidiary, while exploring partnership and funding options to support future expansion.
Elsewhere, CRA expanded existing data centre capacity, entered the GPU-as-a-service market with initial demand secured, and won a public broadcaster cloud services tender. In radio broadcasting, its commercial DAB+ network reached full utilisation. The acquisitions of nangu.TV and Play.cz also strengthened CRA's capabilities in IPTV, OTT and radio streaming, supporting its strategy to build an integrated multi‑platform digital media infrastructure business.
Emitel expanded across key segments, entering the colocation data centre market through a Tier III facility acquisition near Warsaw, growing its mobile tower portfolio, and advancing distributed antenna systems projects. Radio broadcasting was supported by new and renewed contracts, including a tender win with Polskie Radio. In smart cities and IoT, the company delivered remote water meter reading and smart parking projects, was appointed by the Warsaw municipality for a major city lights management programme (subject to an appeal lodged by a competitor in the tender), and won a Polish Air Navigation Services Agency (PANSA) tender to provide drone monitoring infrastructure across 114 sites, with scope to expand further.
On 1 September 2025, Speed Fibre completed the acquisition of BT Ireland's assets, adding a 3,400km fibre network and approximately 400 enterprise and government customers. Integration is progressing well, with synergies expected to strengthen Speed Fibre's position as a leading provider of wholesale and B2B connectivity in Ireland. Integration work has progressed smoothly to date, and the company is working to realise significant synergies from the combination of the two businesses, with meaningful annual cost savings already achieved to date.
Following its acquisition in February 2025, DCU secured a €120 million senior financing package in September, providing resources for expansion and refinancing part of the acquisition debt. DCU used part of the proceeds to return €15 million to the Company by way of repayment of shareholder loans, and a 10.1% stake in DCU was syndicated to a Western European institutional investor via a fund-of-one managed by the Investment Manager. Proceeds of these transactions were used to repay the RCF at the holding company level. DCU is progressing a phased investment programme across the platform, focused on capacity expansion, higher‑density readiness, cooling upgrades and site modernisation.
While still facing challenges, Hudson delivered a promising year of sales performance, supported by new customer wins and expanded commitments from existing clients. Cross-connect revenue continued to increase year-on-year, and capacity utilisation on the sixth floor increased by 46.4%. Construction of two new data halls, adding 2MW of power capacity, made good progress and is expected to complete imminently. These halls can support high-density workloads of up to 40kW per rack, reflecting growing demand for AI and other compute-intensive applications. Nearly 20% of the new capacity has been presold.
NAV highlights
For the year ended 31 March 2026, the Company recorded net profit of £159.3 million, representing a 16.3% return on the opening ex-dividend NAV (31 March 2025 profit: £105.2 million, representing an 11.6% return). This equates to 20.8p per share (31 March 2025: 13.7p per share). At 31 March 2026, NAV stood at £1.12 billion, or 146.0p per share, compared to £992.5 million, or 129.6p per share, at 31 March 2025. The opening ex-dividend NAV for the period was £975.3 million, or 127.4p per share.
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Figure 4: NAV bridge for the year to 31 March 2026
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£m |
|
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NAV at 1 April 2025 |
992.5 |
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Dividend paid July 2025 |
(17.2) |
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Opening ex-dividend NAV |
975.3 |
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Accrued income |
18.5 |
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Value movement |
135.3 |
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Foreign exchange movement |
38.9 |
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Fund expenses |
(11.8) |
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Interest expenses |
(21.6) |
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Interim dividend paid |
(16.7) |
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NAV at 31 March 2026 |
1,117.9 |
Application of IFRS
The Company only holds Hudson directly. Emitel, CRA, Speed Fibre, DCU and BTC are all held through the Company's wholly owned subsidiary, Cordiant Digital Holdings UK Limited (CDH UK). The borrower of the Company's holding company‑level debt facilities is CDH UK. Under the application of IFRS 10 and the classification of the Company as an investment entity, the Company's investment in CDH UK is recorded as a single investment that encompasses underlying exposure to Emitel, CRA, Speed Fibre, DCU, BTC and the holding company credit facilities. The underlying elements of the overall value movement attributable to foreign exchange movements and value movement and income from each portfolio company are identified in Figure 5. The Company's profit and NAV under this approach are the same as shown in the audited IFRS Statement of Comprehensive Income and the Statement of Financial Position.
Figure 5 shows the reconciliation of Figure 4 to the IFRS Statement of Comprehensive Income. Figure 8 shows the underlying components of the IFRS Statement of Financial Position.
|
Figure 5: Reconciliation of Statement of Comprehensive Income to Figure 4 |
|||||||
|
Year ended 31 March 2026 (£m) |
Accrued income |
Value movement |
Net foreign exchange movement |
Intercompany balances |
Fund expenses |
Interest expense |
IFRS P&L |
|
Movement in fair value of investments |
16.8 |
135.3 |
47.6 |
(35.5) |
(0.8) |
(21.6) |
141.8 |
|
Unrealised foreign exchange gains |
- |
- |
(0.6) |
- |
- |
- |
(0.6) |
|
Management fee income |
1.3 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
1.3 |
|
Dividend income |
- |
- |
- |
35.5 |
- |
- |
35.5 |
|
Other expenses |
- |
- |
- |
- |
(10.4) |
- |
(10.4) |
|
Investment acquisition costs |
- |
- |
- |
- |
(0.6) |
- |
(0.6) |
|
FX movements on working capital & loans |
- |
- |
(8.1) |
- |
- |
- |
(8.1) |
|
Finance income |
0.4 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
0.4 |
|
Finance expense |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
|
|
18.5 |
135.3 |
38.9 |
- |
(11.8) |
(21.6) |
159.3 |
|
Year ended 31 March 2025 (£m) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Movement in fair value of investments |
9.9 |
125.2 |
(4.6) |
(21.6) |
(0.4) |
(18.3) |
90.2 |
|
Unrealised foreign exchange gains |
- |
- |
(1.1) |
- |
- |
- |
(1.1) |
|
Management fee income |
- |
- |
- |
0.8 |
- |
- |
0.8 |
|
Dividend income |
- |
- |
- |
24.6 |
- |
- |
24.6 |
|
Other expenses |
- |
- |
- |
- |
(8.6) |
- |
(8.6) |
|
Investment acquisition costs |
- |
- |
- |
- |
(1.2) |
- |
(1.2) |
|
FX movements on working capital & loans |
- |
- |
2.9 |
- |
- |
- |
2.9 |
|
Finance income |
1.3 |
- |
0.1 |
- |
- |
- |
1.4 |
|
Finance expense |
- |
- |
- |
(3.8) |
- |
- |
(3.8) |
|
|
11.2 |
125.2 |
(2.6) |
- |
(10.2) |
(18.3) |
105.2 |
NAV performance in the period
This section, including valuation, foreign exchange, costs and gearing, refers to the figures in Figure 5 and Figure 8 on the non‑IFRS basis.
Valuation
The Investment Manager prepares semi-annual valuations according to the IPEV Guidelines and IFRS 13. These valuations are reviewed and challenged by the Board. The Board also engages an expert valuations team from a Big Four accounting firm to carry out independent valuations of the portfolio companies at each valuation date.
The Investment Manager and Board are aware of the scepticism that some private asset valuations elicit and so take great care to maintain a rigorous process, using market information from reputable third-party sources wherever possible. DCF is the primary methodology of valuation, as noted in the Company's IPO prospectus. The Investment Manager is confident that the quality of earnings included in the DCF models, and the actual cash generation of the assets, demonstrate the qualities of the portfolio, notwithstanding volatility in the market-observable inputs used every six months to construct the WACC used for each valuation as a discount rate.
Figure 9 shows the movement in the Company's average WACC over time, weighted for the investments held at each reporting date. Between 31 March 2025 and 31 March 2026, the average WACC decreased marginally by one basis point. The WACCs of Emitel, CRA and Speed Fibre remained unchanged from 31 March 2025, while Hudson's increased, offset by the inclusion of DCU in the mix which brought the average down from 31 March 2025.
Figure 6 provides a breakdown of the unrealised value movements in the year excluding the impact of FX. Most of the unrealised value gains in the year were driven by CRA and Emitel.
|
Figure 6: Bridge table breakdown of unrealised value movement in the year |
||||
|
Emitel |
|
|
|
65.7 |
|
CRA |
|
|
|
67.5 |
|
Speed Fibre |
|
|
|
9.4 |
|
DCU |
|
|
|
2.7 |
|
Hudson |
|
|
|
(11.6) |
|
BTC |
|
|
|
0.4 |
|
Other |
|
|
|
1.2 |
|
Total unrealised value movement |
|
|
|
135.3 |
Emitel's unrealised value gain was driven by the roll forward of the DCF model, supported by outperformance this year relative to the business plan assumed in the valuation, with cash distributions totalling £53.1 million. Emitel's total return in the year in local currency terms was 13.8%.
CRA's return was supported by successful execution of its business plan being reflected in the roll forward of the DCF model. In addition, the development land value of Prague Gateway, as assessed by a third-party valuation advisor, together with the market value of CRA's real estate assets intended to be sold, were included in CRA's NAV for a total of £54.7 million. CRA's increase in equity value was 14.8% in local currency terms.
In the year, €17 million was injected into Speed Fibre to support the acquisition and integration of the BT Ireland business. In local currency terms, Speed Fibre's NAV, adjusting for the impact of the additional capital invested, increased by 9.4%, supported by roll-forward of the DCF model and some early benefits of the BT Ireland acquisition being reflected in the valuation.
DCU, the newest digital infrastructure platform to the portfolio, recorded a £2.7 million increase in fair value (excluding FX) plus accrued shareholder loan interest of £0.6 million following several strategic developments.
Hudson, representing 2.7% of the total fair value of investments, continues to be an underperforming asset. Capital injections to support the construction of new data halls and operating losses were largely offset by an increase in the discount rate which negatively impacted Hudson's NAV. The Investment Manager believes that the opening and commercialisation of the new data halls should be value accretive over time, while it works on several strategic initiatives to optimise the value of the asset.
The valuation of BTC, the smallest portfolio company, was supported by robust cash generation in the year.
At 31 March 2026, the portfolio's GAV was equivalent to 10.7x LTM portfolio EBITDA (before Company-level costs). Recent transactions involving mobile tower assets and data centres in other markets have occurred at multiples significantly exceeding this number.
Foreign exchange
The Company recognised a net foreign exchange gain in the year of £38.9 million due to appreciation of the Czech koruna and the Polish zloty against sterling, offset by a small loss on the US dollar. FX gains on euro-denominated investments were offset by appreciation in the value of the Company's euro‑denominated holding company debt. While the Company typically hedges cash distributions from the portfolio companies through forward contracts, no balance sheet hedging has been undertaken to date. The cost of doing this continues to be disproportionate to the benefit, such that the aggregate cost of hedging would over several years consume the gain being protected. The Investment Manager and Board have kept the Company's hedging strategy under regular review given the volatility in foreign exchange rates and movement in forward points in the Company's respective currency pairs. The Company is a long-term investor in the portfolio and currently does not seek to manage balance sheet foreign exchange exposure from reporting period to reporting period.
|
Figure 7: Bridge table breakdown of unrealised foreign exchange movement in the year |
||||
|
Emitel |
|
|
|
12.8 |
|
CRA |
|
|
|
27.7 |
|
Speed Fibre |
|
|
|
4.8 |
|
DCU |
|
|
|
4.0 |
|
Hudson |
|
|
|
(0.6) |
|
BTC |
|
|
|
0.3 |
|
Other FX including debt and working capital |
|
|
|
(10.1) |
|
Total unrealised FX movement |
|
|
|
38.9 |
|
Figure 8: Underlying components of Statement of Financial Position |
||||||||||||
|
Year ended 31 March 2026 (£m)
|
Emitel |
CRA |
Speed Fibre |
DCU |
Hudson |
BTC |
Total fair value of investments |
Cash |
Inter-company balances |
Other assets and liabilities |
Holding company debt |
IFRS Total |
|
Investments |
623.0 |
524.2 |
116.3 |
55.1 |
36.7 |
6.7 |
1,361.9 |
0.4 |
176.2 |
5.8 |
(267.5) |
1,276.8 |
|
Receivables |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
1.4 |
9.2 |
- |
10.6 |
|
Cash |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
10.0 |
- |
- |
- |
10.0 |
|
Payables |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
(0.3) |
(1.8) |
- |
(2.1) |
|
Loans and borrowings |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
(177.4) |
- |
- |
(177.4) |
|
|
623.0 |
524.2 |
116.3 |
55.1 |
36.7 |
6.7 |
1,361.9 |
10.5 |
- |
13.1 |
(267.5) |
1,117.9 |
|
Year ended 31 March 2025 (£m)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Investments |
581.4 |
429.0 |
87.3 |
77.6 |
36.2 |
6.0 |
1,217.6 |
1.3 |
146.1 |
4.9 |
(245.3) |
1,124.7 |
|
Receivables |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
1.5 |
9.3 |
- |
10.8 |
|
Cash |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
6.1 |
- |
- |
- |
6.1 |
|
Payables |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
(1.5) |
- |
(1.5) |
|
Loans and borrowings |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
(147.6) |
- |
- |
(147.6) |
|
|
581.4 |
429.0 |
87.3 |
77.6 |
36.2 |
6.0 |
1,217.6 |
7.4 |
- |
12.8 |
(245.3) |
992.5 |
|
Figure 9: Weighted average discount rates over time |
|
|
31 March 2022 |
8.05% |
|
30 September 2022 |
8.52% |
|
31 March 2023 |
9.60% |
|
30 September 2023 |
9.78% |
|
31 March 2024 |
9.60% |
|
30 September 2024 |
9.50% |
|
31 March 2025 |
9.32% |
|
30 September 2025 |
9.29% |
|
31 March 2026 |
9.31% |
|
Figure 10: Weighted average cost of capital at 31 March 2026 |
||||
|
|
Range low point |
Range high point |
Weighted average mid-point |
|
|
Cost of equity |
10.7% |
13.5% |
11.5% |
|
|
Cost of debt |
5.0% |
8.0% |
6.8% |
|
|
WACC |
8.3% |
11.0% |
9.3% |
|
|
Weighted average cost of capital at 31 March 2025 |
|
|||
|
|
Range low point |
Range high point |
Weighted average mid-point |
|
|
Cost of equity |
10.3% |
12.9% |
11.1% |
|
|
Cost of debt |
5.0% |
7.6% |
6.6% |
|
|
WACC |
8.3% |
11.1% |
9.3% |
|
Costs
Figure 11 provides a summary of the operating costs incurred by the Company and its intermediate holding subsidiaries. Management fees for the year represented 0.68% of NAV and have increased on last year as management fees, payable monthly, are calculated on the Company's average market capitalisation in each month. Market capitalisation increased over the course of the year as the share price has risen. The ongoing costs ratio, calculated in accordance with the guidelines published by the AIC, is 0.99% per annum. Non‑recurring costs largely include fees relating to the Company's migration to the Official List of the FCA and broken deal costs.
In addition, there were £21.6 million of costs relating to the Company's holding company debt facilities. These costs included interest, commitment fees, agency fees and amortised transaction costs.
|
Figure 11: Summary of Company-level operating costs
|
|||||||||
|
Year ended 31 March 2026 |
Year ended 31 March 2025 |
||||||||
|
£m |
The Company |
Intermediate holding companies |
Total |
% of NAV5 |
The Company |
Intermediate holding companies |
Total |
% of NAV5 |
|
|
Management fees |
7.2 |
- |
7.2 |
0.68% |
6.1 |
- |
6.1 |
0.63% |
|
|
Directors' fees |
0.2 |
- |
0.2 |
0.02% |
0.2 |
- |
0.2 |
0.02% |
|
|
Audit fees |
0.2 |
0.2 |
0.4 |
0.04% |
0.2 |
0.2 |
0.4 |
0.04% |
|
|
Other recurring costs |
2.2 |
0.4 |
2.5 |
0.25% |
2.0 |
0.3 |
2.3 |
0.24% |
|
|
Recurring operating costs |
9.8 |
0.6 |
10.4 |
0.99% |
8.5 |
0.5 |
9.0 |
0.94% |
|
|
Non-recurring costs |
1.2 |
0.2 |
1.4 |
0.13% |
1.4 |
(0.1) |
1.2 |
0.13% |
|
|
Total operating costs |
11.0 |
0.8 |
11.8 |
1.12% |
9.9 |
0.4 |
10.2 |
1.07% |
|
5. Average of the opening and closing NAV for the period.
Financial gearing and liquidity
At the date of this report, there were five sets of debt facilities in the Company's group: four at the platform company level and one at the holding company level.
Consolidated gearing across the group, as measured by net borrowings (loans from banks and other institutions) to GAV, was 40.1% (31 March 2025: 40.3%). As measured by net borrowings to LTM EBITDA (factoring Company-level and intermediate holding subsidiaries' costs), consolidated group net leverage was 4.6x (31 March 2025: 4.5x). Both Emitel and CRA retain individual net leverage ratios comfortably less than 3x, lower than other digital infrastructure platforms that may be viewed as comparators of either business.
71.4% of drawn debt is currently on a fixed-interest basis through fixed rated coupons or interest rate swaps, with the remainder floating, none of which is inflation-linked. The weighted average margin across all facilities remains at approximately 3% above the relevant interbank or swap rates. There are no debt maturities in the group before June 2029. The group has benefited by having no exposure to sterling-denominated debt which has been significantly more expensive than euro-denominated debt, the latter representing 56.4% of all debt outstanding in the group. Euro-denominated debt also provides a currency hedge for the Company's euro-denominated investments.
Total external net borrowings in the group have increased by £77.1 million since 31 March 2025 reflecting: depreciation of sterling; drawdowns of senior facilities at the portfolio company level to finance growth investments; and drawdowns under the holding company facilities, mainly to finance the BT Ireland acquisition. In the year, the RCF at CDH UK was fully repaid through the net proceeds of the DCU syndication and the net proceeds of the DCU senior refinancing.
