Greencoat UK Wind on the rise as institutions clamour for renewables
Last updated: 02 Aug 2025
Snapshot
Greencoat UK Wind posts resilient H1 2025 results – ICYMI
Greencoat UK Wind seals position as leading pure-play British wind power provider
UK wind sector buoyed by best performance in six years
Greencoat UK Wind half-year results and key market insights
About the company
Greencoat UK Wind PLC is the leading listed renewable infrastructure fund, invested in operating UK wind farms.
The fund is a constituent of the FTSE 250 and has a market capitalisation of approximately c.£3.2bn.
How it is doing
02 Aug 2025
Greencoat UK Wind PLC’s (LSE:UKW) Matt Ridley talked with Proactive about the company’s interim results and strategic direction in a challenging macro environment.
Ridley highlighted that this marks the twelfth consecutive year of paying an RPI-linked progressive dividend, amounting to £1.3 billion in total distributions. “We generated about £1 billion of cash to reinvest in the business,” he noted, emphasising the importance of maintaining net asset value in real terms.
Despite facing some of the lowest wind speeds in the first half of the year, Greencoat UK Wind still achieved a 1.4x dividend cover. Ridley said this demonstrates the resilience of the portfolio. However, net asset value declined, impacted by lower-than-expected generation and softer power prices.
To support capital allocation efforts, the company has now completed £222 million in asset disposals over eight months, including four new disposals announced with the interim results. These were completed at prevailing NAV, reinforcing the disconnect between the share price and private market valuations.
Greencoat UK Wind PLC (LSE:UKW) has agreed to sell partial stakes in three of its wind farms, raising a total of £181 million and bringing its cumulative disposals over the past year to £222 million.
The London-listed renewables investment group said on Wednesday that it will dispose of 32.65% interests in each of the Andershaw and Bishopthorpe onshore wind farms for £42.6 million.
The income yield is 5.35%, the gross redemption yield is 5.42% but we will not dwell on that for long as the redemption date is 2056. Next income payment date 31 Jan.
If you have twenty years to retirement you will receive all you capital back as income. If you have thirty years to retirement you will achieve the holy grail of investing in that for ten years you will have in your Snowball a position that pays you income at zero, zilch, nothing cost.
Now 5.35% isn’t 7%, so you could pair trade it with a higher yielder.
If not, as you re-invest the income the blended yield will grow to above 7%.
On a 10k investment, after twenty years you will receive income of £535.00
The income re-invested at 7% would produce income of £700.00.
A blended yield of 12.35%
If you are lucky enough to have thirty years to invest, you can work out the return you will receive in the last ten years. Also if/when interest rates rise again you may be able to re-invest your income back into the gilt at a better rate. Income is taxable, so best if held in a tax free wrapper.
You have to allow for inflation and also that you could/will make a capital loss until the maturity date.
Put money into a Stocks and Shares ISA, buy a range of high-quality dividend shares, monitor the portfolio from time to time.
Can earning sizeable passive income streams really be as simple as that? Yes it can!
Setting the right approach
I ought to explain immediately that this is no overnight scheme. Rather, it is an example of how a long-term approach to investing can hopefully pay rewards in future.
If the £20k is compounded at 8% annually, after 32 years the Stocks and Shares ISA should be worth over £234k. An 8% dividend yield on that would amount to over £18k a year in passive income – without touching the capital.
With more than £20k, the timeline could be reduced — or the goal could be targeted with less than £20k, but taking more years to reach it. Another variable is the compound annual growth rate and later, dividend yield achieved. The higher that is, the quicker the goal could be hit — but it is important to stay realistic. Too much risk could mean what seems like a quicker approach ends up being a slower one after all.
That helps explain why I think the savvy investor will take time to construct a carefully selected, diversified portfolio of high-quality shares.
Another element that could eat into the compound annual growth is fees, charges, commissions, taxes and the like. So choosing the most suitable Stocks and Shares ISA is also wise in my view.
Making a start
I think an 8% target is realistic in today’s market. The current FTSE 100 average dividend yield is 3.3%. Some individual shares offer much higher yields – and the compound annual growth rate takes share price movement into account too.
Here’s how to aim to make your kids millionaires with a Stocks & Shares ISA
Many of us aim to be ISA millionaires. It’s certainly possible, but it’s potentially even easier to put your children on the path to that millionaire status.
When investing, your capital is at risk. The value of your investments can go down as well as up and you may get back less than you put in.
Opening a Stocks and Shares ISA for a child at birth or a very young age could be one of the most powerful financial gifts a parent or guardian can give.
