Salvesen, a leading figure in the UK’s seafood industry who has directorships in a number of businesses, now owns 23.01 per cent of the cleantech firm, up from 22.39 per cent.

Salvesen, who through his family’s holding also retains a major shareholding in Aggreko (LON:AGK), the quoted Glasgow plant hire group, was appointed to the board last week 

New chief operating officer, William Ingram Hill, 35, also bought recently 250,000 shares in the company for 11.5p each.

Helius is developing biomass-fired renewable electricity  generation plants at sizes ranging from around seven megawatts to 100MW.

The firm is involved in several projects and its long-term aim is to be an owner/operator of 500MW worth of power plant assets.

The group is focused on a 100MW Avonmouth biomass plant, located on the Bristol Channel; a 7.2MW project in Scotland with the Combination of Rothes Distillers (CoRDe); and another 100MW biomass plant proposed for Southampton.

Helius also developed the 65MW net capacity Stallingborough biomass plant, located on the south side of the Humber estuary in Lincolnshire.

Helius Alpha, a subsidiary that owned the rights to develop and operate the plant, was then sold in its entirety to RWE Innogy.

In early October, Helius raised £6.6 million in a placing priced at 16p pence per share.

Biomass power plant builder Helius Energy (LON:HEGY) announced today that its chief operating officer, William Ingram Hill, yesterday bought 250,000 shares in the company for 11.5 pence each.

The news comes after Helius earlier this week reported that Ingram Hill had joined the board as chief operating officer while key investor Alastair Salvesen had been appointed as a non-executive director. Salvesen, a leading figure in the UK’s seafood industry who has directorships in a number of businesses, himself recently upped his stake in Helius from below five per cent to more than one-fifth of the company.

Helius is a developer of biomass-fired renewable electricity generation plants at sizes ranging from around seven megawatts to 100MW. The firm is involved in several projects and its long-term aim is to be an owner/operator of 500MW worth of power plant assets.

Currently, Helius is focused on: the forthcoming 100MW Avonmouth biomass plant, located on the Bristol Channel; a 7.2MW project in Scotland with the Combination of Rothes Distillers (CoRDe); and another 100MW biomass plant proposed for Southampton.

Helius also developed the 65MW net capacity Stallingborough biomass plant, located on the south side of the Humber estuary in Lincolnshire. Helius Alpha, a subsidiary that owned the rights to develop and operate the plant, was then sold in its entirety to RWE Innogy.

As part of the deal, in which Helius made a profit of around £20 million, it will also receive 13 percent of the annual profits after tax generated by the plant during the first 24 years of its operation (this profit was valued by the company at £14.3 million in September 2008).

In early October, Helius raised £6.6 million in a placing priced at 16p pence per share – which was a premium to the share price at the time.

A key investor in biomass power plant builder Helius Energy (LON:HEGY) is joining its board as a non-executive director, the firm announced today.

Alastair Salvesen, who recently increased his stake in Helius from below five per cent to more than one-fifth of the company, has been a leading figure in the UK seafood industry for 30 years, having been managing director and now chairman of Dawnfresh Seafoods. He is also the chairman of Dovecot Studios and of Dawnfresh Farming, as well as being a director at both Praha Investment Holdings and Archangel Informal Investment (Scotland’s largest angel investor syndicate).

On November 1 Helius Energy announced that Salvesen increased his holding in the firm from 4,473,294 shares to 28,168,572 shares. Today it said he now holds 29,668,572 shares (or 22.4 per cent of the business).

Helius also announced two other appointments today. William Rickett, a former senior civil servant with investment banking and advisory experience, comes on board as another non-executive director. Rickett has held top positions at the Department of Energy and Climate Change and the International Energy Agency, and currently holds non-executive directorships at a number of energy-related organisations.

Meanwhile, William Ingram Hill is joining the board as chief operating officer, having previously been Helius’s general counsel and group company secretary.

Helius is currently progressing with a series of projects, including its flagship Avonmouth power plant project (for which it is seeking to secure project-level funding) and a project in Southampton for which it is aims to secure planning consent.

Seafood tycoon Alastair Salvesen’s holding has gone from 4,473,294 shares to 28,168,572, the equivalent of 21.26 per cent of the business, according to a statement from the firm this morning.