Aggregate cash balances at the Company, subsidiary and platform level were equivalent to £74.3 million. Including undrawn debt facilities, total liquidity across the group was equivalent to £220.2 million.
|
Figure 12: Group consolidated external borrowings and liquidity position at 31 March 2026
|
|
|||||||
|
|
Currency of borrowings |
Gross borrowings £m |
Maturity year |
Cash £m |
Undrawn debt £m |
Total liquidity £m |
||
|
Emitel |
PLN & EUR |
287.2 |
2030 |
41.8 |
25.2 |
67.0 |
||
|
CRA |
CZK |
142.6 |
2030 |
10.4 |
35.7 |
46.1 |
||
|
Speed Fibre |
EUR |
108.9 |
2029 |
5.2 |
5.1 |
10.3 |
||
|
Hudson |
n/a |
- |
n/a |
3.3 |
- |
3.3 |
||
|
DCU (37.4%)6 |
EUR |
17.0 |
2030 |
0.6 |
18.6 |
19.1 |
||
|
BTC |
n/a |
- |
n/a |
2.5 |
- |
2.5 |
||
|
The Company7 |
EUR |
267.5 |
2029 |
10.5 |
61.4 |
71.9 |
||
|
Total |
|
823.3 |
|
74.3 |
145.9 |
220.2 |
||
6. Figures pro-rated for the 37.4% stake in DCU held by the Company.
7. Together with its intermediate holding subsidiaries.
|
Figure 13: Group consolidated gearing ratio at 31 March 2026 |
||||
|
|
31 March 2026 £m |
Percentage of |
31 March 2025 £m |
Percentage of GAV % |
|
Total cash |
74.3 |
|
82.5 |
|
|
Total gross borrowings |
823.3 |
|
754.5 |
|
|
Total net borrowings |
749.1 |
40.1% |
672.0 |
40.3% |
|
NAV |
1,117.9 |
|
992.5 |
|
|
GAV |
1,867.0 |
|
1,664.5 |
|
Dividend coverage
The Company's dividend remains covered by AFFO, which represents the portfolio's recurring free cash flow before growth‑related investments and net working capital movements. The AFFO dividend cover ratio has remained consistent year‑on‑year at 1.7x based on the new dividend target announced. Growth in EBITDA has been offset mainly by higher financing expenses due to debt drawn to fund new investments. Figure 14 shows the calculation of AFFO for the 12 months to 31 March 2026.
|
Figure 14: Calculation of adjusted funds from operations (AFFO)
|
||
|
|
12 months to |
12 months to 31 March 20259 £m |
|
Portfolio revenues10 |
394.6 |
324.1 |
|
Portfolio normalised EBITDA10 |
174.9 |
153.9 |
|
Dividend coverage, EBITDA basis |
5.1x |
4.6x |
|
Net Company-specific costs |
(11.8) |
(10.2) |
|
Net finance costs |
(52.2) |
(40.3) |
|
Net taxation, other |
(28.7) |
(27.9) |
|
Mandatory debt repayments |
(4.9) |
- |
|
Free cash flow before all capex |
77.3 |
75.4 |
|
Maintenance capex11 |
(20.0) |
(17.1) |
|
Adjusted funds from operations |
57.3 |
58.3 |
|
Dividend at 4.45p and 4.35p per share respectively |
(34.1) |
(33.3) |
|
Dividend cover |
1.7x |
1.7x |
|
9. |
At average FX rates for the period. |
|
10. |
Aggregate portfolio revenues and EBITDA in this table differ from the headline figures detailed in Figure 1, as Figure 1 is based on the most recent financial year of each portfolio company (some of which have 31 December year ends), whereas this table reflects the last 12 months to 31 March. |
|
11. |
Aggregate growth capex of £49.4 million was invested in the 12 months to 31 March 2026 across the portfolio and £29.0 million in the 12 months to 31 March 2025. |
Investee company performance
Adjusted portfolio EBITDA for the year increased 7.8% over the prior year, on a pro forma, constant currency basis, driven by contributions from contract wins, cost control, the beneficial effects of inflation and other price escalators on revenue, and the acquisition of BT Ireland's assets in September 2025. Adjusted portfolio revenue increased 9.9% on the same basis.8
Over the financial year, across the portfolio companies, £49.4 million was invested in growth capital expenditure on key strategic initiatives highlighted in this report, with nearly half of this amount relating to data centres, and £20.0 million was invested in maintenance capital expenditure including investment in IT and enterprise resource planning systems and infrastructure modernisation.
The portfolio is well diversified across asset classes, comprising 1,440 communications towers, 24 data centres, and 14,272km of fibre-optic networks. Backbone fibre represents the largest revenue contributor, representing 30% of total pro forma revenue, along with digital TV infrastructure also at 30%. Data centres, cloud services, and mobile towers collectively account for approximately 27%, while digital radio infrastructure, including both DAB+ and FM transmission, contributes 11%. Poland continues to be the portfolio's largest geographic exposure, generating 37% of revenue and benefiting from its position as one of the fastest‑growing major European economies, evident from the appreciation of the Polish zloty.
8 Refer to footnotes under Figure 1 regarding the composition of pro forma revenue and EBITDA and associated adjustments.
The Investment Manager's digital infrastructure team
The Investment Manager's experienced team is committed to supporting the Company's platform companies in achieving their growth ambitions, as well as sourcing and delivering investment opportunities aligned with target returns. This commitment is further demonstrated by the recent addition of three experienced professionals to the team, enhancing capacity and supporting the next phase of growth. The team possesses deep, senior‑level experience of managing and operating world-class digital infrastructure businesses. This is complemented by private equity executives with decades of experience advising and investing in the sector, creating a unique and highly differentiated combination of capabilities.
Environmental, social and governance highlights
The Investment Manager's focus during the year was the reduction of the portfolio's climate impact, translating into a 13% reduction in Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions and an increase in renewable energy procurement (inclusive of electricity and fuel consumption), matching 81% of total energy consumption. Progress has been supported by targeted investments in energy efficiency, infrastructure optimisation, and notable achievements across the portfolio, including Speed Fibre's strong ESG performance recognised by a 100/100 GRESB score.
The Investment Manager continues to support portfolio companies in strengthening their transition approaches, including improving data quality, formalising decarbonisation pathways where appropriate, and enhancing disclosure in line with evolving regulatory expectations.
Market
Demand for digital infrastructure continues to be underpinned by powerful structural growth drivers, with increasing data creation and compute requirements across industries. Cloud adoption, hyperscale data centres, AI and machine learning workloads, edge computing and the continued rollout of advanced connectivity networks are creating a non-cyclical expansion in demand for secure, resilient and scalable infrastructure.
The rise in enterprise adoption of AI is accelerating this trend, as organisations increasingly require high-performance compute, low-latency connectivity and reliable local infrastructure to support AI-enabled applications and workflows. At the same time, the increasing need for data sovereignty is driving demand for local data processing, storage and movement, with governments taking a more active role in shaping the digital ecosystem as AI becomes more embedded in economies and public services.
Power availability, energy efficiency, carbon reduction and speed of delivery are also becoming central strategic considerations, particularly as customers seek to meet end-user demand within shorter timeframes. These factors are shaping asset selection, partnership models and investment decisions across the sector. The Company's assets, spanning mobile towers, broadcast networks, edge data centres and fibre optic networks, are well positioned to support these long-term trends, providing essential connectivity, capacity and resilience across the digital infrastructure value chain.
Outlook
The Investment Manager remains confident in the quality of the portfolio and the strength of its underlying cash flows. The assets have been acquired at what are considered attractive entry points, balancing value with significant growth potential. Robust internally generated cash flows, combined with available debt facilities, provide the Company with the flexibility to sustain dividend payments, fund essential maintenance, and pursue platform expansion opportunities.
Delivering the targeted 9% shareholder return, through a combination of income and capital appreciation, continues to be a central focus. To achieve this, the Investment Manager has built a deep pool of digital infrastructure specialists with the expertise required to optimise performance and unlock value from Core Plus assets.
With strong performance since IPO and a successful year ended 31 March 2026, the Company remains well positioned to deliver on its objectives. While performance in the first half of the new financial year is expected to reflect recent customer churn and the phasing of new business, the Investment Manager is confident that these factors will not alter the Company's medium- to long-term trajectory. The Investment Manager is encouraged by the number of growth prospects being pursued by the platform companies which should bring value accretion to the portfolio over time.
The portfolio's contracted order book remains healthy, with approximately £952.1 million of revenue contracted across the portfolio at 31 March 2026, with contracts extending out as far as 2044.
Despite recent energy market volatility linked to the Middle East conflict, both CRA and Emitel have hedged nearly all their energy requirements for the current calendar year and more than half of next year's needs. The Company's data centre assets are also well insulated from power price movements, as customer-related electricity expenses are typically passed through to customers, resulting in no material exposure to rising energy prices.
In short, the Investment Manager approaches the future with confidence, supported by a resilient portfolio, clear growth pathways and a compelling medium- to long-term outlook.
Review of portfolio companies
|
GAV breakdown of portfolio |
NAV (£m) |
Net borrowings (£m) |
GAV (£m) |
Percentage of GAV |
|
Emitel |
623.0 |
245.5 |
868.5 |
46.5% |
|
CRA |
524.2 |
132.1 |
656.3 |
35.2% |
|
Speed Fibre |
116.3 |
103.7 |
220.0 |
11.8% |
|
DCU (37.4%)1 |
55.1 |
16.5 |
71.6 |
3.8% |
|
Hudson |
36.7 |
(3.3) |
33.4 |
1.8% |
|
BTC |
6.7 |
(2.5) |
4.2 |
0.2% |
|
Other assets and liabilities including CDH UK debt |
(244.0) |
257.1 |
13.1 |
0.7% |
|
Total |
1,117.9 |
749.1 |
1,867.0 |
100.0% |
1. Figures pro-rated for CORD's 37.4% economic stake in DCU.
Emitel multi-asset platform Poland (acquired November 2022)
www.emitel.pl
|
Emitel |
£m |
|
Original cost |
353.0 |
|
Value at 1 April 2025 |
581.4 |
|
Interest accrued on shareholder loan in the period |
0.1 |
|
Repayment of shareholder loan principal and accrued interest, and reduction in share capital |
(37.0) |
|
Unrealised value gain in the period |
65.7 |
|
Unrealised foreign exchange gain in the period |
12.8 |
|
Value at 31 March 2026 |
623.0 |
|
Distributions paid by Emitel to the Company in the period, comprising £37.0m in shareholder loan repayment and share capital reductions, and £16.1m in dividends and management fees |
53.1 |
|
Emitel overview |
PLN millions |
GBP1 millions |
|
||
|
|
12 months to 31 December 2025 |
12 months to 31 December 2024 |
12 months to 31 December 2025 |
12 months to 31 December 2024 |
% change 2
|
|
Revenue |
688.7 |
657.4 |
139.4 |
133.1 |
4.8% |
|
EBITDA |
472.0 |
437.4 |
95.5 |
88.5 |
7.9% |
|
|
31 March 2026 |
31 March 2025 |
31 March 2026 |
31 March 2025 |
|
|
Gross borrowings |
1,407.5 |
1,365.0 |
287.2 |
273.0 |
|
|
Cash |
204.8 |
224.4 |
41.8 |
44.9 |
|
|
Undrawn debt |
123.5 |
174.5 |
25.2 |
34.9 |
|
1 Revenue and EBITDA calculated on a constant currency basis.
2 Percentage movements are calculated using local currency (PLN) figures.
|
Revenue PLN m |
|
EBITDA PLN m |
|
|
31 December 2022 |
548 |
31 December 2022 |
368 |
|
31 December 2023 |
594 |
31 December 2023 |
384 |
|
31 December 2024 |
657 |
31 December 2024 |
437 |
|
31 December 2025 |
689 |
31 December 2025 |
472 |
Financial performance
Emitel delivered robust performance in its financial year ended 31 December 2025, underpinned by growth across its core business segments. Revenue expansion was supported by TV and radio broadcast agreements secured in 2024, continued scaling of the mobile towers division, and the benefit of inflation-linked price escalators within contracted services. Telecom infrastructure revenue increased by 5.6% year‑on-year, reflecting sustained demand for tower capacity and steady progress on the build-to-suit programme with Orange Poland. The mobile network operator tenancy ratio on Emitel's sites is approximately 1.81x, with the total tenancy ratio, including public sector customers, being 2.37x.
Emitel's net leverage ratio, as reported to its senior lenders, was 2.76x as of 31 March 2026. Emitel repaid PLN 24.1m (£4.9 million) of term debt on 31 December 2025. In the 12 months to 31 March 2026 Emitel returned cash of PLN 260.0 million (£53.1 million) to the Company and its intermediate holding companies.
Operations
Emitel's contracted order book remains strong at PLN 2.5 billion (£505.9 million), with contracts extending out as far as 2044. The weighted average remaining contract length in TV broadcasting is four years, two years in radio broadcasting and 11 years in telecom infrastructure services.
At the end of March 2026, Emitel entered the colocation data centre market through the acquisition of a Tier III colocation facility under a sale and leaseback arrangement with a global IT infrastructure services provider as anchor tenant. The site, located on the outskirts of Warsaw within a key logistics and infrastructure corridor, carries approximately 2MW in capacity, with further expansion potential. This transaction broadens Emitel's service offering and establishes a platform for future growth; the company is integrating the asset into its wider operations and intends to scale its presence in the Polish data centre market through targeted growth capex and selective bolt-on acquisitions.
Emitel continues to expand its mobile tower portfolio and in the year received orders for the first batches of sites to be delivered under the build‑to‑suit agreement signed with Orange Poland in April 2025. Emitel also completed the integration of PSN Infrastruktura, which contributes 12 operational towers to the portfolio and 11 sites in development. At 31 March 2026, Emitel's tower portfolio stood at 774 sites; through the build-to-suit programme and further bolt-on acquisitions, Emitel expects to grow its portfolio to over 1,000 sites over the next few years.
Emitel is progressing expansion of its distributed antenna systems offering, delivering additional projects in 2025 across public buildings, retail and warehouse facilities, which supported revenue growth in this segment. Demand for this type of infrastructure is increasing from mobile operators as well as public, commercial and office property owners, and the company is actively pursuing further projects in this space.
Radio broadcasting continued to grow in the year. Renewed contracts included a tender win with Polskie Radio for 42 emissions, with a 39-month term commencing in July 2026 and a total contract value of PLN 15.3 million (£3.1 million). Emitel also renewed two contracts with regional broadcasters. Combined, these three contracts will deliver a 9.5% uplift in their monthly recurring revenue.
In TV broadcasting, capacity on MUX-8 became available at the end of 2025, and Emitel is working with the regulator to bring new programming projects to market to utilise this space. Subject to a commercial agreement with customers, MUX-8 is ready to adopt the DVB-T2/HEVC broadcasting standard, enabling increased capacity and higher-resolution output (HD/UHD). In addition, Emitel is monitoring the possible introduction of MUX-5 and is actively participating in consultations announced by the regulator while awaiting the announcement of a competition for the operator of this potential new multiplex to bring additional HD/UHD channel capacity to the market.
Emitel further developed its hybrid terrestrial television (HbbTV) service in cooperation with leading broadcasters to bring additional functionality to the broadcast product. The company also continued to develop existing IPTV/OTT services by increasing the number of services provided under existing agreements.
Emitel continues to test 5G broadcast technology within the scope of currently implemented functionalities defined by the 3GPP standard. These tests cover radio coverage performance and mobility in urban environments, as well as smartphone reception capabilities, including the ability to receive 5G content and seamlessly switch to Wi-Fi networks. The trials also evaluate the potential of 5G broadcast for emergency warning systems. Results from tests conducted in collaboration with broadcasters TV Puls and TVP World confirm the technology's strong potential for commercial deployment once the full set of standard-defined functionalities is supported by receiving devices.
Emitel is advancing new commercial opportunities in IoT and smart cities, delivering additional projects for local governments and other customers, including solutions for remote water meter reading and smart parking. At the beginning of April 2026, Emitel won a tender by the Warsaw municipality to deliver a major city lights management programme, subject to overcoming an appeal lodged by a competitor in the tender process. Given the rapid development of the IoT and smart cities market, Emitel expects to expand its market share and grow revenues from this business line.
Finally, Emitel secured a contract with the Polish Air Navigation Services Agency (PANSA) to provide drone monitoring infrastructure across 114 sites, expanding its footprint in a business segment with significant opportunities for growth.
Outlook
Demand for modern digital infrastructure in Poland continues to be supported by resilient macroeconomic fundamentals and sustained public and private investment. According to Statistics Poland (GUS), real GDP grew by 3.6% year-on-year in 2025, and the country surpassed the US$1 trillion nominal GDP threshold. The European Commission forecasts real GDP growth of 3.5% in 2026, supported by EU-funded investment, with inflation moderating to 2.9%.
While Emitel's outlook is supported by favourable market conditions, performance in the near term is expected to be impacted by unutilised capacity on MUX-8, which is currently being marketed, with management remaining confident in the outlook for digital broadcast in Poland. The company remains focused on delivering a number of strategic projects to support future growth. These initiatives, including the potential rollout of MUX-5, development of an emergency warning system, executing the build-to-suit tower programme, integrating and growing the data centre business, and scaling of smart city solutions, are expected to drive both organic growth and diversification of the business over time. Successful delivery of these initiatives should strengthen the group's long‑term positioning and provide a foundation for an acceleration in growth in the medium term.