With time, consistency, and the power of compounding, even modest monthly contributions have the potential to grow into a substantial sum. This could possibly even making that child a mid-life millionaire.
In the example below, just £300 a month — totalling £3,600 a year — is invested from birth. Assuming a 10% annualised return, the ISA portfolio grows steadily year after year. By age 18, the ISA has already passed £180,000.
And this is where the real compounding starts. By 30, it’s nearing £680,000. Continue holding it — and making contributions — and by age 35 the pot has passed £1.1m. By age 40, it exceeds £1.8m.
The power of compounding
This remarkable growth isn’t down to luck or market timing, but rather the mathematical power of compounding returns over time. The earlier the investing journey starts, the more time capital has to snowball.
This snowballing can happen even from a relatively small base. And because a Stocks and Shares ISA allows tax-free growth and withdrawals, it offers a uniquely efficient vehicle for long-term wealth-building.
Please note that tax treatment depends on the individual circumstances of each client and may be subject to change in future. The content in this article is provided for information purposes only. It is not intended to be, neither does it constitute, any form of tax advice. Readers are responsible for carrying out their own due diligence and for obtaining professional advice before making any investment decisions.
It’s important to remember however, that the stock market carries risk. Returns aren’t guaranteed, and investments can fall as well as rise. The 10% annualised return used here is for illustrative purposes only, based on long-term historical averages like the performance of the S&P 500.
Still, the underlying message is really compelling. Early action coupled with regular contributions and patience can build a seven-figure portfolio for a child. Whether it’s for their first home, education or retirement, giving children a financial head start could be one of the most valuable legacies a parent can offer.
Where to invest?
There are several intelligent ways to start. And unless you’re a seasoned investor, the common theme is diversification. An investor may plan to focus on individual stocks and buy, say, two stocks a month, balancing diversification with highconviction investment opportunities.
Or, they may wish to start by investing in a trust or fund. I’d add that I’ve employed both strategies for my daughter’s ISA and Self-Invested Personal Pension (SIPP). The ISA is composed of 20-30 stocks with strong quantitive scores and the SIPP is more trust- and fund- focused.
With regard to investment trusts, one present in her SIPP and my pension is The Monks Investment Trust (LSE:MNKS). While it’s lagged its sister portfolio — Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust — over the past decade, it’s actually up 21% over the past year.
Monks’ diversified yet growth-focused approach aims to avoid overexposure to any single theme, while still capturing the appreciation of global innovators. Alongside US tech, it holds stakes in Taiwan Semiconductor, Prosus, and even Ryanair, reflecting a broad geographic and sector mix.
Its inclusion of The Schiehallion Fund — an illiquid vehicle focused on private growth companies — adds another unique angle, though it introduces valuation risk in less transparent markets.
While Monks isn’t as volatile as Scottish Mortgage, it still carries the usual risks associated with equity investing. It also practices gearing — borrowing to invest — which can amplify losses when the market reverses.
There is a very wide spread with MNKS, so be very careful in case the market turns.
Will Stocks Drop Again? Here’s My Take (and an 8.5% Dividend to Profit)
by Michael Foster, Investment Strategist
Volatility is back! And we contrarians know what to do: Get ready to buy. And we don’t have to try to time the depths of the next selloff, either, because the three 7%+ paying, “volatility-loving” dividends we’re going to talk about are perfect for this market. They’re all closed-end funds (CEFs) that see their cash streams grow when markets get skittish. Their secret? They sell covered-call options on their portfolios. This is a smart, low-risk way they can generate extra income – and send it our way as 7%+ dividends. That’s because these funds charge investors a “premium” for the “option” to buy their holdings at a fixed time and date in the future.
They keep that cash no matter what happens with the trade itself. And their dividends (and our income) directly benefit.
If you’ve been reading my column for a while, you’ll recognize these three covered-call CEFs: the 8.5%-paying Nuveen Dow 30 Dynamic Overwrite Fund (DIAX), the 7.6%-yielding Nuveen S&P 500 Dynamic Overwrite Fund (SPXX) and the 8.5%-paying Nuveen NASDAQ 100 Dynamic Overwrite Fund (QQQX).
Investors Go From Greed to Uncertainty. What’s Next?
I also bring these funds up now because, despite the media’s howling, the current market is simply following an age-old course.
It goes like this: As stocks rise, a major news story sparks worries that their gains can’t last. Stocks then sell off on rising investor fear, until the “smart money” comes in to buy the dip. Then the rest of the crowd takes notice and stocks begin to recover.
