Since arriving on AIM in 2011 at 60p per share (currently 930p) and a market capitalisation of only £50m (currently £1.25 billion), Glasgow headquartered Smart Metering Systems (‘SMS’) has evolved into a fully integrated energy infrastructure company.

SMS is a long-term holding in Fundamental Asset Management’s AIM IHT portfolios.

The global energy market has changed rapidly over the last few months and the requirement for a low carbon, flexible and secure energy system has never been greater or more acute.  The core focus of SMS is to facilitate a lower cost, lower carbon energy future.

At the time of its arrival on AIM, SMS was primarily a provider of gas infrastructure connection services and gas meter asset management services. It had also developed advanced smart metering technology solutions. Fast forward to the present time and the enlarged group now provides total energy solutions for its customers, helping businesses and consumers use energy for the better, with the aim of achieving a greener and more sustainable energy system.

In addition to their core meter asset management business, SMS now independently develops, owns and operates Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) that serve a greener, resilient, and more flexible grid and independent Electric Vehicle (‘EV’) charging solutions.

Inflation proofed returns

A positive trading update for its first half to 30 June commented how the installation of smart meters continued to pick-up with 230,000 installed during the first half of 2022, and the average monthly installation rate rising to 40,000 meters. As a result, the Group’s total smart meter portfolio increased to 1.9 million meters, with the order pipeline c.2.42 million meters.

The Group’s growing portfolio of smart meters supports plenty of reliable, inflation proofed, Index Linked Annualised Recurring Revenue (‘ILARR’), to which an annual RPI adjustment of +4.3% was applied on 1 April 2022.

The UK smart meter rollout continues to present a significant opportunity to grow their ILARR, with Ofgem requiring energy suppliers to exchange at least 85% of all meters to smart by the end of 2025. Ofgem has also proposed mandatory settlement of energy on a half-hourly basis, which would significantly increase the market size for these services from c.300,000 electricity meters to over 26 million meters by 2026.

SMS’ first grid-scale battery site (Burwell, 50MW) commenced trading at the end of January 2022 and the site’s current performance is well ahead of expectations.

New developments

The Group’s new Solopower solution, which was launched in 2021, aims to radically reduce carbon emissions within the UK’s social housing stock using solar generation and battery storage. Pilot projects are being progressed in over 1,000 homes across the UK, as well as early-stage projects in the Republic of Ireland.

Sustainability

The SMS website highlights how their investment case is rooted in sustainability, with its Sustainability Report providing detailed disclosure on the practical steps being taken to progress Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) responsibilities within their business strategy, culture, and everyday operations.

Their ‘net-zero by 2030’ target will see SMS drastically reduce their organisational carbon emissions to achieve a balance between the amount of greenhouse gas emissions produced and the amount removed from the atmosphere.

Green Economy Mark

SMS carries the London Stock Exchange’s Green Economy Mark. This recognises London-listed companies and funds that derive more than 50% of their revenues from products and services that are contributing the environmental objectives such as climate change mitigation and adaptation, waste and pollution reduction, and the circular economy.

Inheritance Tax receipts hit another record

HMRC’s latest figures show that Inheritance Tax (IHT) receipts for April 2022 to July 2022 were £2.4 billion, that’s £0.3 billion higher than in the same period a year earlier.

The Office for Budget Responsibility (‘OBR’) forecasts that as many as 6.5 per cent of estates could be liable for Inheritance Tax by 2026 – 75 per cent more than the 3.7 per cent that the figures show for the latest financial year.

With the AIM market down substantially from 2021 highs, now could be a great time to consider investing in qualifying AIM shares as part of a sustainable Inheritance Tax plan.

To find out more about the benefits of investing in AIM for Inheritance Tax planning purposes, where sustainability is also a key consideration, please speak to our Business Development Manager Jonathan Bramall via email [email protected]  or phone 01923 713 894.

This video presentation here provides a brief introduction to the Fundamental AIM IHT portfolio service, while our webinar here reviews the second quarter of the year and discusses our ESG and PRI developments.

Fundamental Asset Management
www.fundamentalasset.com

Brickability Group (AIM: BRCK), the AIM quoted construction materials distributor and one of our AIM IHT portfolio companies, recently announced fabulous results for the year ended 31 March 2022.