CRA multi-asset platform Czech Republic (acquired April 2021)
www.cra.cz
|
CRA |
£m |
|
Original cost |
305.9 |
|
Value at 1 April 2025 |
429.0 |
|
Unrealised value gain in the period |
67.5 |
|
Unrealised foreign exchange gain in the period |
27.7 |
|
Value at 31 March 2026 |
524.2 |
|
CRA overview |
CZK millions |
GBP1 millions |
|
||
|
|
12 months to 31 March 2026 |
12 months to 31 March 2025 |
12 months to 31 March 2026 |
12 months to 31 March 2025 |
% change3
|
|
Revenue |
2,935.2 |
2,854.0 |
103.7 |
100.8 |
2.8% |
|
EBITDA |
1,477.5 |
1,393.6 |
52.2 |
49.2 |
6.0% |
|
EBITDA after asset sales2 |
1,647.2 |
1,422.2 |
58.2 |
50.3 |
15.8% |
|
|
31 March 2026 |
31 March 2025 |
31 March 2026 |
31 March 2025 |
|
|
Gross borrowings |
3,999.0 |
3,899.0 |
142.6 |
130.9 |
|
|
Cash |
292.4 |
537.4 |
10.4 |
18.0 |
|
|
Undrawn debt |
1,001.0 |
1,100.0 |
35.7 |
36.9 |
|
1. Revenue and EBITDA calculated on a constant currency basis.
2. EBITDA has been adjusted to reflect cash proceeds received rather than accounting profit recognised on disposal.
3. Percentage movements are calculated using local currency (CZK) figures.
|
Revenue CZK m |
|
EBITDA CZK m |
|
|
|
|
31 March 2023 |
2,264 |
31 March 2023 |
1,162 |
|
|
|
31 March 2024 |
2,505 |
31 March 2024 |
1,264 |
|
|
|
31 March 2025 |
2,854 |
31 March 2025 |
1,394 |
|
|
|
31 March 2026 |
2,935 |
31 March 2026 |
1,478 |
|
|
Financial performance
CRA delivered modest year-on-year revenue growth, supported by broadcasting, data centres and OTT services, partly offset by expected churn of a cloud customer and lower than budgeted one-off cyber security revenue. EBITDA grew faster than revenue, reflecting cost discipline and the fact that the shortfall was concentrated in lower margin cyber security revenue, which had limited impact on profitability.
During the year, CRA generated CZK 169.7 million (£6.0 million) of cash proceeds from optimisation of its real estate portfolio and the disposal of redundant assets. After year end, the sale of Ještěd tower completed for a consideration of CZK 181.0 million (£6.5 million). Additional asset disposals are being pursued and could provide further cash flow in the year ending 31 March 2027. The market value of these assets was included in the valuation of CRA at 31 March 2026. Following these proceeds, CRA fully repaid its revolving credit facility after the year end. At 31 March 2026, CRA's net leverage ratio, as reported to its senior lenders, was 2.7x.
In September 2025, CRA paid a cash distribution of CZK 62 million (£2.2 million) to the Company.
Operations
CRA's contracted order book remains healthy at CZK 7.2 billion (£256.7 million), with contracts extending out as far as 2038. This figure excludes contracts likely to renew and inflation is applied only on contracts with automatic indexation clauses.
CRA continued to develop its data centre and cloud business during the year. Groundworks and sewerage installation for the Prague Gateway development completed at a cost of CZK 157 million (£5.6 million), and the project is moving into the main construction phase following the selection of a general contractor. Phase I comprises delivery of the core and shell together with an initial 4MW IT module, with construction expected to take up to 24 months at an estimated cost of less than CZK 2.0 billion (£71.3 million). The site has access to 26MW of power, of which 22MW is supported by fully duplicated infrastructure on a 2N basis, supporting a multi-stage campus with 17.3MW expected to be available to customers once fully built. The facility is being developed to Tier III+ standards, targeting an average PUE of 1.25 and up to 100% renewable electricity sourcing.
CRA is developing a pipeline of prospective Prague Gateway customers, including enterprise, government and larger-scale requirements, supporting the objective of securing an anchor tenant ahead of delivery of the first data hall. In parallel, CRA is progressing a carve-out of its data centre and cloud activities into a separate subsidiary encompassing both the existing operations and the Prague Gateway project. While CRA and the Company jointly retain the capacity to fund Phase I, the Investment Manager is exploring syndication of a minority stake in the data centre and cloud business to support construction and preserve capital for other initiatives. The development land of Prague Gateway was independently valued and included in the valuation of CRA at 31 March 2026 following meaningful progress on the project. CRA also remains engaged with the EU regarding the potential designation of Prague Gateway as a European AI Gigafactory, which, if secured, could support further expansion and potential public funding.
Elsewhere, CRA completed the 1.3MW expansion of a data centre at one of its broadcast towers in Prague Žižkov and is in discussions with potential tenants regarding the new capacity. CRA also entered the GPU‑as‑a‑service market, with Nvidia DGX Blackwell capacity installed at DC Lužice and initial demand contracted. Management expects this service to offer attractive payback periods and EBITDA margins. In addition, CRA won a tender from the public broadcaster to provide cloud services for the online distribution of Czech Radio content.
In broadcast, CRA's commercial DAB+ radio network, which was expanded earlier in the year to cover 83.4% of the Czech population, reached full utilisation during the period, compared with 73% utilisation reported in last year's annual results. The project performed ahead of budget on both revenue and cost efficiency and is expected to deliver an IRR of approximately 17%. CRA also expects to deploy additional transmitters for Czech Radio in the future.
In December 2025, CRA acquired nangu.TV, a Czech developer of IPTV and OTT multimedia platforms whose technology supports regional services including Slovak Orange TV. The transaction expands CRA's capabilities in TV and streaming distribution, broadens its product offering across integrated IPTV and OTT solutions, and is expected to create commercial synergies across the broadcast and connectivity portfolio.
CRA also completed the acquisition of Play.cz in April 2026, adding a Czech radio streaming platform and DAB+ network operator to its portfolio. The transaction adds streaming technology, software capabilities and an established customer base, including distribution for more than 90 radio stations, while increasing digital radio capacity and coverage. Together with the acquisition of nangu.TV, Play.cz supports CRA's strategy of building an integrated multi‑platform digital media infrastructure business.
The appeal process in the long-running dispute relating to the valuation of a family's purported former shareholding in a predecessor entity to CRA remains ongoing. The file is with the Court of Appeal and there has been no further substantive update since the Company's third quarter trading update published in March 2026.
Outlook
Growth in the new financial year is expected to reflect the phasing of certain projects and the progressive uptake of new capacity, and may not be evenly distributed across reporting periods.
In broadcasting, CRA's near-term priorities are to integrate nangu.TV and Play.cz, expand OTT distribution, and develop hybrid DTT/OTT services and audience measurement capabilities. Over the medium-term, CRA continues to evaluate next-generation delivery technologies, including 5G broadcast and public-sector use cases such as emergency messaging.
In data centres and cloud, near-term priorities are to monetise existing capacity, scale GPU‑as-a-service and secure anchor demand for Prague Gateway. Over the medium- to long‑term, CRA is pursuing opportunities to leverage its tower and telecoms assets for new contracts with mobile network operators and the public sector, while selectively building higher‑value capabilities in cyber security and IoT with a continued focus on profitability.
Speed Fibre fibre infrastructure platform Ireland (acquired October 2023)
www.speedfibregroup.ie
|
Speed Fibre |
£m |
|
Original cost* |
55.01 |
|
Value at 1 April 2025 |
87.3 |
|
Further investment by the Company in the period for the BT Ireland acquisition |
14.7 |
|
Unrealised value gain in the period |
9.4 |
|
Unrealised foreign exchange gain in the period |
4.8 |
|
Value at 31 March 2026 |
116.3 |
1. Net of €4.0 million (£3.4 million) of accrued deferred consideration that was no longer required to be paid, and reported net of £25.5 million vendor loan note.
|
Speed Fibre overview |
EUR millions |
GBP1 millions |
|
||
|
|
12 months to 31 December 2025 |
12 months to 31 December 2024 |
12 months to 31 December 2025 |
12 months to 31 December 2024 |
% change3
|
|
Revenue |
107.4 |
79.5 |
91.8 |
67.9 |
35.1% |
|
EBITDA |
26.3 |
24.7 |
22.5 |
21.1 |
6.5% |
|
Adjusted EBITDA2 |
28.1 |
25.8 |
24.0 |
22.0 |
8.9% |
|
|
31 March 2026 |
31 March 2025 |
31 March 2026 |
31 March 2025 |
|
|
Gross borrowings |
124.2 |
119.2 |
108.9 |
99.8 |
|
|
Cash |
6.0 |
8.3 |
5.2 |
7.0 |
|
|
Undrawn debt |
5.8 |
10.8 |
5.1 |
9.0 |
|
|
1. |
Revenue and EBITDA calculated on a constant currency basis. |
|
2. |
Cash receipts from indefeasible rights of use (IRU) contracts have been a regular and recurring feature of Speed Fibre's commercial model. The business actively pursues multi-year capacity and dark fibre IRUs as part of its standard go to market strategy, and, in practice, closes multiple IRU wins within most reporting periods. These contracts commonly include upfront consideration (in full or in staged milestones near contract inception), which is material and recurring at the portfolio level. Recognising these cash flows in the period received within IRU adjusted EBITDA therefore provides a clearer view of the period's cash earnings and the operating cash conversion associated with core fibre sales activity. |
|
3. |
Percentage movements are calculated using local currency (EUR) figures. |
|
Revenue EUR m |
|
EBITDA EUR m |
|
|
|
|
31 December 2022 |
75.7 |
31 December 2022 |
23.3 |
|
|
|
31 December 2023 |
78.6 |
31 December 2023 |
24.0 |
|
|
|
31 December 2024 |
79.5 |
31 December 2024 |
25.8 |
|
|
|
31 December 2025 |
107.4 |
31 December 2025 |
28.1 |
|
|
Financial performance
Speed Fibre's revenue and EBITDA growth in its financial year ended 31 December 2025 were supported by the acquisition of BT Ireland's wholesale fibre and B2B connectivity arm, now operating as Enet Communications Limited (ECL), on 1 September 2025. Excluding the ECL acquisition, the Speed Fibre business delivered positive recurring revenue growth, although total revenue and EBITDA growth were broadly flat in the year. This reflected the expected roll-off of certain project revenue, in addition to customer churn offsetting new sales, and some delays in service delivery.
The ECL acquisition was signed in February 2025 based on a headline enterprise value of €22 million (£18.3 million). The equity value and therefore cash consideration paid on 1 September 2025 were lower, at €16.3 million (£14.1 million), due to initial customary transaction purchase price adjustments. The purchase price for the transaction is subject to a further ongoing completion accounts review and could impact the final total cash consideration paid.
The ECL business operates at a lower EBITDA margin than Speed Fibre, reflecting a greater proportion of lower margin services within ECL's product mix. Speed Fibre's management is actively reviewing the combined portfolio, including the potential rationalisation of lower-margin products, to support improved profitability over the medium term. The revenue mix of Speed Fibre generally continues to shift toward higher growth data connectivity and platform services, while legacy voice services are progressively being discontinued.
Speed Fibre continued to benefit from cash receipts associated with indefeasible rights of use (IRU) contracts, which are a recurring feature of the commercial model. These contracts typically involve upfront cash payments and are reflected in adjusted EBITDA to better align reported earnings with underlying cash generation. Sales of these IRU contracts, typically with large multinational corporations operating in Ireland, do not have a material impact on Speed Fibre's ability to make available spare capacity on its network to other customers looking to lease capacity. The group maintains an active pipeline of IRU opportunities, supported by demand from hyperscalers and carrier core network deployments, with several multi-year projects identified.
Despite incurring extraordinary expenses on restructuring and integration relating to ECL, the business remains well capitalised with sufficient cash on hand and access to an RCF, of which €5.8 million (£5.1 million) was undrawn at 31 March 2026. Speed Fibre's debt facilities, which incur a margin of 2.5% p.a., are due for repayment in June 2029. The interest on Speed Fibre's term loan is 85% fixed until maturity through an interest rate swap priced at 1.74% (excluding the loan margin) and the interest payable on the RCF is floating rate based on Euribor. At 31 March 2026, Speed Fibre's net leverage ratio as reported to its senior lenders was 4.08x, with ample financial covenant headroom.
In March 2026, Speed Fibre distributed €0.53 million (£0.46 million) of cash to the Company.
Operations
During 2025, Speed Fibre continued to add capacity and connect new customers. At 31 March 2026, Speed Fibre had total contracted revenue of €108.9 million (£95.5 million) outstanding, calculated on a real basis. Operational focus remains on cost discipline, service delivery efficiency, and automation, alongside ongoing network optimisation programmes.
On 1 September 2025, the Company completed the acquisition of the arm of BT Ireland, now named ECL, which provides wholesale fibre and B2B connectivity to customers in the telecoms, enterprise and government sectors in Ireland across a c.3,400km network of owned and operated fibre, the replacement value of which today would be significantly more than the ECL purchase price. This acquisition enhances Speed Fibre's ability to deliver advanced connectivity solutions through the integration of complementary capabilities and a domestic customer base.
With the purchase of ECL, the combined Speed Fibre business now has c.110 wholesale customers, c.7,500 business customers through the enterprise services division Magnet+, and a fibre network of c.9,937km (owned or operated).
Integration work has progressed smoothly to date, and the company is working to realise synergies from the combination of the two businesses, with approximately €6.0 million (£5.2 million) of annual cost savings achieved to date. Aside from refining the combined group's product suite to support improved profitability, key areas of focus include integration of service delivery functions, rationalisation of product offerings, consolidation of property and infrastructure, and optimisation of headcount and support functions. These initiatives are expected to deliver sustained operating efficiencies and margin improvements as integration progresses further into the current financial year.
Outlook
While trading conditions in the Irish fibre market have remained subdued in recent periods, the long-term demand outlook for digital infrastructure remains supportive. Growth is underpinned by ongoing expansion in data‑intensive sectors such as technology, financial services and pharmaceuticals, alongside steady increases in demand for cloud computing, enterprise connectivity, AI workloads and mobile data usage. These trends are expected to contribute to continued growth in data traffic, data centre capacity requirements, and the need for high-capacity, low-latency fibre networks across Ireland. Against this backdrop, Speed Fibre is reasonably well positioned to participate in future growth opportunities. Management remains measured in its outlook for the year ahead, supported by a developing commercial pipeline and incremental benefits from integration and operational efficiency initiatives.
DCU data centre business Belgium (acquired February 2025)
www.datacentreunited.com
|
DCU |
£m |
|
Original cost |
76.71 |
|
Value at 1 April 2025 |
77.41 |
|
Interest accrued on shareholder loan in the period |
0.6 |
|
Syndication of a 10.1% stake in DCU to another investor |
(17.2) |
|
Repayment of shareholder loans from a senior bank refinancing |
(12.4) |
|
Unrealised value gain in the period |
2.7 |
|
Unrealised foreign exchange gain in the year |
4.0 |
|
Value at 31 March 2026 |
55.1 |
1. Net of €0.31 million (£0.27 million) post-closing reduction to the purchase consideration.
Financial performance
For its first financial year ended 31 December 2025, revenue for the newly combined data centre group was €36.1 million (£30.9 million at average FX rates for the year), while EBITDA reached €11.3 million (£9.7 million at average FX rates for the period). As the merger between DCU and Proximus' data centre operations (now DCU Brussels) completed at the end of February 2025, these figures do not reflect a full year of financial performance for the combined group. Pro forma revenue and EBITDA, reflecting a full 12 months of operation to 31 December 2025, were €41.3 million (£35.3 million) and €13.2 million (£11.4 million), respectively.
In July 2025, the Company successfully syndicated part of its stake in DCU to a Western European institutional investor via a fund managed by the Investment Manager, generating €20 million. The proceeds were used to prepay part of CDH UK's RCF. Following this transaction, the Company's economic interest in DCU stands at 37.4%, while governance and voting rights remain unchanged. The Investment Manager continues to manage the collective interest in DCU alongside TINC, the Belgian infrastructure investor, each holding a 47.5% economic interest and 50% of the voting rights in the share capital of DCU, while DCU's CEO, Friso Haringsma, holds a 5.0% non‑voting economic interest.
In September 2025, DCU secured a five-year senior financing package of €120 million, maturing in September 2030. The structure comprises a €50 million drawn term loan, which refinanced €10 million of existing senior debt and repaid €40 million of shareholder loans; a €50 million capex facility for growth investments; and €20 million of revolving credit and ancillary facilities for working capital and other purposes. Based on current net leverage, the facilities carry a margin of 2.25% over Euribor. €55 million of debt has been hedged for four years at a swap rate of 2.42%, providing an all-in fixed rate of 4.67% based on the current margin. Following the repayment of shareholder loans, the Company received an additional €15 million cash distribution, which was used to further prepay CDH UK's RCF.
At 31 March 2026, DCU held cash of €1.7 million (£1.5 million), and had unutilised credit facilities totalling €56.5 million (£49.6 million), with net leverage of 3.9x.
Operations
At 31 March 2026, DCU had a contracted colocation order book of approximately €83.4 million (£73.2 million) across its top 30 customers. This includes Proximus, which anchors the portfolio under an inflation‑linked 10-year contract with two five-year extension options. Other customers include blue‑chip corporate institutions such as Pfizer, Telenet and Atos.
Integration of the original DCU business and DCU Brussels progressed well during the year, with investments in the management team and enhancements to the commercial platform that strengthened pipeline management, customer segmentation and sales execution. The group is actively advancing growth opportunities across its portfolio while carefully managing renewals and customer retention.
DCU is progressing a phased investment programme across the platform, focused on capacity expansion, higher-density readiness, cooling upgrades and site modernisation. In Antwerp, the group secured an additional 17MW of power, providing a strong foundation for future capacity expansion. Further projects in Machelen, Ghent, Oostkamp and Evere are intended to increase sellable capacity, improve efficiency and support future customer demand. A key strategic priority is enabling higher‑density and AI-ready deployments through targeted upgrades to cooling, power and white space at core sites.
Operationally, the platform has continued to perform well, supported by strong uptime, resilience testing and ongoing infrastructure improvements. In parallel, DCU is advancing health, safety and compliance upgrades across sites, alongside energy and sustainability initiatives including renewable sourcing, progressive hedging and continued PUE reduction.
Outlook
Belgium continues to emerge as an attractive market for colocation and edge infrastructure, supported by structural growth in enterprise outsourcing, digital sovereignty requirements and increasing demand for higher‑density compute. As DCU has access to significant permitted power capacity at a time when power supply across the market remains constrained, the platform should benefit from additional lease-up over time.