Salvesen has been involved in the seafood industry for more than 30 years, holding senior positions in a number of companies including chairman of Dawnfresh Seafoods. He is also a director of Archangels – a business angel network of around 100 high net worth individuals that invests in early-stage companies.

Early in October, Helius announced plans to raise £6.6 million via a share placing at 16 pence per share – a premium to the then share price which chief financial officer Alan Lyons described as “a cracking result in this market”.

The funds will be used to strengthen Helius’s balance sheet and provide additional working capital to allow the company to progress its immediate and longer-term pipeline of projects, including seeking to secure: project-level funding for the firm’s Avonmouth power project; and planning consent for its Southampton project.

Shares in Helius were unchanged in early trading this morning at 15 pence each.

Director comment

Biomass power plant builder Helius Energy (LON:HEGY) announced this afternoon that it plans to raise £6.6 million via a share placing at 16 pence per share.

Helius’s shares responded by putting on 13.6 per cent in mid-afternoon trading to hit 15.9 pence. Towards the close of the session, the shares had fallen back to 14 pence.

Helius said that a fundraising at a premium to this morning’s share price demonstrated the company’s ability to attract investment from a number of high-quality new and existing institutional and other investors.

“I think it’s a cracking result in this market,” said the firm’s chief financial officer, Alan Lyons. “Most placings done at the moment are at a substantial discount to the share price.”

Lyons pointed out that the placing price was not only achieved at a premium to Helius’s recent share price but it represented a premium to Helius’s average price over the past couple of months.

The funds will be used to strengthen Helius’s balance sheet and provide additional working capital to allow the company to progress its immediate and longer-term pipeline of projects, including seeking to secure: project-level funding for the firm’s Avonmouth power project; and planning consent for its Southampton project.

Lyons said that a key use of the funds will be to bring Avonmouth to the point of financial close, when the firm would expect to receive a fee of around £10 million. In return Helius will be happy to be diluted down to a minority stake in the Avonmouth plant, added Lyons.

In Helius’s statement concerning the statement this afternoon, Adrian Bowles, Helius’s chief executive officer, commented that the placing “clearly demonstrates that investors have confidence in Helius’s ability to develop high quality projects and the potential to realise value from its portfolio”.

Bowles said that the capital allows the firm to continue to develop a pipeline of other projects, following the financial of Helius’s CoRDe project in Scotland earlier in the year.

An application will be made to the London Stock Exchange for approximately 40.9 million shares to be admitted to trading on the Alternative Investment Market, and admission is expected to occur on 24 October.

Biomass power plant builder Helius Energy (LON:HEGY) announced this afternoon that it plans to raise £6.6 million via a share placing at 16 pence per share.

Helius’s shares responded by putting on 13.6 per cent in mid-afternoon trading to hit 15.9 pence.

Helius said that a fundraising at a premium to this morning’s share price demonstrated the company’s ability to attract investment from a number of high-quality new and existing institutional and other investors.

The funds will be used to strengthen Helius’s balance sheet and provide additional working capital to allow the company to progress its immediate and longer-term pipeline of projects, including seeking to secure: project-level funding for the firm’s Avonmouth power project; and planning consent for its Southampton project.

“We are pleased to have secured this significant capital investment in what are tough market conditions for financing,” said Adrian Bowles, Helius’s chief executive officer. “This placing clearly demonstrates that investors have confidence in Helius’s ability to develop high quality projects and the potential to realise value from its portfolio.”

Bowles continued: “We believe that biomass energy is becoming an increasingly important part of the UK’s energy mix. The capital raised allows us to continue to develop our pipeline of other projects which follows the achievement of financing Helius’s CoRDe Project in Scotland earlier this year.”

An application will be made to the London Stock Exchange for approximately 40.9 million shares to be admitted to trading on the Alternative Investment Market, and admission is expected to occur on 24 October.

Helius Energy (LON:HEGY) said today it had raised around £1 million through a combined debt and equity deal with one of its directors.

Helius explained that the new funds would be used to help it deliver its portfolio of biomass-powered electricity plant projects, beginning with the 100 megawatt Avonmouth plant on the Bristol Channel.

The company also announced a number of changes to its board in order to reduce its operating costs. Chairman Keith Henry has stepped down, while non-executive directors David Brocksom and Barclay Forrest have also left their positions (although Forrest had already announced his plans to retire in 2010). John Seed, former chief executive and a current non-executive director, becomes the new chairman.

