www.seaenergyrenewables.com
SeaEnergy PLC (formerly Ramco Energy plc) is a Scottish public limited company headquartered in Aberdeen, Scotland.
In September 2009 the board announced the intention to focus the group on renewable energy, specifically offshore wind. SeaEnergy in mid-2010 specified it would concentrate on marine services for the offshore wind power industry, following an assessment of the equity markets, investor sentiment and the funding environment.
It is in the process of selling its 80%-held renewable energy operating subsidiary SeaEnergy Renewables Limited which currently has interests in three offshore wind farm projects in development, totalling 3,125GW of capacity.
SeaEnergy: winning boat tender would be “significant catalyst” for share price
Ambrian Partners believes the winning of upcoming tenders by SeaEnergy (LON:SEA) for specialised operations and maintenance vessels is as “equally important” as the distribution to investors of funds gained from the sale earlier this year of its SeaEnergy Renewables (SERL) business for driving shareholder value.
The investment bank, which is house broker to SeaEnergy, said that although management has indicated that some of the £27 million cash on SeaEnergy’s balance sheet could be shared among the firm’s investors, the need to be successful in winning tenders for O&M vessels, along with the company’s legacy oil and gas interests, represents the future growth of the firm.
Announcing interim results for the six months to June 30, SeaEnergy’s executive chairman, Steve Remp, this morning said: “SeaEnergy is in a strong position. Following the successful and highly value accretive disposal of SERL to Repsol, we have a strong balance sheet and no debt and are poised to capture a number of opportunities within both the renewable and oil & gas sectors of the energy market. This is an industry in which the team has successfully built businesses in the past and have the vision and energy to create a unique energy ventures business of scale.”
SeaEnergy said that it has engaged with “many potential customers” for its new business that is focused on specialised O&M vessels for the offshore wind power industry. It said that converting that support into a firm charter is a priority for the company.
The company’s specifications for its vessels are designed for the challenging wave, tide and weather conditions encountered in the North Sea, where the requirement for the first such vessels is expected to emerge in 2014. SeaEnergy said it is actively preparing to participate in the first of such tenders for the North Sea, which are expected to be issued next month.
Ambrian said that such tenders “are attractive due to the security of receiving long term and annuity-style cash flows, and thus we see this to be a significant catalyst for the value of the company”.
Remp added that SeaEnergy’s oil and gas investments are “at an interesting stage”. In particular, he highlighted the firm’s increased holding in Lansdowne Oil & Gas – which “continues to make good progress”. Lansdowne has completed this year’s 3D seismic acquisition programme in the Celtic Sea “ahead of schedule and on budget”, and the interpreted results of that programme are expected to be available before the end of the year.
In July, SeaEnergy participated in a fundraising at Lansdowne that saw it invest an additional £1.7 million at 15 pence per share. SeaEnergy pointed out in its statement today that Lansdowne’s closing price yesterday was 24.75 pence.
In terms of results for the first half, Sea Energy made an operating loss of £6.1 million (H1 2010: £2.6 million), although it posted a pre-tax profit of £27 million (H1 2010: £4.2 million loss) for the period thanks to proceeds from the sale of SERL.
Ambrian has a ‘buy’ rating for SeaEnergy, whose shares were trading higher by 1.4 per cent at 26.2 pence at lunchtime today.