DCU is actively progressing a selective pipeline of organic and inorganic expansion opportunities, while looking to enhance its capability to support higher‑density and AI‑driven workloads. Growth is being pursued in a disciplined manner, with capital allocation focused on projects offering strong demand visibility and scalable returns.
Hudson interconnect data centre New York (acquired January 2022)
www.hudsonix.com
|
Hudson |
£m |
|
Original cost |
55.8 |
|
Value at 1 April 2025 |
36.2 |
|
Further investment by the Company in the period |
12.6 |
|
Unrealised value loss in the period |
(11.6) |
|
Unrealised foreign exchange loss in the period |
(0.6) |
|
Value at 31 March 2026 |
36.7 |
Financial performance
Hudson saw annual revenue increase by 5.6% to $24.2 million (£18.1 million at average FX rates for the period). EBITDA loss reduced by 8.0% to $(3.8) million (loss of (£2.8) million at average FX rates for the year). The reduced loss was a result of new business wins, cost control and operational improvements implemented by the interim CEO and the team at Hudson.
At 31 March 2026, the business had cash of $4.4 million (£3.3 million) and was supported by capital injections of $17.0 million (£12.7 million) in the year from the Company to help ongoing expansion and offset negative operating cash flow.
The business continued to receive orders from both existing customers expanding their footprint in the data centre and new customers. Key contract wins included one with a technology company and expansion from three existing customers leading to the sale of all available capacity. Focus is now on selling the capacity from the new data halls under construction. Cross-connect revenue continued to grow and performed ahead of the budget.
Capacity utilisation of the sixth floor has increased by 46.4% to 783kW of power since 31 March 2025. In total, space utilisation increased to 70% of the fifth and sixth floors. The fifth floor remains fully occupied by the anchor tenant, Digital Realty Trust.
Operations
Construction of two new data halls to increase power capacity by 2MW is nearing completion and the new space is expected to be available to customers shortly. A subset of these two data halls will have the capability to service high-density power requirements of up to 40kW per rack. This is being driven by the customer demand that the team has generated recently. The Company expects to earn a high rate of return on this new investment.
Nearly 20% of the IT capacity has already been presold, helping Hudson to achieve its best financial year of new sales since its acquisition by the Company in 2022. Additional temporary capacity of 120kW was made available to serve growing demand whilst the data hall expansion is ongoing and was fully sold out to an existing customer before the end of the financial year. Only very limited capacity is now available until the new data halls come online.
Hudson continues to utilise its position as a highly connected, carrier-dense hub in New York, providing resilient infrastructure and consistently high service levels to customers.
Outlook
While completion of the new data halls and full commercialisation is expected to support Hudson's path to profitability, potential churn of one customer due to a strategic decision to exit the market may impact revenue growth in the short term. However, the last two years of management performance, consistently meeting the annual budget, provides some encouragement for the new year ahead. Management continues to explore various strategic initiatives to optimise the value of the asset.
BTC colocation services Belgium (acquired January 2024)
|
BTC |
£m |
|
Original cost |
5.2 |
|
Value at 1 April 2025 |
6.0 |
|
Unrealised value gain in the period |
0.4 |
|
Unrealised foreign exchange gain in the period |
0.3 |
|
Value at 31 March 2026 |
6.7 |
|
Dividend paid by BTC to the Company in the year |
0.5 |
BTC operates 11 communication towers in Belgium and is at the forefront of 5G broadcast innovation. BTC, alongside Emitel and CRA, continue to collaborate with other broadcast infrastructure operators across the world to advance initiatives that aim to introduce 5G broadcasting technology to enhance live content delivery to mobile devices and improve network resilience.
In November 2025, BTC, in collaboration with Media Broadcast and Rohde & Schwarz, managed the technical setup for a major showcase event in Brussels hosted by Broadcast Networks Europe. Leading operators such as TDF, Rai Way, BP, CRA, and Emitel attended. The live demonstration featured content broadcast via a BTC antenna from the Finance Tower in central Brussels. This initiative underscores BTC's role in advancing next-generation broadcast services and safeguarding the future of UHF spectrum.
During the 2026 Winter Olympics, Italian operator Rai and the European Broadcasting Union initiated 5G broadcast trials as a large‑scale, real-world evaluation of reception, service robustness and user experience of the technology.
5G broadcast expands the scope of broadcast networks by enabling new services - greater reach for advertisers, improved TV experiences on the move, and critical applications such as emergency alerts and navigation services. It also offers a spectrum-efficient, low-emission alternative to conventional streaming, using up to 10 times less energy and leveraging existing infrastructure for cost-effective deployment.
BTC remains strongly cash generative, with €2.8 million (£2.5 million) in cash at 31 March 2026 and a dividend of €0.6 million (£0.5 million) paid in the year ended 31 March 2026. A cash distribution of €0.8 million (£0.7 million) is expected to be paid by July 2026. Including this expected distribution, BTC will have returned €1.4 million (£1.2 million) in cash to the Company since acquisition, representing 23.2% of the acquisition cost.
Risk management
Principal risks and uncertainties
1. The capital markets may remain effectively closed to the Company for a significant period. As a consequence, the Company may be unable to raise new capital and it may therefore be unable to progress investment opportunities.
How we mitigate risk
The Company has acquired a portfolio of cash‑generating assets with significant organic growth prospects, which together are capable of providing returns meeting the investment objective without further acquisitions. The Investment Manager also continues to consider potential alternative sources of capital, including debt and coinvestment.
How the risk is changing
Many investment trust companies listed on the London Stock Exchange, including the Company, continue to trade at a substantial discount to NAV. The gradual improvement noted in the Company's 2025 Annual Report has continued, but it remains impossible to predict whether or when market conditions may improve sufficiently for new equity issuance to be undertaken.
Movement in the year - Level
2. There is a risk that, even when the capital markets are open, insufficient numbers of investors are prepared to invest new capital, or that investors are unwilling to invest sufficient new capital, to enable the Company to achieve its investment objectives.
How we mitigate risk
The Company has established a five-year track record of successful investments, which together are capable of providing returns meeting the investment objective without further acquisitions. The Investment Manager has deep sector knowledge and investment expertise and is well-known and respected in the market.
How the risk is changing
Although conditions in the equity market for investment trusts are still poor, potentially indicating a lack of available capital for investment or lack of appetite for investment in the investment trust sector, the move to the Official List should help make the Company more attractive to a wider range of investors.
Movement in the year - Lower
3. The Company may lose investment opportunities if it does not match investment prices, structures and terms offered by competing bidders. Conversely, the Company may experience decreased rates of return and increased risk of loss if it matches investment prices, structures and terms offered by competitors.
How we mitigate risk
The Investment Manager operates a prudent and disciplined investment strategy, participating in transaction processes only where it can be competitive without compromising its investment objectives.
How the risk is changing
The Investment Manager has been able to identify and pursue bilateral opportunities rather than auction processes, where competition for those assets has been a less significant factor. However, there can be no guarantee that suitable further bilateral opportunities will arise. In addition, current equity market conditions and the consequent limitations on the Company's ability to access capital markets may mean that it continues to be unable to pursue certain investment opportunities.
Movement in the year - Level
4. There can be no guarantee or assurance the Company will achieve its investment objectives, which are indicative targets only. Investments may fail to deliver the projected earnings, cash flows and/or capital growth expected at the time of acquisition, and valuations may be affected by foreign exchange fluctuations. The actual rate of return may be materially lower than the targeted rate of return.
How we mitigate risk
The Investment Manager performs a rigorous due diligence process with internal specialists and expert professional advisors in fields relevant to the proposed investment before any investment is made. The Investment Manager also carries out a regular review of the investment environment and benchmarks target and actual returns against the industry and competitors.
How the risk is changing
The results of our investments to date continue to be materially in line with our projections at the time of their acquisition and the target return for the Company, and their aggregate fair value has increased, contributing to NAV total return of 73.3% (assuming dividends reinvested) since the Company's IPO in 2021. This demonstrates the Investment Manager's ability to manage the investments to deliver returns and growth.
Movement in the year - Level
5. Actual results of portfolio investments may vary from the projections, which may have a material adverse effect on NAV.
How we mitigate risk
Senior members of the Investment Manager's team work closely with the local management teams of the portfolio companies. The Investment Manager provides the Board with at least quarterly updates of portfolio investment performance and detail around any material variation from budget and forecast returns.
How the risk is changing
The results of our investments to date continue to be materially in line with our projections at the time of their acquisition and with their budgets for the current year. This demonstrates the quality of the Investment Manager's projections and its ability to manage the investments to deliver the expected results.
Movement in the year - Level
6. The Company invests in unlisted digital infrastructure assets, and such investments are illiquid. There is a risk that it may be difficult for the Company to sell the digital infrastructure assets and the price achieved on any realisation may be at a discount to the prevailing valuation of the relevant digital infrastructure asset.
How we mitigate risk
The Investment Manager has considerable experience across relevant digital infrastructure sectors, and senior members of the team have had leadership roles in over $80 billion of relevant transactions. The Company seeks a diversified range of investments so that exposure to temporary poor conditions in any one market is limited.
How the risk is changing
The Company is a longer-term investor and is not currently seeking a full divestment of any asset. The Company's prudent leverage position, as regards both the quantum and terms of its debt, mean that the risk of a forced divestment is very low. Exposure to divestment risk is limited in the short to medium term.
Movement in the year - Level
7. The Company may invest in digital infrastructure assets which are in construction or construction‑ready or otherwise require significant future capital expenditure. Digital infrastructure assets which have significant capital expenditure requirements may be exposed to cost overruns, construction delay, failure to meet technical requirements or construction defects.
How we mitigate risk
The Investment Manager has significant experience of managing construction risks arising from digital infrastructure assets and will also engage third parties where appropriate to oversee such construction.
How the risk is changing
In pursuance of the Company's Buy, Build & Grow model, it will undertake significant capital construction projects. This risk has been low to date, and remains low, but will continue to increase as capital investment increases. In particular, the Prague Gateway project being undertaken by CRA, and on a smaller scale the data halls being constructed by Hudson, will involve some construction risk.
Movement in the year - Higher
8. The Company operates in markets in Europe and North America which are affected by global events. Supply chain disruption may be caused by conflicts (e.g. in Ukraine), political change (e.g. the rise of political populism), trade barriers, climate change and public health crises.
How we mitigate risk
The Company has acquired a geographically diverse portfolio of assets in various segments of the digital infrastructure market, and will continue to seek further diversification, reducing the impact of specific events on the Company as a whole.
How the risk is changing
Policy uncertainty, as measured by the Global Economic Policy Uncertainty index, has decreased significantly since its peak in April 2025, but remains high compared to a longer-term average. Financial market volatility as measured by the VIX (equity) and MOVE (debt) indices has decreased somewhat and is now broadly in line with longer-term averages.
Movement in the year - Lower
9. The Company and its portfolio companies, in common with most businesses, face a diverse array of cyber threats, including ransomware, phishing and supply chain attacks. Cyber incidents can have severe financial and reputational consequences.
How we mitigate risk
The Investment Manager and each portfolio company has an IT function whose remit specifically includes cybersecurity. The nature of the portfolio companies' business is such that there is significant in-house experience and expertise in the field of cybersecurity, and cybersecurity is a standing agenda item for the board of each portfolio company.
How the risk is changing
The incidence of cyber attacks appears to be on the increase, with several high-profile cases of cyber incidents in the news recently causing major companies significant disruption and cost.
Movement in the year - New
10. The Company is dependent on key personnel within the Investment Manager to make and manage investments, and could be adversely affected if those individuals left or were incapacitated.
How we mitigate risk
The Investment Manager regularly considers succession planning, and discusses this with the Company's Management Engagement Committee. The Investment Manager has one of the largest specialist digital infrastructure teams in the market and so has considerable strength in depth. The investment process is well understood and documented, and investment decisions are made by an investment committee and the Board, not by an individual.
How the risk is changing
The Investment Manager has a dedicated, specialist digital infrastructure team, with strength in depth. The senior leadership team has remained almost unchanged over the Company's five-year history.
Movement in the year - New
Statement of Directors' responsibilities
Company Law requires the Directors to prepare financial statements for each financial year and the Directors have elected to prepare the Company's financial statements in accordance with IFRS, as issued by IASB. Under Company Law, the Directors must not approve the financial statements unless they are satisfied that they give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the Company and of the profit or loss for the Company for that year, are in accordance with IFRS and comply with any enactment for the time being in force.
In preparing these financial statements, the Directors are required to:
|
- |
select suitable accounting policies and apply them consistently; |
|
- |
make accounting estimates that are reasonable and prudent; |
|
- |
prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the Company will continue in business; |
|
- |
present information in a manner that is relevant, reliable, comparable and understandable; and |
|
- |
state whether or not applicable accounting standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements. |
The Directors confirm that they have complied with the above requirements in preparing the financial statements. The Directors are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the Company's transactions and disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the Company and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with Company Law.
They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the Company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
The Directors are responsible for ensuring that the Annual Report, taken as a whole, is fair, balanced and understandable and provides the information necessary for shareholders to assess the Company's position and performance, business model and strategy.
Website publication
The Directors are responsible for ensuring the Annual Report and the financial statements are made available on a website. The financial statements are published on the Company's website at www.cordiantdigitaltrust.com in accordance with legislation in the UK governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements, which may vary from legislation in other jurisdictions. The maintenance and integrity of the Company's website is the responsibility of the Directors. The Directors' responsibilities also extend to the ongoing integrity of the financial statements contained therein. Legislation in Guernsey governing the preparation and dissemination of the financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.
Directors' responsibilities pursuant to DTR4
Each of the Directors, whose names are set out below, confirms to the best of their knowledge and belief that:
- the Company's financial statements have been prepared in accordance with IFRS, as issued by IASB, and give a true and fair view of the assets, liabilities, financial position and profit and loss of the Company; and
- the Annual Report includes a fair review of the development and performance of the business and the financial position of the Company, together with a description of the principal and emerging risks and uncertainties that they face.
Fair, balanced and understandable
The Directors are responsible for preparing the Annual Report in accordance with applicable law and regulations. Having taken advice from the Audit Committee, the Directors consider the Annual Report, taken as a whole, is fair, balanced and understandable and that it provides the information necessary for shareholders to assess the Company's position and performance, business model and strategy.
On behalf of the Board
Shonaid Jemmett-Page
Chairman
18 June 2026
Statement of Financial Position
As at 31 March 2026
|
|
Note |
As at |
As at |
|
Non-current assets |
|
|
|
|
Investments at fair value through profit or loss |
6 |
1,276,825 |
1,124,695 |
|
|
|
1,276,825 |
1,124,695 |
|
Current assets |
|
|
|
|
Receivables |
8 |
10,617 |
10,795 |
|
Cash and cash equivalents |
|
10,038 |
6,137 |
|
|
|
20,655 |
16,932 |
|
Current liabilities |
|
|
|
|
Loans and borrowings |
9 |
(177,440) |
(147,591) |
|
Accrued expenses and other creditors |
|
(2,091) |
(1,517) |
|
|
|
(179,531) |
(149,108) |
|
Net current liabilities |
|
(158,876) |
(132,176) |
|
Net assets |
|
1,117,949 |
992,519 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Equity |
|
|
|
|
Equity share capital |
10 |
774,218 |
774,214 |
|
Retained earnings - Revenue |
|
26,670 |
(162) |
|
Retained earnings - Capital |
|
317,061 |
218,467 |
|
Total equity |
|
1,117,949 |
992,519 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Number of shares in issue |
|
|
|
|
Ordinary shares |
10 |
765,718,165 |
765,715,477 |
|
|
|
765,718,165 |
765,715,477 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net asset value per ordinary share (pence) |
14 |
146.00 |
129.62 |
The financial statements were approved and authorised for issue by the Board of Directors on 18 June 2026 and signed on their behalf by:
Shonaid Jemmett-Page Sian Hill
Chairman Director
The accompanying notes form an integral part of these financial statements.
Statement of Comprehensive Income
Year ended 31 March 2026
|
|
|
|
Year ended 31 March 2026 |
|
Year ended 31 March 2025 |
||||||
|
|
Note |
|
Revenue £'000 |
Capital £'000 |
Total £'000 |
|
Revenue £'000 |
Capital £'000 |
Total £'000 |
||
|
Movement in fair value of investments held at fair value through profit or loss |
6 |
|
- |
141,748 |
141,748 |
|
- |
90,190 |
90,190 |
||
|
Unrealised foreign exchange losses on investments |
6 |
|
- |
(551) |
(551) |
|
- |
(1,060) |
(1,060) |
||
|
Management fee income |
|
|
1,324 |
- |
1,324 |
|
801 |
- |
801 |
||
|
Dividend income |
|
|
35,533 |
- |
35,533 |
|
24,601 |
- |
24,601 |
||
|
|
|
|
36,857 |
141,197 |
178,054 |
|
25,402 |
89,130 |
114,532 |
||
|
Operating expenses |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
Management fees |
|
|
(7,228) |
- |
(7,228) |
|
(6,056) |
- |
(6,056) |
||
|
Other expenses |
4 |
|
(3,177) |
- |
(3,177) |
|
(2,595) |
- |
(2,595) |
||
|
Investment acquisition costs |
|
|
- |
(628) |
(628) |
|
- |
(1,212) |
(1,212) |
||
|
|
|
|
(10,405)
|
(628)
|
(11,033)
|
|
(8,651)
|
(1,212)
|
(9,863)
|
||
|
Operating profit |
|
|
26,452 |
140,569 |
167,021 |
|
16,751 |
87,918 |
104,669 |
||
|
Foreign exchange movements on working capital and loans |
|
|
(47) |
(8,092) |
(8,139) |
|
- |
2,946 |
2,946 |
||
|
Finance income |
5 |
|
427 |
- |
427 |
|
1,430 |
- |
1,430 |
||
|
Finance expense |
|
|
- |
- |
- |
|
(3,805) |
- |
(3,805) |
||
|
Profit for the year before tax |
|
|
26,832 |
132,477 |
159,309 |
|
14,376 |
90,864 |
105,240 |
||
|
Tax charge |
12 |
|
- |
- |
- |
|
- |
- |
- |
||
|
Profit for the year after tax |
|
|
26,832 |
132,477 |
159,309 |
|
14,376 |
90,864 |
105,240 |
||
|
Total comprehensive income for the year |
|
|
26,832 |
132,477 |
159,309 |
|
14,376 |
90,864 |
105,240 |
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
Weighted average number of shares |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
Basic - Ordinary Shares |
14 |
|
765,715,698 |
765,715,698 |
765,715,698 |
|
765,862,189 |
765,862,189 |
765,862,189 |
||
|
Diluted - Ordinary Shares |
14 |
|
765,715,698 |
765,715,698 |
765,715,698 |
|
765,862,189 |
765,862,189 |
765,862,189 |
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
Earnings per share |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
Basic - earnings (pence) from continuing operations |
14 |
|
3.50 |
17.31 |
20.81 |
|
1.88 |
11.86 |
13.74 |
||
|
Diluted - earnings (pence) from continuing operations |
14 |
|
3.50 |
17.31 |
20.81 |
|
1.88 |
11.86 |
13.74 |
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
The accompanying notes form an integral part of these financial statements.