Angus MacDonald, a non-executive director, has increased his holding in Helius from 19.12 percent to 24.12 percent following the issue of 4,360,674 new shares at 16 pence each, which raised £697,707 for the business. In addition, MacDonald is also providing an unsecured loan to Helius of £302,300.

Seed is to continue with the detailed review that is designed to fund ways to maximise value from the company’s portfolio of operations.

"Helius has demonstrated its capability to deliver major biomass energy projects such as CoRDe and Stallingborough, creating significant value for the Company and its investors,” Seed said.

“Following the major achievement of the start of construction on the CoRDe project, Angus’s further investment, combined with the improvements in our use of funds, will allow us to continue to deliver our portfolio of projects, starting with Avonmouth."

Corde is a 7.2MW project in Scotland with the Combination of Rothes Distillers, while Stallingborough is a 65MW net capacity biomass plant located in Lincolnshire.

£10.5m, versus a market cap for the company of £12m. This appears to imply almost no value for the company’s other assets including Avonmouth and Southampton.

“Although the requirement for cash is a material uncertainty going forward, the shares look fundamentally very undervalued,” says Numis, rating the stock a buy, with a target price of 37p.

Midday, Helius shares stood unchanged at 14 pence.

Northland Capital Partners responded to yesterday’s interim results from Helius Energy (LON:HEGY) by reiterating its ‘buy’ stance and 54 pence target price for the biomass energy firm’s shares.

Helius reported an increase in its pre-tax loss to £955,000 for the six months to the end of March, compared with £589,000 for H1 2010.

A fall in income from interest payments as the firm’s cash balance declines as a result of further investment in biomass projects explained some of the loss. Balance sheet cash stood at £6.6 million at 31 March, compared with £10.1 million just six months earlier.

But Northland said that everything at Helius is proceeding according to plan. “These interim results contain no surprises,” said the broker’s analyst Simon Miller. “Admin expenses remain under control, share based payments were £175k higher and financial income is declining due to the reduced cash balance as further investments are made.”

Miller pointed out that all Helius projects are still in the development stage, a point at which no revenue should be expected.

“The key milestones have been reaching financial close on the CoRDe project at Rothes in April, securing debt and equity finance at project level and the subsequent commencement of construction,” he added. “The next major event will be the announcement of financial close for Avonmouth which is now the principal focus for the remainder of [the 2011 financial year]. Our forecasts remain unchanged and our recommendation is a buy, with a price target of 54 pence.”

Shares in Helius were down some six percent at 12.7 pence each by 10:40am today.

Alongside a consortium of Scotch whisky companies - known as The Combination of Rothes Distillers – Helius is developing a biomass power plant that will generate up to 7.2 megawatts of renewable electricity capacity. The power will be sold into the local network.

Yesterday the company confirmed that it had secured 75 percent of total funding for the project.

The Helius CoRDe joint venture company received approval for non-recourse project finance from the Royal Bank of Scotland (LON:RBS) and Lloyds Banking Group (LON:LLOY).

“Obtaining debt financing for any infrastructure project is a key hurdle, especially during these economic times. 

“Given that Helius has overcome this hurdle, we believe the project is significantly de-risked, which implicitly increases its value - even before construction begins,” Gujral said in a note to clients.

The analyst reckons the project will cost about £50 million (capex) to develop, therefore the banks will put up around £36 million leaving Helius needing to find £14 million for its equity investment.

Gujral said that Helius might sell its stake in the project at this stage – and take early profits now - like it did with the Helius Alpha project or it may reduce its equity stake to raise the capital.

It sold Helius Alpha, a subsidiary that owned the 65 megawatt Stallingborough plant plant near Hull, to RWE Energy’s renewable arm RWE Innogy for an initial £28.14 million, back in September 2008. The deal was struck before construction had even begun and Helius is set for a further £8.8 million payment once RWE signs the first major equipment supply contract for the construction of the Stallinborough plant.

Alternatively the analyst said that Helius could fund its stake in the project from its own balance sheet, however Gujral doubts this is a likely outcome as it already has a strong pipeline of other projects that are growing in maturity. 

Gujral adds: “We believe Helius represents a good value investment opportunity. 

“Its current market cap is below its cash position and the value of an earn-out asset which should be realised this year. 