Brickability is a leading construction materials distributor, serving customers across the UK and Europe for over 36 years through its national and local networks. The Group supplies over 550m bricks annually and has over 55 locations across the country with over 600 employees.

At the end of 2021 Brickability established a Group ESG Committee comprised of Board members and key members of Group management. One of the first priorities of the ESG Committee was to develop Brickability Group’s 2030 sustainability strategy which launched in July 2022. Full details of this are included in an ESG Report within the Annual Report. You can find out more about their ESG initiatives here.

The strategy sets out plans to minimise the Group’s negative impact, and increase positive impact, on people, planet and partners, fully integrating sustainability into their businesses and exploring an ambition to be carbon net zero in their sales businesses by 2030. The initial focus has been on measurement, insight and developing the ESG team and oversight.

One of the first steps in the move to net zero is the introduction a new Group wide Electric Vehicle (EV) policy which will see the transition of all company cars to Electric Vehicles and the installation of EV chargers at Group sites. We just hope the electric supply will also be from renewable sources!

February 2022 saw the launch of the Brickability Foundation Trust to support good causes and also inspire and enable employees to make a difference personally. Under the Foundation’s charter, the Group will donate 0.5% of its adjusted EBITDA in each financial year to the Foundation. £200,000 has been donated during the 2021/22 financial year, with £55,000 donated from the Foundation. The major charity chosen for 2022 is Maggie’s cancer charity.

We commend their sustainability and social initiatives and look forward to further updates on this.

Brickability is yet another constituent of our AIM portfolios for Inheritance Tax planning purposes placing greater emphasis on sustainability and ESG considerations.

Growing Inheritance Tax receipts

HMRC’s Inheritance Tax receipts in June 2022 reached £726m, the highest total since records began and up from the £564m recorded in May. In the three months to June, receipts reached £1.8bn which is £300m more than the same period last year.

Frozen tax thresholds and the booming property market were key drivers of growing IHT receipts.

The Office for Budget Responsibility (‘OBR’) forecasts that as many as 6.5 per cent of estates could be liable for Inheritance Tax by 2026 – nearly double the 3.7 per cent that the figures show for the latest financial year. The OBR has also revised Inheritance Tax forecasts up by an average of £400m a year compared to October 2021 estimates because of increased mortality as well as higher house prices.

HMRC collected £6.1bn from annual inheritance tax receipts, in the prior tax year, up 14% (from £5.4bn) on the previous year with the average bill increasing by £7,000 per estate to £216,000

With the AIM market down substantially from 2021 highs, now could be a great time to consider AIM as part of a sustainable Inheritance Tax plan.

To find out more about the benefits of investing in AIM for Inheritance Tax planning purposes, where sustainability is also a key consideration, please speak to our Business Development Manager Jonathan Bramall via email [email protected]  or phone 01923 713 894.

This video presentation here provides a brief introduction to the Fundamental AIM IHT portfolio service, while our webinar here reviews the second quarter of the year and discusses our ESG and PRI developments.

Fundamental Asset Management
www.fundamentalasset.com

The recent full year results statement from AIM listed leisure travel group Jet2 PLC (AIM:JET2) made a point of highlighting its focus on sustainability. While a company operating a fleet of passenger airlines is unlikely to draw huge amounts of enthusiasm from ESG investors, Jet2 appears to be making considerable progress on the sustainability front.

Jet2.com is the UK’s third largest airline, flying from 10 UK bases to over 70 destinations across Europe and beyond and Jet2holidays is the UK’s second largest tour operator. 

Between 2011 and 2019, the Group reduced its CO2 emissions per passenger kilometre from 83.1g to 67.0g, a reduction of more than 19%. In 2018 it was ranked 11th best airline in the world in this regard by Atmosfair Index, although to put things into perspective it’s worth noting that among UK operators, TUI and Thomas Cook were ranked 1^st and 7^th respectively.

In September 2021, Jet2 published a comprehensive Sustainability Strategy with the vision to be “the leading brand in sustainable air travel and package holidays”.