Statement of Changes in Equity
Year ended 31 March 2026
|
|
Note |
|
Share capital |
Retained earnings/(losses)-Revenue |
Retained earnings-Capital |
Total equity |
|
Opening net assets attributable to shareholders at 1 April 2024 |
|
|
774,656 |
(14,538) |
160,542 |
920,660 |
|
Shares repurchased in the year |
|
|
(442) |
- |
- |
(442) |
|
Distributions paid in the year |
15 |
|
- |
- |
(32,939) |
(32,939) |
|
Profit and total comprehensive income for the year |
|
|
- |
14,376 |
90,864 |
105,240 |
|
Closing net assets attributable to shareholders at 31 March 2025 |
|
|
774,214 |
(162) |
218,467 |
992,519 |
|
|
Note |
|
Share capital |
Retained earnings/(losses)-Revenue |
Retained earnings-Capital |
Total equity |
|
Opening net assets attributable to shareholders at 1 April 2025 |
|
|
774,214 |
(162) |
218,467 |
992,519 |
|
Share issued during the year |
|
|
4 |
- |
- |
4 |
|
Distributions paid in the year |
15 |
|
- |
- |
(33,883) |
(33,883) |
|
Profit and total comprehensive income for the year |
|
|
- |
26,832 |
132,477 |
159,309 |
|
Closing net assets attributable to shareholders at 31 March 2026 |
|
|
774,218 |
26,670 |
317,061 |
1,117,949 |
The accompanying notes form an integral part of these financial statements.
Statement of Cash Flows
Year ended 31 March 2026
|
|
Note |
Year ended 31 March 2026 £'000 |
Year ended 31 March 2025 £'000 |
|
Operating activities |
|
|
|
|
Operating profit for the year |
|
167,021 |
104,669 |
|
Adjustments to operating activities |
|
|
|
|
Net gain on investments at fair value through profit or loss |
6 |
(141,748) |
(90,190) |
|
Unrealised foreign exchange loss on investment |
|
551 |
1,060 |
|
Management Fee income |
|
- |
(801) |
|
Dividend income |
|
(35,533) |
(24,601) |
|
Decrease in receivables |
|
1,676 |
5,520 |
|
Increase in payables |
|
578 |
359 |
|
Net cash flows used in operating activities |
|
(7,455) |
(3,984) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cash flows generated from/(used in) investing activities |
|
|
|
|
Investment additions |
6 |
(12,607) |
(29,628) |
|
Finance income |
|
444 |
1,616 |
|
Dividend income |
|
35,533 |
24,601 |
|
Net cash flows generated from/(used in) investing activities |
|
23,370 |
(3,411) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cash flows used in financing activities |
|
|
|
|
Shares issued/(repurchased) |
10 |
4 |
(442) |
|
Loan drawn down |
9 |
21,664 |
- |
|
Loan repaid |
9 |
(3) |
(10,828) |
|
Finance costs paid |
|
- |
(1,500) |
|
Dividends paid |
15 |
(33,883) |
(32,939) |
|
Net cash flows used in financing activities |
|
(12,218) |
(45,709) |
|
Increase/(decrease) in cash and cash equivalents during the year |
|
3,697 |
(53,104) |
|
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the year |
|
6,137 |
60,085 |
|
Exchange translation movement |
|
204 |
(844) |
|
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year |
|
10,038 |
6,137 |
The accompanying notes form an integral part of these financial statements.
Notes to the financial statements
1. General information
Cordiant Digital Infrastructure Limited (the Company; LSE ticker: CORD) was incorporated and registered in Guernsey on 4 January 2021 with registered number 68630 as a non-cellular company limited by shares and is governed in accordance with the provisions of the Companies (Guernsey) Law 2008. The registered office address is East Wing, Trafalgar Court, Les Banques, St Peter Port, Guernsey GY1 3PP. The Company's ordinary shares were admitted to trading on the Specialist Fund Segment of the London Stock Exchange on 16 February 2021 and its C Shares on 10 June 2021. On 20 January 2022, all C Shares were converted to ordinary shares. A second issuance of ordinary shares took place on 25 January 2022. Note 10 gives more information on share capital.
Following shareholder approval, with effect from 30 April 2026, the Company's ordinary shares were transferred from the Specialist Fund Segment to the Closed Ended Investment Funds category of the Official List of the LSE. Furthermore, with effect from 22 June 2026 the Company's ordinary shares are expected to be included in the FTSE 250.
2. Material accounting policies
The material accounting policies applied in the preparation of these financial statements are set out below. These policies have been consistently applied to all the years presented, unless otherwise stated.
Basis of preparation
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with IFRS as issued by the IASB and the Companies (Guernsey) Law 2008. They also comply with the Statement of Recommended Practice issued by the Association of Investment Companies (the AIC SORP) except in respect of the disclosure in note 7 of turnover, pre-tax profit/loss and net assets of unquoted investments. The AIC SORP recommends disclosure of this information from the last audited accounts for each investment, but as the audits of those investments for the current year are not yet complete and the last available audited information would be 12 - 18 months out of date, more recent unaudited management information is provided instead in order to provide more relevant information to the user.
The financial statements have been prepared on an historical cost basis as modified for the measurement of certain financial instruments at fair value through profit or loss. They are presented in pounds sterling, which is the currency of the primary economic environment in which the Company operates, and are rounded to the nearest thousand, unless otherwise stated.
The material accounting policies are set out below.
Going concern
The financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis. As at 31 March 2026, the Company had net current liabilities of £158.9 million. The Directors have assessed the Company's financial position, including its access to group support and funding arrangements, and have a reasonable expectation that the Company has adequate resources to meet its liabilities as they fall due for at least the next 12 months.
While the ongoing conflicts and political changes in different parts of the world during the year have created some supply chain disruption and market volatility, this did not have a material direct effect on the results of the business. The Directors are satisfied that the resulting macroeconomic environment is not likely significantly to restrict business activity.
The Directors have reviewed different scenarios and stress testing of the cash flow forecasts prepared by the Investment Manager to understand the resilience of the Company's cash flows to adverse scenarios.
The Directors and Investment Manager are actively monitoring these risks and their potential effect on the Company and its underlying investments. In particular, they have considered the following specific key potential impacts:
|
- |
increased volatility in the fair value of investments; |
|
- |
disruptions to business activities of the underlying investments; |
|
- |
recoverability of income and principal and allowance for expected credit losses; and |
|
- |
the Company's ability to raise capital during the current market conditions.
|
In considering the key potential impacts above on the Company and its underlying investments, the Investment Manager has assessed these with reference to the mitigation measures in place. Based on this assessment, the Directors do not consider that the effects of the above risks have created a material uncertainty over the assessment of the Company as a going concern.
As further detailed in note 6 to the financial statements, the Board uses a third-party valuation provider to perform a reasonableness assessment of the Investment Manager's valuation of the underlying investments. Additionally, the Investment Manager and Directors have considered the cash flow forecast to determine the term over which the Company can remain viable given its current resources.
The Company is subject to a continuation vote at five-yearly intervals, the first of which will be put to the AGM in July 2026. A vote against continuation would require the Board to bring forward proposals for the reconstruction or winding up of the Company. While there can be no certainty that the continuation vote will be passed, there are a number of strong reasons to believe that it will. Based on the strong performance of the Company to date, consistent feedback from market participants including brokers, analysts and shareholders, and the overwhelming vote at the Company's general meeting in April in favour of moving to the Official List and joining the FTSE‑250, the directors are confident that the vote will be passed.
On the basis of this review, and after careful consideration and making due enquiries, the Directors have a reasonable expectation that the Company has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for at least the period from 19 June 2026 to 30 September 2027, being the period of assessment covered by the Directors, and there are no material uncertainties that would affect this conclusion. Accordingly, they continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the financial statements.
Accounting for subsidiaries
The Directors have concluded that the Company has all the elements of control as prescribed by IFRS 10 'Consolidated Financial Statements' in relation to all its subsidiaries and that the Company satisfies the three essential criteria to be regarded as an Investment Entity as defined in IFRS 10. The three essential criteria are that the entity must:
|
- |
obtain funds from one or more investors for the purpose of providing these investors with professional investment management services; |
|
- |
commit to its investors that its business purpose is to invest its funds solely for returns from capital appreciation, investment income or both; and |
|
- |
measure and evaluate the performance of substantially all of its investments on a fair value basis. |
In satisfying the second essential criterion, the notion of an investment time frame is critical and an Investment Entity should have an exit strategy for the realisation of its investments. The Board has approved a divestment strategy under which the Investment Manager will, within two years from acquisition of an investment and at least annually thereafter, undertake a review of the current condition and future prospects of the investment. If the Investment Manager concludes that:
|
- |
the future prospects for an investment are insufficiently strong to meet the Company's rate of return targets; or |
|
- |
the value that could be realised by an immediate disposal would outweigh the value of retaining the investment; or |
|
- |
it would be more advantageous to realise capital for investment elsewhere than to continue to hold the investment |
then the Investment Manager will take appropriate steps to dispose of the investment.
Also as set out in IFRS 10, further consideration should be given to the typical characteristics of an Investment Entity, which are that:
|
- |
it should have more than one investment, to diversify the risk portfolio and maximise returns; |
|
- |
it should have multiple investors, who pool their funds to maximise investment opportunities; |
|
- |
it should have investors that are not related parties of the entity; and |
|
- |
it should have ownership interests in the form of equity or similar interests. |
The Directors are of the opinion that the Company meets the essential criteria and typical characteristics of an Investment Entity. Therefore, subsidiaries are measured at fair value through profit or loss, in accordance with IFRS 9 'Financial Instruments'. Fair value is measured in accordance with IFRS 13 'Fair Value Measurement'.
Financial instruments
In accordance with IFRS 9, financial assets and financial liabilities are recognised in the Statement of Financial Position when the Company becomes a party to the contractual provisions of the instrument.
Financial assets
The classification of financial assets at initial recognition depends on the purpose for which the financial asset was acquired and its characteristics. All purchases of financial assets are recorded at the date on which the Company became party to the contractual requirements of the financial asset.
The Company's financial assets principally comprise investments held at fair value through profit or loss, cash and cash equivalents, and trade receivables.
Financial assets are recognised at the date of purchase or the date on which the Company became party to the contractual requirements of the asset. Financial assets are initially recognised at cost, being the fair value of consideration given. Transaction costs of financial assets at fair value through profit or loss are recognised in the Statement of Comprehensive Income as incurred.
A financial asset is derecognised (in whole or in part) either:
|
- |
when the Company has transferred substantially all the risks and rewards of ownership; or |
|
- |
when it has neither transferred nor retained substantially all the risks and rewards and when it no longer has control over the asset or a portion of the asset; or |
|
- |
when the contractual right to receive cash flow has expired. |
Investments held at fair value through profit or loss
Investments are measured at fair value through profit or loss. Gains or losses resulting from the movement in fair value are recognised in the Statement of Comprehensive Income at each interim and annual valuation point, 30 September and 31 March respectively.
The loans provided to subsidiaries are held at fair value through profit or loss as they form part of a managed portfolio of assets whose performance is evaluated on a fair value basis. These loans are recognised at the loan principal value plus outstanding interest. Any gain or loss on the loan investment is recognised in profit or loss.
Fair value is defined as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. Fair value is calculated on an unlevered, discounted cash flow basis in accordance with IFRS 13.
When available, the Company measures fair value using the quoted price in an active market. A market is regarded as 'active' if transactions for the asset or liability take place with sufficient frequency and volume to provide pricing information on an ongoing basis. If there is no quoted price in an active market, then the Company uses valuation techniques that maximise the use of relevant observable inputs and minimise the use of unobservable inputs. The chosen valuation technique incorporates all of the factors that market participants would take into account when pricing a transaction.
Valuation process
The Investment Manager is responsible for proposing the valuation of the assets held by the Company, and the Directors are responsible for reviewing the Company's valuation policy and approving the valuations at 31 March and 30 September each year.
The Investment Manager derives the key assumptions upon which the asset valuations proposed to the Board are made and performs sensitivity analysis on them. The results of this sensitivity analysis are included in note 6.
Cash and cash equivalents
Cash and cash equivalents comprise cash on hand and demand deposits and other short-term highly liquid investments with an original maturity of three months or less that are readily convertible to a known amount of cash and are subject to an insignificant risk of changes in value.
Cash collateral
Cash collateral is classified as a financial asset at amortised cost. It is measured at amortised cost. Cash collateral is recorded based on agreements entered into with an entity without notable history of default causing expected credit loss to be immaterial and therefore not recorded.
Financial liabilities
Financial liabilities are classified according to the substance of the contractual agreements entered into and are recorded on the date on which the Company becomes party to the contractual requirements of the financial liability.
The Company's financial liabilities measured at amortised cost include trade and other payables, intercompany loans and other short-term monetary liabilities which are initially recognised at fair value and subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest rate method. A financial liability is derecognised, in whole or in part, when the Company has extinguished its contractual obligations, or it expires or is cancelled. Any gain or loss on derecognition is taken to the Statement of Comprehensive Income.
Equity
Financial instruments issued by the Company are treated as equity if the holder has only a residual interest in the assets of the Company after the deduction of all liabilities. The Company's ordinary shares are classified as equity.
Share issue costs directly attributable to the issue of ordinary shares are shown in equity as a deduction from share capital. When shares recognised as equity are repurchased, the amount of the consideration paid, which includes directly attributable costs, is recognised as a deduction from equity. The Company can distribute dividends from capital reserves in line with Guernsey law.
Dividends
Dividends payable are recognised as distributions in the financial statements when the Company's obligation to make payment has been established.
Revenue recognition
Dividend income is recognised when the Company's entitlement to receive payment is established. Other income is accounted for on an accruals basis using the effective interest rate method.
Expenses
Expenses are recognised on an accruals basis in the Statement of Comprehensive Income in the period in which they are incurred.
Taxation
The Company has met the conditions in section 1158 Corporation Tax Act 2010 and the Investment Trust (Approved Company) (Tax) Regulations 2011 for each period to date, and it is the intention of the Directors to conduct the affairs of the Company so that it continues to satisfy those conditions and continues to be approved by HMRC as an investment trust.
In respect of each accounting period for which the Company is approved by HMRC as an investment trust, the Company will be exempt from UK corporation tax on its chargeable gains and its capital profits from creditor loan relationships. The Company will, however, be subject to UK corporation tax on its income (currently at a rate of 25%).
In principle, the Company will be liable to UK corporation tax on its dividend income. However, there are broad-ranging exemptions from this charge which would be expected to be applicable in respect of most of the dividends the Company may receive.
A company that is an approved investment trust in respect of an accounting period is able to take advantage of modified UK tax treatment in respect of its 'qualifying interest income' for an accounting period. It is expected that the Company will have material amounts of qualifying interest income and that it may, therefore, decide to designate some or all of the dividends paid in respect of a given accounting period as interest distributions.
To the extent that the Company receives income from, or realises amounts on the disposal of, investments in foreign countries it may be subject to foreign withholding or other taxation in those jurisdictions. To the extent it relates to income, this foreign tax may, to the extent not relievable under a double tax treaty, be able to be treated as an expense for UK corporation tax purposes, or it may be treated as a credit against UK corporation tax up to certain limits and subject to certain conditions.
Current tax is the expected tax payable on the taxable income for the period, using tax rates that have been enacted or substantively enacted at the reporting date. Deferred tax is the tax expected to be payable or recoverable on temporary differences between the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities in the financial statements and the corresponding tax bases used in the computation of taxable profit. Deferred tax liabilities are generally recognised for all taxable temporary differences and deferred tax assets are recognised to the extent that it is probable that taxable profits will be available against which deductible temporary differences can be utilised.
Deferred tax assets and liabilities are not recognised if the temporary differences arise from goodwill or from the initial recognition of other assets and liabilities in a transaction that is not a business combination and that affects neither the taxable profit nor the accounting profit. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are recognised for taxable temporary differences arising on investments, except where the Company is able to control the timing of the reversal of the difference and it is probable that the temporary difference will not reverse in the foreseeable future. Deferred tax is calculated at the tax rates that are expected to apply in the period when the liability is settled or the asset is realised. Deferred tax is charged or credited to the Statement of Comprehensive Income except when it relates to items charged or credited directly to equity, in which case the deferred tax is also dealt with directly in equity.
Deferred tax assets and liabilities are offset when: there is a legally enforceable right to set off tax assets against tax liabilities; they relate to income taxes levied by the same taxation authority; and the Company intends to settle its current tax assets and liabilities on a net basis. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are not discounted.
Foreign currencies
The functional currency of the Company is the pound sterling, reflecting the primary economic environment in which it operates. The Company has chosen pounds sterling as its presentation currency for financial reporting purposes.