Usually, this cycle happens over a short period – a few weeks, maybe a month or two. A good example is the sharp selloff, and speedy recovery, after President Trump announced large tariffs in April.
However, a negative mood can hang on and prolong a selloff. That’s what happened in 2022, when worries of an economic crisis emerged after 2021’s huge run. But that turned out to be wrong, and the economy didn’t start contracting that year, or in 2023, or even in 2024.
As a result, stocks recovered, but it took a long time as pundit after pundit wrongly insisted a recession was on its way.
Okay, so why am I giving a history lesson here? Because we may very well be on the precipice of a new selloff, with volatility rising again. The trigger was that disappointing jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics last Friday, which included large downward revisions to the previous two months’ readings.
It’s worth noting, however, that the economy is still adding jobs, and, if we look at the last five years of data, we’re still far from the calamities of the pandemic.
In other words, we’re in the fearmongering stage of the cycle, with the media running story after story about the so-called “big drop” in the labor market.
A quick look at the CNN Fear and Greed index, as of this writing, shows us that the extreme-greed mood of the last couple months has flipped to neutral, where it was in March and again at the end of April, after the huge crash earlier that month. However, it’s worth noting that stocks are up both from the end of April and from March.
Neutral Sentiment = Stock Profits So, if sentiment is cooling, we may see stocks sell off in the short term, then recover strongly a bit later. That’s the scenario I find most likely at this time.
Short-Term Volatility: How to Respond
One interesting thing about the current market is that, while volatility has jumped a little, it’s nowhere near the spikes associated with big, steep selloffs. This tells us that a near-term selloff isn’t guaranteed, and one will likely only emerge if the current level of the VIX – the market’s so-called “fear gauge” – rises.
VIX Rising, but Still Muted As you can see above, the VIX recently spiked from an unusually low level, meaning the market is waking up from weeks of complacency. Obviously, in such a market, you can’t just sell everything: If things stay flattish, you might be able to buy back in, but you’ll miss out on dividends.
And if stocks see a short-term decline, who’s to say how low it will go and how long it will last? This doesn’t feel like a 2022-style drop, partly because Americans are less fearful than they were shortly after the pandemic. So a short-term market dip is the likeliest outcome, with a flat market a close second.
In such a market, the best move is to monetize rising volatility. That’s where our (still-) available opportunity on those three covered-call CEFs comes in.
We’re interested in these three because their call options essentially turn rising fear into cash. Plus there’s a big difference in their discounts to net asset value (NAV, or the value of their underlying portfolios) we can take advantage of.
DIAX Is Unusually Cheap Now Note that DIAX (in blue above) trades at a near-11% discount to NAV as of this writing, even though its 8.5% yield matches that of QQQX, which has a much narrower 7.5% discount. And SPXX, with its smaller 7.6% yield, trades at just a 1.9% discount!
This is odd, since CEF investors love high yields and tend to price up higher-yielding funds. And as of now, SPXX pays the least and has the smallest discount. That’s the one part of this that makes sense, and the reason is fairly straightforward: The S&P 500 is the best-known index, so many investors blindly pile into SPXX for that reason.
But consider the fact that DIAX has a higher yield (8.5%, you’ll recall), a bigger discount (nearly 11%, as shown in the chart above) and holds solid blue chips like 3M (MMM), American Express (AXP), Boeing (BA), Coca-Cola (KO) and Procter & Gamble (PG).
This means it’s likelier to see higher volatility in the short term (especially since its portfolio only includes 30 stocks – those in the Dow). But that’s a plus, as these option strategies do best in volatile markets. That should raise demand for DIAX, causing its near-11% discount to shrink. And that’s why, right now, DIAX is a compelling hedge for short-term volatility.
“TRIG” or “the Company”, a London-listed renewables investment company advised by InfraRed Capital Partners (“InfraRed”) as Investment Manager and Renewable Energy Systems (“RES”) as Operations Manager.
Announcement of Interim Results for the six months to 30 June 2025
£199m of operational cash generated despite low wind resource in the UK, France and Germany:
· In line with the expectation set out in the Q1 2025 Net Asset Value (“NAV”) update, dividend cover was 1.0x in the period (30 June 2024: 1.1x), or 2.2x before the repayment of £105m of project level debt. TRIG’s dividend guidance of 7.55p/share for FY 2025 is reaffirmed by the Board.
· Generation in the period was 10% below budget driven by poor wind resource.