As part of their Jet2 Net Zero 2050 commitment, in addition to the significant new Airbus A321 neo investment, Jet2 will offset emissions not currently covered by existing carbon pricing mechanisms (UK and EU Emissions Trading Schemes), thereby taking full responsibility for all its carbon emissions.

By going above and beyond regulatory requirements, Jet2 will see a significant drop in net emissions in the coming months and years. The Group has also committed to using a percentage of UK produced Sustainable Aviation Fuel.

Further, by 2023, 50% of their Ground Support Equipment will be zero carbon and they will have reduced single use plastics on their aircraft by 80% compared to 2019 – equivalent to removing 11 million items per annum!

Jet2holidays will also act on the environmental impacts in its supply chain by enabling customers to make more sustainable accommodation choices through its hotel sustainability labelling system.

You can find out more about Jet2’s initiatives towards sustainability here: www.jet2plc.com/sustainability

To find out more about the benefits of investing in AIM, please speak to our Business Development Manager Jonathan Bramall via email [email protected]  or phone 01923 713 894

Our upcoming webinar will review the second quarter of the year as well as discuss our ESG and PRI developments. For more information on investing in AIM shares for Inheritance Tax Planning purposes.

This video presentation here also provides a brief introduction to the Fundamental AIM IHT portfolio service.

Fundamental Asset Management
www.fundamentalasset.com

In our last blog  – which can be read here; we announced that Fundamental Asset Management is now a signatory to the Principles for Responsible Investment.

In further recognition of the growing importance of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) issues, we  are producing a series of Blogs titled ‘AIM for Positive Impact’ highlighting the initiatives being made by our AIM portfolio companies in addressing ESG and related matters.

First up, long term portfolio holding James Halstead.

Flooring -Everyman Theatre, Liverpool, UK

AIM quoted flooring manufacturer James Halstead may not immediately strike you as a business with impressive ESG credentials, but its website is an ESG-conscious investor’s dream. From the opening page, which highlights the benefits of its flooring in sectors such as healthcare and education, through to its easy to find links to Corporate Responsibility and early mention of “Corporate governance and corporate social responsibility” in the company’s annual report, James Halstead is visibly sustainable.

Chairman Anthony Wild has commented how the company’s recognition of its responsibility towards good corporate governance has contributed to its ability to deliver long-term shareholder value.

James Halstead has produced an annual sustainability report for 16 years, highlighting how far ahead it is of some of its fellow AIM-listed companies that are yet to produce one. It therefore comes as no surprise to see that Polyflor, Halstead’s main brand, is the industry leader from a sustainability perspective, with harvested rainwater being used for production as far back as 1915 and recycling vinyl since they pioneered it in 1950.

Polyflor was also an early adopter of BRE with products first assessed on a Life Cycle Analysis in 2005. They were also the first commercial flooring manufacturer to achieve the BRE’s standard for Responsible Sourcing, BES 6001, for many of its products. There were other firsts, including being the first flooring manufacturer to achieve GreenTag LCARate certification and being the first flooring manufacturer to roll out a recycling initiative inclusive of site collections and distributor dropoff sites to suit all customer and waste volume requirements.

The 2021 Sustainability Report also commented on a further reduction of their carbon footprint, by increasing renewable electrical energy consumption to 100% from 93%, as well as reducing CO2 emissions by 29%.

It just goes to highlight for how long concerns about the environment and our impact upon it have been around. Perhaps a hundred years ago investors may have been primarily concerned about the bottom line, but today’s investors increasingly demand any company to be visibly sustainable. As James Halstead demonstrates, doing good is not only the right thing but is good for business too.

Although it’s not all good news on the ESG front, with a distinct lack of diversity to the James Halstead Board of Directors, so something to improve on!

To find out more about the benefits of investing in AIM, please speak to our Business Development Manager Jonathan Bramall via email [email protected]  or phone 01923 713 894

Our upcoming webinar will review the second quarter of the year as well as discuss our ESG and PRI developments. For more information on investing in AIM shares for Inheritance Tax Planning purposes.

This video presentation here also provides a brief introduction to the Fundamental AIM IHT portfolio service. 

Fundamental Asset Management
www.fundamentalasset.com