Foreign currency transactions during the year, including purchases and sales of investments, income and expenses are translated into pounds sterling at the rate of exchange prevailing on the date of the transaction.
Monetary assets and liabilities denominated in currencies other than pounds sterling are retranslated at the rate of exchange ruling at the reporting date. Non-monetary items that are measured in terms of historical cost in a currency other than pounds sterling are translated using the exchange rates at the dates of the initial transactions and are not subsequently retranslated.
Non-monetary items measured at fair value in a currency other than pounds sterling are translated using the exchange rates at the date as at which the fair value was determined. Foreign currency gains and losses on financial instruments classified as at fair value through profit or loss are included in profit or loss in the Statement of Comprehensive Income as part of the change in fair value of investments.
Foreign currency gains and losses on other financial instruments are included in profit or loss in the Statement of Comprehensive Income as a finance income or expense.
Segmental reporting
The chief operating decision maker, who is responsible for allocating resources and assessing performance of the operating segments, has been identified as the Board as a whole. The key measure of performance used by the Directors to assess the Company's performance and to allocate resources is the Company's NAV, as calculated under IFRS as issued by the IASB, and therefore no reconciliation is required between the measure of profit or loss used by the Board and that contained in the Annual Report.
For management purposes, the Company is organised into one main operating segment, which invests in digital infrastructure assets.
Due to the Company's nature, it has no customers.
New standards, amendments and interpretations issued and effective for the financial period beginning 1 April 2025
The Board has considered new standards and amendments that are mandatorily effective for accounting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2025 and has not identified any with material impact on the financial statements.
New standards, amendments and interpretations issued but not yet effective
There are a number of new standards, amendments to standards and interpretations which are not yet mandatory for the 31 March 2026 reporting period and have not been adopted early by the Company.
|
- |
Annual Improvements to IFRS Accounting Standards, effective for accounting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2026‑ Amendments to: (i) IFRS 1 First-time Adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (ii) IFRS 7 Financial Instruments: Disclosures and its accompanying Guidance on Implementing IFRS 7 (iii) IFRS 9 Financial Instruments (iv) IFRS 10 Consolidated Financial Statements (v) IAS 7 Statement of Cash flows; and |
|
- |
IFRS 18 Presentation and Disclosure in Financial Statements, effective for accounting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2027 |
IFRS 18 will impact the presentation and disclosure of income and expense items in the Financial Statements but there is not expected to be any impact on the financial position or performance figures.
3. Significant accounting judgements, estimates and assumptions
The preparation of the financial statements requires management to make judgements, estimates and assumptions that affect the application of accounting policies and the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, income, and expenses.
Estimates and judgements are continually evaluated and are based on historical experience and other factors, including expectations of future events that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances. The key estimates made by the Company are disclosed in note 6.
The resulting accounting estimates will, by definition, seldom equal the related actual results. Revisions to accounting estimates are recognised in the period in which the estimate is revised and in any future periods affected.
Judgements
In the process of applying the Company's accounting policies, management has made the following judgements, which have the most significant effect on the amounts recognised in the financial statements:
Assessment as an Investment Entity
In the judgement of the Directors, the Company qualifies as an Investment Entity under IFRS 10 and therefore its subsidiary entities have not been consolidated in the preparation of the financial statements. Further details of the impact of this accounting policy are included in note 7.
Assumptions and estimation uncertainties
Information about assumptions and estimation uncertainties that have a significant risk of resulting in a material adjustment to the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities within the year ended 31 March 2026 is included in note 6 and relates to the determination of fair value of investments with significant unobservable inputs.
Climate change
In preparing the financial statements, the Directors have considered the impact of climate change, particularly in the context of the climate change risks identified in the ESG report section of the Strategic report.
In preparing the financial statements, the Directors have considered the medium- and longer-term cash flow impacts of climate change on a number of key estimates within the financial statements, including:
|
- |
the estimates of future cash flows used in assessments of the fair value of investments; and |
|
- |
the estimates of future profitability used in the assessment of distributable income. |
These considerations did not have a material impact on the financial reporting judgements and estimates in the current year. This reflects the conclusion that climate change is not expected to have a significant impact on the Company's short- or medium-term cash flows including those considered in the going concern and viability assessments.
4. Other expenses
Other expenses in the Statement of Comprehensive Income comprises:
|
|
|
Year ended |
Year ended |
|
Legal and professional fees |
|
53 |
1,156 |
|
Directors' fees |
|
235 |
185 |
|
Fees payable to the statutory auditor |
|
218 |
218 |
|
Other expenses |
|
2,671 |
1,036 |
|
|
|
3,177 |
2,595 |
5. Finance income
Finance income in the Statement of Comprehensive Income comprises:
|
|
Year ended |
Year ended |
|
Bank interest received |
41 |
130 |
|
Interest on money market fund deposits¹ |
386 |
1,157 |
|
Other income |
- |
143 |
|
|
427 |
1,430 |
1. During the year ended 31 March 2026 the Company invested surplus cash in GBP, EUR and USD money market funds provided by JP Morgan. The average balance during the year was £3.06 million and the average interest rate was 3%.
During the prior year ended 31 March 2025, the Company entered into one foreign exchange forward contract which remained outstanding on 31 March 2025. That contract had an immaterial mark to market value at that date and matured on 9 July 2025. During the year ended 31 March 2026, the Company entered into one foreign exchange forward contract which matured on 24 March 2026; it had no derivative contracts outstanding at the year end.
6. Investments at fair value through profit or loss
|
For the year ended 31 March 2026 |
Loans |
Equity |
Total |
|
Opening balance |
12,635 |
1,112,060 |
1,124,695 |
|
Additions |
12,607 |
- |
12,607 |
|
Payment of management fees previously capitalised |
- |
(1,674) |
(1,674) |
|
Net gains on investments including fx movement |
(15) |
141,212 |
141,197 |
|
|
25,227 |
1,251,598 |
1,276,825 |
|
For the year ended 31 March 2025 |
Loans |
Equity |
Total |
|
Opening balance |
9,444 |
996,493 |
1,005,937 |
|
Additions |
3,442 |
26,186 |
29,628 |
|
Payment of management fees previously capitalised |
- |
- |
- |
|
Net gains on investments including fx movement |
(251) |
89,381 |
89,130 |
|
|
12,635 |
1,112,060 |
1,124,695 |
During the year ended 31 March 2026, the Company did not subscribe for any additional ordinary shares (31 March 2025: 20.0 million for cash consideration of £26.2 million) in its subsidiary Cordiant Digital Holdings UK Limited (CDH UK).
In the prior year on 2 March 2025, the Company's indirect subsidiary, Cordiant Digital Holdings Six Limited (CDH6), completed the acquisition of a 47.5% economic (50% voting) interest in DCU Invest NV. Concurrently, DCU Invest NV acquired the entire share capital of Datacenter United Brussels NV, the data centre business of Proximus Group, for a total consideration of £60.1 million (€72.3 million). Additionally, CDH6 provided a shareholder loan of €30 million to DCU Invest NV, €1.5 million of which was exchanged for shares on 27 February 2025. On 27 July 2025, a co-investor subscribed for new shares in CDH6 resulting in the co-investor having a 21.2% equity interest in CDH6, and reducing the Company's indirect economic interest in DCU from 47.5% to 37.4%. In September 2025, DCU raised third party debt and used part of the proceeds to repay £15.9 million (€18.2 million) of the shareholder loan. The remaining balance of €10.3 million (£8.5 million) of the loan was exchanged for additional shares on 27 February 2026. As at 31 March 2026, the total fair value of the Company's indirect 37.4% investment in DCU Invest NV was £55.1 million (31 March 2025: £77.6 million).
During the year ended 31 March 2026, the Company made loan advances to Hudson Interxchange (Hudson) amounting to £12.6 million (31 March 2025: £3.4 million). As at 31 March 2026, the loan investment in Hudson amounted to £25.2 million (31 March 2025: £12.6 million). As at 31 March 2026, the equity investment in CDIL Data Centre USA LLC, the legal entity operating as Hudson, was valued at £11.5 million (31 March 2025: £23.6 million). The total investment in Hudson was valued at £36.7 million (31 March 2025: £36.2 million).
The fair value of the Company's equity investment in České Radiokomunikace a.s. (CRA) held through its indirect subsidiary Cordiant Digital Holdings Two Limited (CDH Two) as at 31 March 2026 was £524.2 million (31 March 2025: £429.0 million).
On 9 October 2025 Emitel redeemed 925,333 shares held by the Company's subsidiary Cordiant Digital Holdings One Limited (CDH One) and on 17 March 2026 an additional 705,816 shares were redeemed. The proceeds of these redemptions were £15.3 million and £12.2 million respectively. The fair value of the Company's equity investment in Emitel as at 31 March 2026 was £623.0 million (31 March 2025: £581.4 million). Emitel remains a 100% indirect subsidiary of the Company.
During the year ended 31 March 2026, the Company through its subsidiary, Cordiant Digital Holdings Ireland Limited (CDHI), made an additional investment in Speed Fibre amounting to €17 million (31 March 2025: €1.8 million). The fair value of the Company's indirect investment in Speed Fibre as at 31 March 2026 was £116.3 million (31 March 2025: £87.3 million).
The fair value of the Company's indirect investment in Belgian Tower Company (BTC), held through CDH UK, as at 31 March 2026 was £6.7 million (31 March 2025: £6.0 million).
The table below details all gains on investments through profit or loss.
|
For the year ended 31 March 2026 |
Loans |
Equity |
Total |
|
Movement in fair value of investments |
- |
141,748 |
141,748 |
|
Unrealised foreign exchange loss on investment |
(15) |
(536) |
(551) |
|
|
(15) |
141,212 |
141,197 |
|
For the year ended 31 March 2025 |
Loans |
Equity |
Total |
|
Movement in fair value of investments |
- |
90,190 |
90,190 |
|
Unrealised foreign exchange loss on investment |
(251) |
(809) |
(1,060) |
|
|
(251) |
89,381 |
89,130 |
Fair value measurements
IFRS 13 requires disclosure of fair value measurement by level. The level of fair value hierarchy within the financial assets or financial liabilities is determined on the basis of the lowest level input that is significant to the fair value measurement. Financial assets and financial liabilities are classified in their entirety into only one of the following three levels:
|
- |
Level 1 - quoted prices (unadjusted) in active markets for identical assets or liabilities; |
|
- |
Level 2 - inputs other than quoted prices included within Level 1 that are observable for the assets or liabilities, either directly (i.e. as prices) or indirectly (i.e. derived from prices); and |
|
- |
Level 3 - inputs for assets or liabilities that are not based on observable market data (unobservable inputs). |
The determination of what constitutes 'observable' requires significant judgement by the Company. The Directors consider observable data to be market data that is readily available, regularly distributed or updated, reliable and verifiable, not proprietary, and provided by independent sources that are actively involved in the relevant market.
The Company's investments have been classified within Level 3 as the investments are not traded and contain unobservable inputs. The valuations have been carried out by the Investment Manager. In order to obtain assurance in respect of the valuations carried out by the Investment Manager, the Company has engaged a third-party valuations expert to carry out an independent assessment of the unobservable inputs and of the forecast cash flows of the Company's investments.
During the year ended 31 March 2026, there were no transfers of investments at fair value through profit or loss from or to Level 3 (31 March 2025: nil).
Each of the Company's investments has been valued using a DCF methodology. This involves forecasting the entity's future cash flows, taking into account the terms of existing contracts, expected rates of contract renewal and targeted new contracts, and the economic and geopolitical environment. These cash flows are discounted at the entity's estimated weighted average cost of capital (WACC). This method also requires estimating a terminal value, being the value of the investment at the end of the period for which cash flows can be forecast with reasonable accuracy, which is March 2033 for CRA, December 2032 for Emitel, December 2033 for Speed Fibre, March 2040 for Hudson, December 2035 for DCU and March 2033 for BTC. The terminal value is calculated using an assumed terminal growth rate (TGR) into perpetuity based on anticipated industry trends and long-term inflation rates.
In forming a view on the valuations, the Directors have considered the potential impact of an ongoing legal dispute within one of the portfolio companies.
The DCF valuation methodology requires estimation of unobservable inputs. The following table summarises the effect on the valuation of the Company's portfolio of reasonably possible alternative investment assumptions with regards to those estimates; these are calculated using the DCF valuation models referred to above.
|
31 March 2026 |
|||||||
|
Unobservable input |
Range |
Valuation if rate increases by 1% (£m) |
Movement in valuation (£m) |
Valuation if rate decreases by 1% (£m) |
Movement in valuation (£m) |
||
|
WACC |
8.80%-10.45% |
1,140 |
(222) |
1,652 |
290 |
||
|
TGR |
0.00%-3.00% |
1,558 |
196 |
1,212 |
(150) |
||
|
31 March 2025 |
|||||||
|
Unobservable input |
Range |
Valuation if rate increases by 1% (£m) |
Movement in valuation (£m) |
Valuation if rate decreases by 1% (£m) |
Movement in valuation (£m) |
||
|
WACC |
9.00%-10.13% |
948 |
(270) |
1,391 |
173 |
||
|
TGR |
1.25%-2.40% |
1,308 |
91 |
1,011 |
(206) |
||
Changes to WACC and TGR could be driven by, among other factors: market movements in interest rates, inflation rates and other macroeconomic indicators; perception of risk and volatility in debt and equity markets affecting general market returns; and political and societal changes and technological developments affecting the operations of the portfolio companies and the countries in which they operate. These sensitivity measures exclude the working capital balances of investee companies in the structure.
Both the Investment Manager and the third-party valuation expert use a combination of other valuation techniques to verify the reasonableness of the DCF valuations, as recommended in the International Private Equity and Venture Capital (IPEV) Valuation Guidelines:
|
- |
earnings multiple: applying a multiple, derived largely from comparable listed entities in the market, to the forecast EBITDA of the entity to calculate an enterprise value, and then deducting the fair value of any debt in the entity; |
|
- |
DCF with multiple: calculating a DCF valuation of the cash flows of the entity to the end of the period for which cash flows can be forecast with reasonable accuracy, and then applying a multiple to EBITDA at the end of that period to estimate a terminal value; and |
|
- |
dividend yield: forecasting the entity's capacity to pay dividends in the future and applying an equity yield to that forecast dividend, based on comparable listed entities in the market. |
The DCF valuations derived by the Investment Manager and those derived by the third-party valuation expert were not materially different from each other, and the other valuation techniques used provided assurance that the DCF valuations are reasonable.
7. Unconsolidated subsidiaries
The following table shows the subsidiaries and associates of the Company. As the Company qualifies as an Investment Entity as referred to in note 3, its subsidiaries have not been consolidated in the preparation of the financial statements:
|
Investment |
Place of business |
Ownership interest |
Ownership interest at 31 March 2025 |
|
Held directly |
|
|
|
|
Cordiant Digital Holdings UK Limited |
United Kingdom |
100% |
100% |
|
CDIL Data Centre USA LLC |
USA |
100% |
100% |
|
Held indirectly |
|
|
|
|
Cordiant Digital Holdings One Limited |
United Kingdom |
100% |
100% |
|
Cordiant Digital Holdings Two Limited |
United Kingdom |
100% |
100% |
|
Cordiant Digital Holdings Three Limited |
United Kingdom |
100% |
100% |
|
Cordiant Digital Holdings Four Limited |
United Kingdom |
100% |
100% |
|
Cordiant Digital Holdings Five Limited |
United Kingdom |
100% |
100% |
|
Cordiant Digital Holdings Six Limited |
United Kingdom |
78.8% |
100% |
|
Cordiant Digital Holdings Ireland |
Ireland |
100% |
100% |
|
Communications Investments Holdings s.r.o. |
Czech Republic |
100% |
100% |
|
České Radiokomunikace a.s. |
Czech Republic |
100% |
100% |
|
Czech Digital Group, a.s. |
Czech Republic |
100% |
100% |
|
CRA Prague Gateway DC a.s. |
Czech Republic |
100% |
0% |
|
CRA Services s.r.o. |
Czech Republic |
100% |
0% |
|
nangu.TV a.s. |
Czech Republic |
100% |
0% |
|
Cloud4com s.r.o. |
Czech Republic |
100% |
100% |
|
Datové centrum Lužice s.r.o. |
Czech Republic |
100% |
100% |
|
Emitel S.A. |
Poland |
100% |
100% |
|
RTTS sp. z o. o. |
Poland |
100% |
100% |
|
Allford Investments sp. z o. o. |
Poland |
100% |
100% |
|
EM Properties sp. z o. o. |
Poland |
100% |
100% |
|
EM Projects sp. z o. o. |
Poland |
100% |
100% |
|
Hubb Investments sp. z o. o. |
Poland |
100% |
100% |
|
Magnet Networks Limited |
Ireland |
100% |
100% |
|
Belgian Tower Company N.V |
Belgium |
100% |
100% |
|
Speed Fibre DAC |
Ireland |
100% |
100% |
|
Speed Fibre 2 Holdings Limited |
Ireland |
100% |
100% |
|
Speed Fibre Intermediate Holdings Limited |
Ireland |
100% |
100% |
|
Speed Fibre Borrower Limited |
Ireland |
100% |
100% |
|
Speed Fibre Financing Limited |
Ireland |
100% |
100% |
|
Airspeed Networks Limited |
Isle of Man |
100% |
100% |
|
Speed Fibre Group Limited |
Ireland |
100% |
100% |
|
Airspeed Communications Limited |
Ireland |
100% |
100% |
|
E-Nasc Éireann Teoranta |
Ireland |
100% |
100% |
|
Enet Telecommunications Networks Limited |
Ireland |
100% |
100% |
|
Enet Communications Limited |
Ireland |
100% |
0% |
|
Datacenter United Brussels NV |
Belgium |
37.4% |
47.5% |
|
Antwerp DataCenter BV |
Belgium |
37.4% |
47.5% |
|
Antwerp DC BV |
Belgium |
37.4% |
47.5% |
|
DATAZONE BV |
Belgium |
37.4% |
47.5% |
|
DC Star NV |
Belgium |
37.4% |
47.5% |
|
Digiscape BV |
Belgium |
37.4% |
47.5% |
|
Brussels DC NV |
Belgium |
37.4% |
47.5% |
|
DCU Invest NV |
Belgium |
37.4% |
47.5% |
The following additional information is provided in relation to unquoted investments. The AIC SORP recommends disclosure of information from the last audited accounts for each investment, but as the audits of those investments for the current year are not yet complete and the last available audited information would be at least 12 months out of date, more recent unaudited management information is provided instead.
|
|
Turnover £m |
Pre-tax profit/(loss) £m |
Net assets/(liabilities) £m |
|
Emitel1 |
139.4 |
45.1 |
247.5 |
|
CRA2 |
102.77 |
4.6 |
167.8 |
|
Speed Fibre3 |
91.8 |
(24.2) |
(135.0) |
|
Hudson4 |
18.1 |
(9.4) |
12.9 |
|
BTC5 |
3.6 |
(0.3) |
2.8 |
|
DCU6 |
30.9 |
(10.0) |
76.3 |
1. Management information for the 12 months ended 31 December 2025, IFRS basis.
2. Management information for the 12 months ended 31 March 2026, IFRS basis.
3. Management information for the 12 months ended 31 December 2025, FRS 102 basis.
4. Management information for the 12 months ended 31 March 2026, US GAAP basis.
5. Management information for the 12 months ended 31 March 2026, Belgian GAAP basis.
6. Audited accounts for the 12 months ended 31 December 2025, Belgian GAAP basis.
7. This figure differs from the revenue figure in the CRA review section due to the inclusion of other operating income
The amounts invested in the Company's unconsolidated subsidiaries during the year and their carrying value at 31 March 2026 are as outlined in note 6.
