Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 23RD FEBRUARY - 1ST MARCH 2018 | 17 This week Investment is key to growth at Portsmouth Infrastructure investor acquires water-only firm after missing out on Dee Valley deal in 2017 Portsmouth Water has been acquired by infrastructure invest- ment manager Ancala Partners for an undisclosed sum. Ancala has agreed to acquire South Downs Capital, the parent company of the independent water-only firm, completing the acquisition next month. The investor missed out on acquiring Dee Valley Water in February last year, aer it entered a bidding war with Severn Trent – which eventu- ally paid £84 million to secure the deal. Ancala's investment will allow Portsmouth Water to pursue growth opportunities, it said. It suggested this could include investments to "utilise the company's privileged water resource position for the benefit of both Portsmouth Water customers and neighbouring areas through the provision of bulk supplies". David Owens, industry partner at Ancala Partners and a former chief executive at Thames Water, will join the board of Portsmouth Water as a non-executive director. Ancala launched its mid-market infrastructure plat- form in 2015 and is managing more than €950 million. Lee Mellor, a partner at the firm, said: "Portsmouth Water is an excellent fit with our core investment strat- egy, which targets mid-market infrastructure businesses that deliver long-term, inflation-linked cashflows." Portsmouth Water serves more than 700,000 domes- tic customers and industrial and commercial businesses. It is majority owned by its Employee Benefits Trust. The rest of the shares are owned by several people, including current and former directors and their beneficiaries. KP ENERGY £30m to accelerate V2G tech to market Twenty-one energy projects are to receive a shrae of £30 million from the government as part of a drive to unlock the potential of vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology. Companies from across the electric vehicle industry – and academic experts – will join forces to research, design and develop their ideas aer their successful bids in a competition led by Innovate UK. The aim is to find out whether energy from electric vehicles can be stored and used to power homes and businesses. Companies including Nissan, OVO Energy, Octopus Energy, Cisco, Flexisolar and AT Kearney will receive funds from the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and the Office for Low Emission Vehicles. ENERGY Fall in energy use hits EDF's profits Profits at EDF Energy have plunged aer a drop in energy consumption and lower power prices during 2017. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBIDTA) fell 36 per cent year- on-year to £899 million. The company reported a £3 million loss in earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) compared with a profit of £470 million in 2016. The figure excluded a one-off write down on the value of its coal power stations and gas storage assets of £167 million. The decline was partly attributed to lower energy use by its customers. Electricity consumption was down 1.9 per cent because of improvements in energy efficiency, while gas consumption was down 2.6 per cent owing to warmer weather. Profits were also hit by a 12 per cent fall in wholesale power prices and a 1.2 per cent dip in nuclear output to 63.9TWh aer a shutdown at Sizewell B in late 2017 and record production in the previous year. ENERGY Shell's acquisition of First Utility approved The European Commission has approved Shell's acquisition of First Utility. In December, Shell said it would buy 100 per cent of independent energy provider First Utility in a deal set to complete in early 2018, subject to "regulatory and other approvals". The Commission said the acquisition did not raise any competition concerns because the companies' limited positions in wholesale and retail markets. Portsmouth fits into Ancala's investment strategy Stock watch 14.0 12.0 10.0 8.0 6.0 EDF SHARE PRICE, FIVE DAY Mar 17 Jul Sep Nov Jan 18 EDF SHARE PRICE, FULL YEAR EDF's stock price shot up more than 7 per cent on Thursday last week to €10.86 per share despite reporting a 16.3 per cent drop in earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) to €13.7 billion in its financial results for 2017. The company has predicted a rebound in 2018, with Ebidta rising to between €14.6 and €15.3 billion. At the time of publication, the share price had dropped back to €10.43. 11.0 10.8 10.6 10.4 10.2 10.0 14 Feb 15 Feb 16 Feb 19 Feb 20Feb Finance & Investment May

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