“The market is thus discounting the value of Helius CoRDe and Helius Avonmouth - a 100 megawatt biomass plant which received regulatory approval last year.”

Today the Royal Bank of Scotland (LON:RBS) and Lloyds Banking Group (LON:LLOY) approved an application for project financing.

Alongside a consortium of Scotch whisky companies - known as The Combination of Rothes Distillers – Helius will develop a biomass power plant that will generate up to 7.2 megawatts of renewable electricity capacity. The power will be sold into the local network.

"The project represents a significant step forward for Helius and its distillery partners,” Helius chief executive Adrian Bowles said.

“We all look forward to getting this project constructed and into commercial operation at the earliest opportunity".

The Helius CoRDe joint venture company applied for the financing required to build and commission the plant.

It has now received approval for a non-recourse project finance credit facility, whereby Llyods and RBS will provide up to 75 percent of the total funding.

Pre-construction work is already underway and on-site works are expected to start in the spring. The project is slated to begin commercial production in the second quarter of 2013.

Numis Securities featured Helius in its 'Morning Meeting Notes' today, noting there was "little material news on project development with Helius's finals".  "We continue to believe that there is material value creation opportunity from the UK biomass market, and that Helius shares offer very good value."  Numis has a 34p price target on the stock.

Based at the Port of Bristol, the 100 megawatt renewable energy plant will generate electricity using biomass.  

The Rothes project in Scotland, meanwhile, is a stage further developed. The contracts for the detailed engineering, procurement and construction of the plant, the grid connection, fuel supply and power sales are being finalised and these are currently being reviewed as part of the project finance due diligence process.

It will use distillery residues and wood fuel to generate 7 megawatts of renewable electricity for sale and provide 13 tonnes of steam per hour.

Separately, the company has signed an option to lease a 20-acre site at the Port of Southampton for another 100 MW operation.

Chairman Keith Henry said: "We expect the prospects for biomass energy projects in the UK continue to grow over the long-term and Helius remains well positioned to build upon its previous success. Helius has secured planning consents for 170MWe of biomass capacity to date."

The update was given as the group reported results for the 12 months to September 30. They showed the company had cash of £10.1 million as of that date.

Helius was however loss-making to the tune of £6.2 million, though only £2.6 million of that figure was related to operating costs. It booked a write-down of £3.8 million related to a change in the terms of an earn-out deal it has with German generator RWE.

It is important to point out that the RWE write-downs are paper losses, and in fact Helius expects that the recently re-negotiated deal will help it develop additional biomass projects.

Helius sold the Stallingborough project to RWE for £28.14 million back in 2008. The deal also gave Helius a 13 percent profit share for the first 24 years of the plants life. The group had valued this profit sharing deal at £12.3 million.

Last week Helius agreed revised terms whereby it will waive its share of future profits, in return for a cash payment of £8.8 million once RWE moves Stallinborough into construction – when it orders the major equipment for the bio-mass plant.

After the news, City broker Matrix released an in-depth research report in which it also highlighted that both Helius and RWE could benefit from the UK government’s electricity-market reform (EMR).

“RWE, like other utilities, is delaying investment decisions in the UK until it has clarity on electricity-market reform (EMR), which should come in a White Paper in April,” Matrix analyst  Steven Fawkes said in a note to clients.

“If, as expected, the EMR results in a carbon floor price and capacity charges, it should work in favour of low carbon-dispatchable plant, such as the Helius projects, and would increase the probability of RWE proceeding with Stallingborough and payment of the £8.8 million. 

“In addition, it should increase the value of other similar projects Helius has in development.” 

While he acknowledged that decision-making in the utility sector is slow, Fawkes gave a bullish view on the bio-mass specialist.

As the electricity market stands Fawkes values the company at 75 pence per share - including the RWE payment which he values at 9 pence, Avonmouth valued at 47 pence the CoRDe joint venture in Scotland worth 7 pence, plus its cash which is worth 12 pence per share.

The Southampton port biomass project is not included in the Matrix valuation.

Furthermore even with a conservative valuation, applying 50 percent probablility, the analyst gives Helius a 43 pence valuation – more than double its current market price of 21 pence per share.

Fawkes adds: “Helius continues to create value, but the long cycle of large power-station development means that realisation of value is a long-term exercise. 

“We continue to see long-term value in Helius.”