There are certain restrictions on the ability of the Company's unconsolidated subsidiaries to transfer funds to the Company in the form of cash dividends or repayment of loans. In accordance with the documentation relating to various third-party loans to those subsidiaries, such cash movements may be subject to limitations on amounts and timing, and satisfaction of certain covenants. The Directors do not consider that these restrictions are likely to have a significant effect on the ability of the Company's subsidiaries to transfer funds to the Company.
During the year, the Investment Manager received immaterial fees from the Company's unconsolidated subsidiaries for the provision of services directly to those entities.
Subsidiaries held in the Czech Republic, Ireland, Belgium and Poland are cash generative, and do not need the financial support of the Company. The subsidiary based in the US will receive the financial support of the Company for a period of at least 12 months from the publication of this report.
8. Trade and other receivables
|
|
As at 31 March 2026 |
As at 31 March 2025 |
|
Cash collateral |
8,556 |
8,755 |
|
Other debtors |
564 |
1,891 |
|
Amounts receivable from related parties |
1,440 |
68 |
|
Prepayments |
57 |
81 |
|
|
10,617 |
10,795 |
Cash collateral relates to one security deposit held in money market accounts. An amount of USD 11.3 million (£8.6 million) relates to collateral for a letter of credit relating to the lease of the building occupied by Hudson, and during the year ended 31 March 2026, the cash collateral generated interest at a rate of 3.8% per annum (31 March 2025: 4.8% per annum).
9. Loans and borrowings
|
|
As at 31 March 2026 |
As at 31 March 2025 |
|
Opening balance |
147,591 |
157,629 |
|
Drawdown of principal during the year |
21,664 |
155,554 |
|
Capitalised interest |
- |
4,701 |
|
Repayment of principal during the year |
(3) |
(166,399) |
|
Movement in exchange gains |
8,188 |
(3,894) |
|
|
177,440 |
147,591 |
On 29 July 2024, the Company fully settled its €191.8 million loan and related interest previously owed to CDH Two through €1.8 million of its own cash reserves and a new intercompany loan of €190.0 million with CDH UK. CDH UK financed this loan by accessing its financing facility of up to €375.0 million, arranged with an international syndicate of banks and infrastructure debt funds. The loan issue of €190.0 million was settled directly between CDH UK and CDH Two; consequently, the statement of cash flows remains unaffected.
During the year additional drawdowns totalling £21.7 million were made from CDH UK. As at 31 March 2026, the outstanding balance with CDH UK was an equivalent of £177.4 million (31 March 2025: £147.6 million), with no interest accrued or payable. The intercompany liability to CDH UK is interest‑free, unsecured and repayable on demand.
10. Share capital
Subject to any special rights, restrictions, or prohibitions regarding voting for the time being attached to any shares, holders of ordinary shares have the right to receive notice of and to attend, speak and vote at general meetings of the Company and each holder being present in person or by proxy shall upon a show of hands have one vote and upon a poll shall have one vote in respect of each ordinary share that they hold.
Holders of ordinary shares are entitled to receive and participate in any dividends or distributions of the Company in relation to assets of the Company that are available for dividend or distribution. On a winding-up of the Company, the surplus assets of the Company available for distribution to the holders of ordinary shares (after payment of all other debts and liabilities of the Company attributable to the ordinary shares) shall be divided amongst the holders of ordinary shares pro rata according to their respective holdings of ordinary shares.
Ordinary shares
|
|
31 March 2026 Number of shares |
£'000 |
31 March 2025 Number of shares |
£'000 |
|
Issued and fully paid |
773,559,707 |
780,104 |
773,559,707 |
780,100 |
|
Shares held in treasury |
(7,841,542) |
(5,886) |
(7,844,230) |
(5,886) |
|
Outstanding shares at year end |
765,718,165 |
774,218 |
765,715,477 |
774,214 |
Holders of ordinary shares are entitled to all dividends paid by the Company on the ordinary shares and, on a winding up, provided the Company has satisfied all of its liabilities, ordinary shareholders are entitled to all of the surplus assets of the Company attributable to the ordinary shares.
The final date to exercise any subscription shares has now passed. 2,688 subscription shares were exercised during the year at a subscription price of 136.135p, and 2,688 ordinary shares were issued out of treasury to satisfy the exercise. All remaining subscription shares have been cancelled for nil value.
Treasury shares
|
|
31 March 2026 Number of shares |
31 March 2025 Number of shares |
|
Opening balance |
7,844,230 |
7,269,230 |
|
Shares issued or repurchased during the year |
(2,688) |
575,000 |
|
Closing balance at year end |
7,841,542 |
7,844,230 |
The Company has not undertaken any market buybacks during the year (31 March 2025: 575,000). The movements are shown in the table above.
11. Audit fees
Other operating expenses include fees payable to the Company's auditor, which amounted to £217,500 for the audit of the statutory financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2026 (31 March 2025: £217,500). No non-audit fees were paid to BDO Limited, the Company's auditor; however, non-audit fees totalling £75,000 were paid to BDO LLP, the UK member firm of the BDO network, in connection with the transfer of the Company's shares from the Specialist Fund Segment to the Closed-Ended Investment Funds category of the Official List of the LSE.
At 31 March 2026, there were no audit fees from the year ended 31 March 2025 remaining unpaid.
12. Taxation
a) Analysis of the tax charge for the year
|
Corporation tax |
Year ended |
Year ended |
|
Taxation for the year (see note 12b) |
- |
- |
b) Factors affecting the tax charge for the year
The tax assessed for the year ended 31 March 2026 is lower than the Company's applicable rate of corporation tax for that year of 25%. The factors affecting the tax charge for the year are as follows:
|
|
Year ended |
Year ended |
|
Profit on ordinary activities before tax |
159,309 |
105,240 |
|
Profit before tax multiplied by rate of corporation tax in the UK of 25% (2025: 25%) |
39,827 |
26,310 |
|
|
|
|
|
(33,264) |
(23,019) |
|
|
239 |
397 |
|
|
- |
- |
|
|
- |
620 |
|
|
(8,883) |
(6,150) |
|
|
2,081 |
1,842 |
|
|
Total tax for the year (see note 12a) |
- |
- |
c) Deferred taxation
The Company has an unrecognised deferred tax asset of £6,568,000 (Prior year: £3,955,000) based on a main rate of corporation tax of 25%, in respect of excess management expenses of £20,059,000 and non-trading loan relationship deficits of £6,215,000 (Prior year: £11,821,000 and £4,000,000 respectively). There is also a carried forward CIR restriction amount of £12,967,000 which has not been recognised as a deferred tax asset as it is not expected to be re-activated in the future.
It is unlikely that the Company will generate sufficient taxable profits in the future to utilise these expenses and therefore no deferred tax asset has been recognised.
Due to the Company's status as an investment trust and the intention to continue to meet the conditions required to retain that status, the Company has not provided for tax on any capital gains or losses arising on the revaluation of investments.
13. Management and performance fees
Under the Investment Management Agreement, the Investment Manager is entitled to receive an annual management fee and a performance fee, plus any applicable VAT, in addition to the reimbursement of reasonable expenses incurred by it in the performance of its duties.
Management fee
The Investment Manager receives from the Company an annual management fee, based on the average market capitalisation of the Company, calculated using the closing market capitalisation for each LSE trading day for the relevant month, and paid monthly in arrears. The management fee has been payable since 30 April 2021, being the date on which more than 75% of the IPO proceeds were deployed in investment activities.
The annual management fee is calculated on the following basis:
― 1.00% of the average market capitalisation up to £500 million;
― 0.90% of the average market capitalisation between £500 million and £1 billion; and
― 0.80% of the average market capitalisation in excess of £1 billion.
For the year ended 31 March 2026, the Investment Manager has charged management fees of £7.2 million (31 March 2025: £6.1 million) to the Company, with £0.8 million (31 March 2025: £0.5 million) owed at year end.
Performance fee
The Investment Manager may in addition receive a performance fee on each performance fee calculation date, dependent on the performance of the Company's NAV and share price. The first performance fee calculation date was 31 March 2024 and subsequent calculation dates are on 31 March each year thereafter. The fee is equal to 12.5% of the excess return over the target of 9% for the NAV return or share price return, whichever is the lower, multiplied by the time-weighted average number of ordinary shares in issue (excluding any ordinary shares held in treasury) during the relevant period.
Any performance fee is to be satisfied as follows:
|
- |
as to 50% in cash; and |
|
|
- |
as to the remaining 50% of the performance fee, subject to certain exceptions and the relevant regulatory and tax requirements: |
|
|
|
a) |
if the average trading price, calculated over the 20 trading days immediately preceding the performance fee calculation date, is equal to or higher than the last reported NAV per ordinary share (as adjusted to reflect any dividends reflected in the average trading price) the Company will issue to the Investment Manager such number of new ordinary shares (credited as fully paid) as is equal to the performance fee investment amount divided by the average trading price (rounded down to the nearest whole number of ordinary shares); or |
|
|
b) |
if the average trading price is lower than the last reported NAV per ordinary share (as adjusted to reflect any dividends reflected in the average trading price) then the Company shall (on behalf of, and as agent for, the Investment Manager) apply the performance fee investment amount in making market purchases of ordinary shares, provided any such ordinary shares are purchased at prices below the last reported NAV per ordinary share. |
Any ordinary shares subscribed or purchased by the Investment Manager pursuant to the above arrangements will, subject to usual exceptions, be subject to a lock-up of 36 months from the date of subscription or purchase.
For the year ended 31 March 2026, no performance fee is due to the Investment Manager (31 March 2025: £nil) and no amount has been accrued as the share price performance hurdle has not been met.
14. Earnings per share and net asset value per share
|
Ordinary shares |
Year ended 31 March 2026 |
||
|
Earnings per share |
Basic |
Diluted |
|
|
Allocated profit attributable to this share class - £'000 |
159,309 |
159,309 |
|
|
Weighted average number of shares in issue |
765,715,698 |
765,715,698 |
|
|
Earnings per share from continuing operations in the year (pence) |
20.81 |
20.81 |
|
|
Ordinary shares |
Year ended 31 March 2025 |
||
|
Earnings per share |
Basic |
Diluted |
|
|
Allocated profit attributable to this share class - £'000 |
105,240 |
105,240 |
|
|
Weighted average number of shares in issue |
765,862,189 |
765,862,189 |
|
|
Earnings per share from continuing operations in the year (pence) |
13.74 |
13.74 |
|
As at 31 March 2026, there were nil (31 March 2025: 6,434,884) Subscription Shares in issue. During the year ended 31 March 2026, 2,688 (31 March 2025: nil) Subscription Shares were exercised with all remaining Subscription Shares in issue being cancelled.
|
|
Year ended |
Year ended |
|
Weighted average number of shares used in basic earnings per share |
765,715,698 |
765,862,189 |
|
Weighted average number of shares used in diluted earnings per share |
765,715,698 |
765,862,189 |
|
Net asset value - £'000 |
1,117,949 |
992,519 |
|
Number of ordinary shares issued |
765,718,165 |
765,715,477 |
|
Net asset value per share (pence) |
146.00 |
129.62 |
15. Dividends declared and paid with respect to the year/period
|
Dividends paid during the year ended 31 March 2025 |
Dividend |
Total dividend |
|
Second interim dividend in respect of the period ended 31 March 2024 |
2.200 |
16,859 |
|
Interim dividend in respect of the period ended 31 March 2025 |
2.100 |
16,080 |
|
|
|
32,939 |
|
Dividend declared |
Dividend |
Total dividend |
|
Second interim dividend in respect of the period ended 31 March 2026 |
2.275 |
17,420 |
|
Dividends paid during the year ended 31 March 2026 |
Dividend |
Total dividend |
|
Second interim dividend in respect of the year ended 31 March 2025 |
2.250 |
17,229 |
|
Interim dividend in respect of the year ended 31 March 2026 |
2.175 |
16,654 |
|
|
|
33,883 |
On 18 June 2026, the Board approved a second interim dividend of 2.275 pence per share in respect of the period from 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026, bringing the total dividend for the year to 4.45 pence per share. The record date for this dividend is 3 July 2026 and the payment date is 30 July 2026.
16. Financial risk management
Financial risk management objectives
The Company's investing activities intentionally expose it to various types of risks that are associated with the underlying investments. The Company makes the investment in order to generate returns in accordance with its investment policy and objectives.
The most important types of financial risks to which the Company is exposed are market risk (including price, interest rate and foreign currency risk), liquidity risk and credit risk. The Board of Directors has overall responsibility for the determination of the Company's risk management and sets policy to manage that risk at an acceptable level to achieve those objectives. The policy and process for measuring and mitigating each of the main risks are described below.
The Investment Manager and the Administrator provide advice to the Company which allows it to monitor and manage financial risks relating to its operations through internal risk reports which analyse exposures by degree and magnitude of risks. The Investment Manager and the Administrator report to the Board on a quarterly basis.
Categories of financial instruments
For those financial assets and liabilities carried at amortised cost, the Directors are of the opinion that their carrying value approximates to their fair value.
|
|
31 March 2026 £'000 |
31 March 2025 £'000 |
|
Financial assets |
|
|
|
Financial assets at fair value through profit or loss: |
|
|
|
- Investments |
1,276,825 |
1,124,695 |
|
|
|
|
|
Other financial assets at amortised cost: |
|
|
|
- Cash and cash equivalents |
10,038 |
6,137 |
|
- Trade and other receivables |
10,560 |
10,719 |
|
|
|
|
|
Financial liabilities |
|
|
|
Financial liabilities at amortised cost: |
|
|
|
- Loans and borrowings |
(177,440) |
(147,591) |
|
- Accrued expenses and other creditors |
(2,091) |
(1,517) |
Fair value hierarchy
The table below analyses financial instruments measured at fair value at the reporting date by the level in fair value hierarchy into which the fair value measurement is categorised. The amounts are based on the values recognised in the Statement of Financial Position. All fair value measurements below are recurring.
|
As at 31 March 2026 |
Level 1 |
|
Level 3 |
Total £'000 |
|
Financial assets |
|
|
|
|
|
Financial assets at fair value through profit or loss: |
|
|
|
|
|
- Investments |
- |
- |
1,276,825 |
1,276,825 |
|
|
- |
- |
1,276,825 |
1,276,825 |
|
As at 31 March 2025 |
Level 1 |
|
Level 3 |
Total £'000 |
|
Financial assets |
|
|
|
|
|
Financial assets at fair value through profit or loss: |
|
|
|
|
|
- Investments |
- |
- |
1,124,695 |
1,124,695 |
|
|
- |
- |
1,124,695 |
1,124,695 |
Capital risk management
The Company manages its capital to ensure that it will be able to continue as a going concern while maximising the capital return to shareholders. The capital structure of the Company consists of issued share capital and retained earnings, as stated in the Statement of Financial Position.
In order to maintain or adjust the capital structure, the Company may issue new shares. There are no external capital requirements imposed on the Company.
Market risk
Market risk includes price risk, foreign currency risk and interest rate risk.
Price risk
The underlying investments held present a potential risk of loss of capital to the Company. As outlined in note 6, investments are in the form of shareholder loans and equity with protective provisions in place. Price risk arises from uncertainty about future prices of underlying financial investments held by the Company. As at 31 March 2026, the fair value of investments, excluding cash and cash equivalents, was £1,276.8 million (31 March 2025: £1,124.7 million) and a 5% increase/ (decrease) in the price of investments with all other variables held constant would result in a change to the fair value of investments of +/- £63.8 million (31 March 2025: £56.1 million).
Please refer to note 6 for quantitative information about the fair value measurements of the Company's Level 3 investments.
The Company is exposed to a variety of risks which may have an impact on the carrying value of its investments. The risk factors are set out below.
Not actively traded
The Company's investments are not generally traded in an active market but are indirectly exposed to market price risk arising from uncertainties about future values of the investments held. The investments of the Company vary as to geographic distribution of operations and size, all of which may impact the susceptibility of their valuation to uncertainty.
Concentration
The Company invests in the digital infrastructure sector. While the Company is subject to the investment and diversification restrictions in its investment policy, within those limits material concentrations of investments may arise. As at 31 March 2026, the Company held two direct investments comprising a loan and equity investment in Hudson and an equity investment in CDH UK. Through CDH UK and its subsidiaries, the Company held five indirect investments in Emitel, CRA, Speed Fibre, BTC and DCU Invest NV. Emitel and CRA are classified as significant holdings, representing approximately 48.8% and 41.0% of the Company's investments held at fair value, respectively.
