Global Listed Infrastructure Monthly review and outlook

Market review - as at March 2022

Global Listed Infrastructure rallied in March despite elevated inflation levels, tighter coronavirus restrictions in China, and a mounting list of Western sanctions on Russia.

The best performing infrastructure sector was Railroads (+11%), on the view that higher commodity prices would prove supportive of North American freight rail operators. Towers / Data Centres (+11%), which had underperformed in January and February owing primarily to concerns for rising rates, gained ground as investors refocused on these companies’ strong fundamentals and structural earnings growth drivers. The worst performing infrastructure sector was Airports (+3%), owing to rising coronavirus case numbers in Europe and the imposition of additional lockdown measures under China’s Zero-Covid policy, following an outbreak in Shanghai.

The best performing infrastructure region was the United States (+10%), reflecting strong gains from its utilities, railroads and towers. The worst performing infrastructure regions were Asia ex-Japan (+2%) and Japan (+2%), owing to underperformance from their utilities on concerns for rising input costs. China’s lockdown measures represented an additional headwind.

All stock and sector performance data expressed in local currency terms. Source: Bloomberg.

Market outlook and Strategy

The Portfolio invests in a range of global listed infrastructure assets including toll roads, airports, railroads, utilities and renewables, energy midstream, wireless towers and data centres. These sectors share common characteristics, like barriers to entry and pricing power, which can provide investors with inflation-protected income and strong capital growth over the medium-term.

Toll roads represent the portfolio’s largest sector overweight, via positions in European, Asia Pacific and Latin American operators. We believe these companies represent exceptional value at current levels, with traffic volumes proving significantly more resilient than those of other transport infrastructure assets. Toll roads are also likely to fare relatively well in a higher inflation environment. Many toll roads have concession agreements that specify how prices can be increased, with an option to follow the inflation rate or an agreed percentage – whichever is higher.

A substantial portion of the Portfolio consists of high conviction Utility / Renewables holdings. The Portfolio’s focus is on companies with the scope to derive steady, low risk earnings growth by replacing old fossil fuel power plants with solar and wind farms, and by upgrading and expanding the networks needed to connect these new power sources to the end user. Technology advances and lower costs for utility-scale battery storage will enable renewables to represent an ever-greater share of the overall electricity generation mix. In the medium term, the roll-out of electric vehicles is then expected to provide an additional boost to utilities – first via investment opportunities associated with linking EV charging stations to the grid; and then via higher overall demand for electricity.

The portfolio is underweight the Airports sector. The emergence of the Omicron variant underscored how vulnerable many airlines remain to coronavirus-related disruption. As a result, we favour shorter haul, leisure-exposed airports, particularly European airports with large intra-Europe exposure where border restrictions are likely to be less cumbersome. We expect to see a strong rebound in traffic at airports such as Spain’s AENA, as travellers look to catch-up with friends and family or take a holiday.

An underweight exposure to the Energy Midstream sector has been maintained. Strong gains across the sector during the past year have moved these stocks to lower rankings within our investment process; and we remain conscious of the structural headwinds that many of these companies could face as Net Zero initiatives gather pace.

Source : Company data, First Sentier Investors, as of 31 March 2022.

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