Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 9TH - 15TH MARCH 2018 | 15 This week Greencoat UK grows portfolio to £1.4bn Fund now has investments in 29 windfarms with a net generating capacity of 694MW Greencoat UK Wind has grown the value of its portfolio to more than £1.4 billion aer investing more than £500 million in wind generation in 2017. The fund acquired interests in ten windfarms and increased its stake in another. It now has investments in 29 onshore and offshore windfarms with a net generating capacity of 694MW. Gross asset value (GAV) rose 57 per cent to £1,409 million. To help pay for the purchases, the fund raised £340 million in October by issuing 291 million new shares at a price of 117p. It finished the year with debts of £265 million, giving it a net asset value (NAV) of £1,144 million. NAV per share swelled to 111.2p – a gain of 2.6p when adjusting for dividends. The share price increased by 3.3p to 128.8p. At the end of 2017, the fund was worth £1,263 million, repre- senting a 10.4 per cent premium over the NAV. Output from the portfolio was in line with expecta- tions at 1,457GWh and net cash generation was up 64 per cent at £80.1 million. The full-year dividend was 6.49p per share – up from 6.34p in 2016 – representing a total payout of £57.3 million. The total return to share- holders was 8.4 per cent. Greencoat Capital partner and fund co-manager Stephen Lilley said: "We have 3 per cent of the UK wind market. That's what we own. It's obviously not a large part. No one owns a lot. It's very dispersed and there's a lot of different windfarms that we can hopefully look at buying over the next year and into the future." TG WATER Affinity reveals HS2 deals worth £55m Affinity Water has awarded con- tracts worth an estimated com- bined £55 million for network modifications for the proposed High Speed 2 (HS2) rail project. Barhale has been awarded a five-year contract for Lot 1 on the HS2 Affinity Water framework, worth about £26 million. Glan Agua Farrans Joint Venture has been awarded Lots 2 and 3, with a total value of about £29 million. The proposed high-speed rail link from London to Birmingham and beyond will bisect Affinity Water's supply area and the frameworks will provide "crucial upgrades" of existing treatment infrastructure. Affinity said the works will enable the removal and protection of the company's assets during construction. The works will be funded by HS2 and will not be at the expense of Affinity's customers. WATER New reservoirs 'cost less than drought' The water sector has been warned the cost of building new reservoirs is "peanuts" compared with the potential economic cost of a drought. Speaking at Water UK's City Conference in London, John Armitt, chair of the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC), said "relying on efficiency alone will not be enough" for a resilient water system. He told delegates the NIC's "immediate reaction" to water companies talking about the cost of building reservoirs was to ask what they are waiting for. "In broad infrastructure terms, the cost of around £1 bil- lion to £2 billion is peanuts," he said, adding that, for London alone, the estimated cost of a drought is £350 million a day. ENERGY Utilities should seek offshore protection Listed utilities should explore the possibility of moving their businesses offshore to protect investors from possible nation- alisation by Labour, according to analysts at Macquarie. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has confirmed the party's plan to bring water and energy network companies back into public ownership in a speech. According to a note from Macquarie's equity research team, published in the Financial Times, an overseas move could give companies better safe- guards against future expro- priation than if they remained UK-registered companies. "We see UK-listed utilities either potentially re-domiciling, or restructuring foreign owner- ship to enjoy higher investor protection," said the bank. Greencoat UK invested more than £500m in 2017 Stock watch 800 750 700 650 600 AGGREKO SHARE PRICE, FIVE DAY 13 Feb 20 Feb 27 Feb 6 Mar AGGREKO SHARE PRICE, ONE MONTH Aggreko shares plummeted on Tuesday aer the temporary generator provider reported a 12 per cent decline in pre-tax profits to £195 million in its financial results for 2017. In the opening hours of trading on 6 March, the company's share price fell by more than 11 per cent from 742p to 642p, but it had rebounded to 694p as Utility Week went to press. 800 750 700 650 600 1 Mar 2 Mar 5 Mar 6 Mar Finance & Investment pence pence

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