Although the investments are in the same industry, each individual underlying data centre, mobile telecommunications tower or segment of a fibre-optic network held within the portfolio constitutes a separate digital infrastructure asset. This risk is managed through careful selection of investments within the specified limits of the Company's investment policy.
Each of these investment restrictions is calculated and applied as at the time of investment and non-compliance resulting from changes in the price or value of assets following investment is not considered a breach of the investment restrictions.
Foreign currency risk
The Company invests in financial instruments and enters into transactions that are denominated in currencies other than its functional currency, primarily in Polish zloty, Czech koruna, Euros and US dollars.
The Company's currency risk is managed by the Investment Manager in accordance with the policies and procedures in place.
The Company also has exposure to foreign currency risk due to the payment of some expenses in Polish zloty, Czech koruna, Euros, US dollars and Canadian dollars. Consequently, the Company is exposed to risks that the exchange rate of its currency relative to other foreign currencies may change in a manner that has an adverse effect on the value of that portion of the Company's assets or liabilities denominated in currencies other than pounds sterling. Any exposure to foreign currency risk at the underlying investment level is captured within price risk.
The following table sets out, in pounds sterling, the Company's total exposure to foreign currency risk and the net exposure to foreign currencies of the monetary assets and liabilities. Of the total exposure set out below, the Company's direct foreign exchange exposure is £56.3 million (31 March 2025: £36.5 million).
|
|
USD |
CZK |
CAD |
EUR |
GBP |
PLN |
Total |
|
As at 31 March 2026 |
£'000 |
£'000 |
£'000 |
£'000 |
£'000 |
£'000 |
£'000 |
|
Non-current assets |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Financial assets at fair value through profit or loss |
36,683 |
523,830 |
- |
93,708 |
- |
622,604 |
1,276,825 |
|
Total non-current assets |
36,683 |
523,830 |
- |
93,708 |
- |
622,604 |
1,276,825 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Current assets |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Receivables |
8,556 |
357 |
- |
195 |
694 |
815 |
10,617 |
|
Cash and cash equivalents |
130 |
- |
- |
9,541 |
367 |
- |
10,038 |
|
Total current assets |
8,686 |
357 |
- |
9,736 |
1,061 |
815 |
20,655 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Current liabilities |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Loans and borrowings |
- |
- |
- |
(177,190) |
(250) |
- |
(177,440) |
|
Accrued expenses and other creditors |
(31) |
- |
- |
- |
(2,060) |
- |
(2,091) |
|
Total current liabilities |
(31) |
- |
- |
(177,190) |
(2,310) |
- |
(179,531) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total net assets |
45,338 |
524,187 |
- |
(73,746) |
(1,249) |
623,419 |
1,117,949 |
|
|
USD |
CZK |
CAD |
EUR |
GBP |
PLN |
Total |
|
As at 31 March 2025 |
£'000 |
£'000 |
£'000 |
£'000 |
£'000 |
£'000 |
£'000 |
|
Non-current assets |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Financial assets at fair value through profit or loss |
36,240 |
428,639 |
- |
78,384 |
- |
581,432 |
1,124,695 |
|
Total non-current assets |
36,240 |
428,639 |
- |
78,384 |
- |
581,432 |
1,124,695 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Current assets |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Receivables |
8,755 |
402 |
- |
538 |
701 |
399 |
10,795 |
|
Cash and cash equivalents |
259 |
- |
1 |
- |
5,877 |
- |
6,137 |
|
Total current assets |
9,014 |
402 |
1 |
538 |
6,578 |
399 |
16,932 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Current liabilities |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Loans and borrowings |
- |
- |
- |
(147,591) |
- |
- |
(147,591) |
|
Accrued expenses and other creditors |
(29) |
- |
- |
(198) |
(1,290) |
- |
(1,517) |
|
Total current liabilities |
(29) |
- |
- |
(147,789) |
(1,290) |
- |
(149,108) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total net assets |
45,225 |
429,041 |
1 |
(68,867) |
5,288 |
581,831 |
992,519 |
The table below sets out the effect on the net assets of a reasonably possible weakening of the pound against the US dollar, Czech koruna, Polish zloty and euros by 5%, at 31 March 2026. The analysis assumes that all other variables remain constant.
|
Effect of increase in pounds sterling |
As at 31 March 2026 |
As at 31 March 2025 |
|
USD |
2,267 |
2,261 |
|
CZK |
26,209 |
21,452 |
|
PLN |
31,171 |
29,092 |
|
EUR |
(3,687) |
(3,443) |
A strengthening of the pound against the above currencies would have resulted in an equal but opposite effect to the amounts shown above.
Interest rate risk
The Company's exposure to interest rate risk relates to the Company's cash and cash equivalents and intercompany loans and borrowings. The Company is subject to risk due to fluctuations in the prevailing levels of market interest rates.
As at 31 March 2026, the cash balance held by the Company was £10.0 million (31 March 2025: £6.1 million). A 1% increase/(decrease) in interest rates with all other variables held constant would result in a change to interest received of +/- £0.10 million (31 March 2025: +/- £0.06 million) per annum.
As at 31 March 2026, the intercompany loans and borrowings balance held by the Company was £177.4 million (31 March 2025: £147.6 million). A 1% increase/(decrease) in interest rates with all other variables held constant would result in a change to interest payable of +/- £1.8 million (31 March 2025: £1.5 million). This effect at the Company level would be offset by an equal and opposite change in the investments as the loan is with a 100% owned subsidiary (note 17).
Liquidity risk
Ultimate responsibility for liquidity risk management rests with the Board of Directors.
Liquidity risk is defined as the risk that the Company may not be able to settle or meet its obligations on time or at a reasonable price. The Company's policy and the Investment Manager's approach to managing liquidity is to ensure, as far as possible, that it will always have sufficient liquidity to meet its liabilities when due, under both normal and stress conditions, without incurring unacceptable losses or risking damage to the Company's reputation. The Company's liabilities are made up of estimated accruals and trade creditors which are due to be settled within three months of the year end.
The Company's liquidity risk arises principally from the fact that there is no liquid market for its investments and it may not be able to realise their full value on a timely basis. The Company will maintain flexibility in funding by keeping sufficient liquidity in cash and cash equivalents, which may be invested on a temporary basis in line with the cash management policy as agreed by the Directors from time to time.
The Company adopts a prudent approach to liquidity management and through the preparation of budgets and cash flow forecasts maintains sufficient cash reserves to meet its obligations.
Credit risk
Credit risk refers to the risk that a counterparty will default on its contractual obligations resulting in financial loss to the Company.
Financial assets mainly consist of cash and cash equivalents, cash collateral recorded within trade and other receivables and investments at fair value through profit or loss. The Company's risk on liquid funds is managed by only depositing monies with institutions with a short-term credit rating of A1/P-1 - A1/F1 or equivalent. Cash collateral is recorded as a financial asset at amortised cost due to contractual restrictions that limit its immediate availability and its risk is managed through rigorous counterparty due diligence.
The table below shows the material cash balances, including those held as cash collateral, and the credit ratings for the counterparties used by the Company at the year-end date:
Credit ratings:
|
|
Location |
31 March 2026 £'000 |
31 March 2025 £'000 |
|
Royal Bank of Scotland International |
Guernsey |
1,325 |
1,110 |
|
JP Morgan |
UK |
8,685 |
5,000 |
|
Investec Bank Plc |
UK |
28 |
27 |
|
Royal Bank of Scotland International (long term) |
Guernsey |
8,556 |
8,755 |
|
|
S&P |
Moody's |
Fitch |
|
Royal Bank of Scotland International |
A-1 |
P-1 |
F1+ |
|
JP Morgan |
AAAm |
Aaa-mf |
AAAmmf |
|
Investec Bank Plc |
Not rated |
P-1 |
F2 |
|
Royal Bank of Scotland International (long term) |
A |
A1/A2 |
AA- |
The Company's maximum exposure to loss of capital at the year/period end is shown below:
Carrying value and maximum exposure
|
|
31 March 2026 |
31 March 2025 |
|
Financial assets (including cash and equivalents but not prepayments) |
20,598 |
16,846 |
Gearing
As at the date of these financial statements the Company had gearing of 15.9% (31 March 2025: 14.9%) calculated as loans and borrowings divided by net assets.
17. Related party transactions
Directors
The Company has four non-executive Directors, each of whom is considered to be independent. Directors' fees for the year ended 31 March 2026 amounted to £235,000 (31 March 2025: £185,000), of which £nil (31 March 2025: £nil) was outstanding at the year end.
The shares held by the Directors at 31 March 2026 are shown in the table below:
|
|
Ordinary shares held at |
Ordinary shares held at |
|
Shonaid Jemmett-Page |
108,651 |
88,719 |
|
Sian Hill |
92,711 |
77,500 |
|
Marten Pieters |
160,625 |
103,125 |
|
Simon Pitcher |
90,000 |
63,125 |
Investment Manager
During the 12 months ended 31 March 2026, the Investment Manager did not make any open market purchases of shares (31 March 2025: 659,559 shares at an average price of 82.7 pence per share). In addition, management fees of £7.2 million (31 March 2025: £6.1 million) were charged to the Company during the year, with £0.8 million (31 March 2025: £0.5 million) outstanding at year end.
Investment
The Company has provided additional funding of £12.6 million (USD 17.0 million) as a loan to its subsidiary, CDIL Data Centre USA LLC during the year ended 31 March 2026. The balance of the loan investment at 31 March 2026 was £25.2 million (31 March 2025: £12.6 million).
Company subsidiaries
During the year ended 31 March 2026, the Company charged management fees amounting to £1.3 million (31 March 2025: £0.8 million) related to management services provided to underlying investments. The Company was charged management fees amounting to £0.25 million (31 March 2025: nil) by CDH UK related to management services provided in relation to the debt facility held at that level.
18. Ultimate controlling party
In the opinion of the Board, on the basis of the shareholdings advised to them, the Company has no ultimate controlling party.
19. Subsequent events
The Directors acquired shares in the Company, post year end as shown below:
- Shonaid Jemmett-Page acquired 23,753 shares on 13 April 2026.
- Sian Hill acquired 10,000 shares on 13 April 2026.
- Simon Pitcher acquired 10,000 shares on 27 April 2026.
Apart from dividend declaration, as disclosed in Note 15, there were no other significant events following the reporting period ending 31 March 2026.
Glossary of capitalised defined terms
Administrator means Aztec Financial Services (Guernsey) Limited
AFFO means adjusted funds from operations
AIC means the Association of Investment Companies
AIC Code means the AIC Code of Corporate Governance
AIC SORP means the AIC Statement of Recommended Practice
Board means the board of Directors of the Company
Belgian Tower Company or BTC means Belgian Tower Company NV, formerly Norkring België NV.
CAD means Canadian dollars
Company means Cordiant Digital Infrastructure Limited
Company's Annual Report 2025 means the Company's annual report for the year ended 31 March 2025
Companies Law means the Companies (Guernsey) Law 2008 (as amended)
Company's Prospectus means the prospectus issued by the Company on 29 January 2021 in relation to its IPO
CRA means České Radiokomunikace a.s.
C Shares means C shares of no par value each in the capital of the Company issued pursuant to the Company's placing programme as an alternative to the issue of ordinary shares
CZK means Czech koruna.
DAB+ means digital audio broadcasting plus, an advanced digital radio standard that provides higher audio quality and more efficient spectrum use compared to traditional FM broadcasting
DCF means discounted cash flow
Datacentre United or DCU means DC Invest NV.
DCU Brussels means DCU Brussels NV.
Directors means the directors of the Company
DTRs means the Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules issued by the FCA
DTT means digital terrestrial television
DVB-T2 means Digital Video Broadcasting - Second Generation Terrestrial
EBITDA means earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation
ECL means Enet Communications Limited, formerly BT Communications Ireland Limited
EEA means the European Economic Area
Emitel means Emitel S.A.
ESG means environmental, social and governance
EUR means euro
FCA means the UK Financial Conduct Authority
FX means foreign exchange.
GFSC means the Guernsey Financial Services Commission
GPU means graphics processing unit, a specialised processor designed to accelerate graphics rendering and parallel computing tasks, widely used in artificial intelligence and high‑performance computing
HEVC means high efficiency video coding
Hudson means Hudson Interxchange (previously operating under the name DataGryd Datacenters and a trading name of CDIL Data Centre USA LLC)
IAS means International Accounting Standards as issued by the Board of the International Accounting Standards Committee
IASB means International Accounting Standards Board
IFRS means the International Financial Reporting Standards, being the principles-based accounting standards, interpretations and the framework by that name issued by the International Accounting Standards Board
Interim Report means the Company's half yearly report and unaudited condensed interim financial statements for the six-month period ended 30 September 2025
Investment Manager means Cordiant Capital Inc.
IoT means the Internet of Things
IPEV Valuation Guidelines means the International Private Equity and Venture Capital Valuation Guidelines
IPO means the initial public offering of shares by a company to the public
IPTV (internet protocol television) means television content delivered through internet protocol networks.
Listing Rules means the listing rules published by the FCA.
LSE means the London Stock Exchange
MUX means multiplex, a system that combines multiple digital TV or radio channels into a single signal for transmission over one frequency
NAV or net asset value means the value of the assets of the Company less its liabilities as calculated in accordance with the Company's valuation policy and expressed in pounds sterling
OTT (over-the-top) means internet delivered media content, bypassing traditional cable or satellite providers.
PLN means Polish zloty.
RCF means revolving credit facility
SDG means Sustainable Development Goal
Speed Fibre means Speed Fibre Designated Activity Company
Subscription Shares means redeemable subscription shares of no par value each in the Company, issued on the basis of one Subscription Share for every eight ordinary shares subscribed for in the IPO
TCFD means Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures
tCO2e means metric tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent
UK or United Kingdom means the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
US or United States means the United States of America, its territories and possessions, any state of the United States and the District of Columbia
USD means United States dollars
WACC means weighted average cost of capital
Directors and general information
Directors (all appointed 26 January 2021)
Shonaid Jemmett-Page Chairman
Sian Hill Audit Committee Chairman and Senior Independent Director
Marten Pieters
Simon Pitcher
All independent and of the registered office below.
Website www.cordiantdigitaltrust.com
ISIN (ordinary shares) GG00BMC7TM77
Ticker (ordinary shares) CORD
SEDOL (ordinary shares) BMC7TM7
Registered Company Number 68630
|
Registered office East Wing Trafalgar Court Les Banques St Peter Port Guernsey GY1 3PP |
Legal advisors to the Company Gowling WLG (UK) LLP 4 More London Riverside London SE1 2AU |
|
Investment manager Cordiant Capital Inc. 28th Floor Bank of Nova Scotia Tower 1002 Sherbrooke Street West Montreal QC H3A 3L6 |
Carey Olsen (Guernsey) LLP Carey House Les Banques St Peter Port Guernsey GY1 4BZ |
|
Company secretary and administrator Aztec Financial Services (Guernsey) Limited East Wing Trafalgar Court Les Banques Guernsey GY1 3PP |
Registrar Computershare Investor Services (Guernsey) Limited 1st Floor Tudor House Le Bordage St Peter Port Guernsey GY1 1DB |
|
Auditor BDO Limited PO Box 180 Place du Pre Rue du Pre St Peter Port Guernsey GY1 3LL |
Brokers Investec Bank plc 30 Gresham Street London EC2V 7QP |
|
Principal banker and custodian The Royal Bank of Scotland International Limited Royal Bank Place 1 Glategny Esplanade St Peter Port Guernsey GY1 4BQ |
Deutsche Numis 45 Gresham Street London EC2V 7BF |
|
Receiving agent Computershare Investor Services PLC The Pavilions Bridgwater Road Bristol BS99 6AH |
|
Cautionary Statement
This document may include statements that are, or may be deemed to be, 'forward-looking statements'. These forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward‑looking terms or expressions, including 'believes', 'estimates', 'anticipates', 'expects', 'intends', 'may', 'plans', 'projects', 'will', 'explore' or 'should' or, in each case, their negative or other variations or comparable terminology or by discussions of strategy, plans, objectives, goals, future events or intentions. These forward-looking statements include all matters that are not historical facts. They may appear in a number of places throughout this document and may include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the intentions, beliefs or current expectations of the Company, the Directors and/or the Investment Manager concerning, amongst other things, the investment objectives and investment policy, financing strategies, investment performance, results of operations, financial condition, liquidity, prospects and distribution policy of the Company and the markets in which it invests.
By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties because they relate to future events and depend on circumstances that may or may not occur in the future. Forward‑looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. The Company's actual investment performance, results of operations, financial condition, liquidity, distribution policy and the development of its financing strategies may differ materially from the impression created by, or described in or suggested by, the forward-looking statements contained in this document. Further, this document may include target figures for future financial periods.
Any such figures are targets only and are not forecasts. Nothing in this document should be construed as a profit forecast or a profit estimate. In addition, even if actual investment performance, results of operations, financial condition, liquidity, distribution policy and the development of its financing strategies, are consistent with any forward-looking statements contained in this document, those results or developments may not be indicative of results or developments in subsequent periods. A number of factors could cause results and developments of the Company to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward‑looking statements including, without limitation, general economic and business conditions, industry trends, inflation and interest rates, the availability and cost of energy, competition, changes in law or regulation, changes in taxation regimes, the availability and cost of capital, currency fluctuations, changes in its business strategy and political and economic uncertainty. Any forward-looking statements herein speak only at the date of this document.
As a result, you are cautioned not to place any reliance on any such forward-looking statements and neither the Company nor any other person accepts responsibility for the accuracy of such statements. Subject to their legal and regulatory obligations, the Company, the Directors and the Investment Manager expressly disclaim any obligations to update or revise any forward‑looking statement contained herein to reflect any change in expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any statement is based.
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