PowerHouse has signed an option for an exclusivity agreement for the UK with Peel Environmental. This potentially makes Peel the lead developer of DMG waste-to-energy projects, both on its own extensive land bank and on sites belonging to councils and waste management companies and other industrial partners across the UK. The agreement provides a mechanism for PowerHouse to monetise its IP through licensing and means PowerHouse will not need to raise finance for individual projects.
Written by
PowerHouse Energy Group |
Strengthening relationship with Peel Environmental |
Option for an exclusivity agreement for the UK |
Alternative energy |
6 April 2020 |
Share price performance
Business description
Next event
Analyst
PowerHouse Energy Group is a research client of Edison Investment Research Limited |
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PowerHouse has signed an option for an exclusivity agreement for the UK with Peel Environmental. This potentially makes Peel the lead developer of DMG waste-to-energy projects, both on its own extensive land bank and on sites belonging to councils and waste management companies and other industrial partners across the UK. The agreement provides a mechanism for PowerHouse to monetise its IP through licensing and means PowerHouse will not need to raise finance for individual projects.
Year end |
Revenue (£m) |
EBITDA |
PBT* |
EPS |
DPS |
P/E |
12/16 |
0.0 |
(0.8) |
(1.3) |
(0.23) |
0.00 |
N/A |
12/17 |
0.0 |
(1.6) |
(1.7) |
(0.17) |
0.00 |
N/A |
12/18 |
0.0 |
(1.9) |
(1.9) |
(0.12) |
0.00 |
N/A |
06/19** |
0.0 |
(0.6) |
(0.6) |
(0.03) |
0.00 |
N/A |
Note: *PBT and EPS are normalised, excluding amortisation of acquired intangibles, exceptional items and share-based payments. **Six months ended 30 June 2019.
Peel Environmental to lead all UK developments
The agreement gives Peel Environmental the option to lead the engagement with all potential end-customers in the UK for DMG plants. If exercised, Peel will pay PowerHouse £0.5m as a one-off fee for the exclusive rights to develop DMG in the UK, with an additional £0.5m annually per site payable when each plant that Peel develops becomes operational. PowerHouse may also earn additional fees from providing technical engineering and maintenance services for each project. Myles Kitcher, who is currently executive director, Natural Resources & Energy of Peel L&P has become a non-executive director of PowerHouse. The agreement is conditional on PowerHouse completing the acquisition of its original development partner, Waste2Tricity, for c 1.44bn new PowerHouse shares. This acquisition is subject to finalisation of a shareholder circular and general meeting.
Peel well positioned in UK energy-from-waste sector
The agreement regarding the development of third-party sites complements the previous agreement with Peel announced in February 2020 regarding the development of DMG waste-to-energy plants on 11 UK sites owned by Peel. Peel has agreed to pay PowerHouse a £0.5m annual licence fee per site for each of these as they are commissioned, as well as £0.1k in historic back costs. In March 2020, Peel was granted planning permission for a DMG facility at the first site, which is the Protos Energy Park on Merseyside. Protos is one of Peel’s proposed ‘plastic parks’ where waste plastics are either recycled or regenerated into power and hydrogen. Peel sees DMG technology as a key enabler to ensure plastic from these sites that cannot be recycled does not end up in landfill.
Valuation: Defined route to profitability
PowerHouse has a qualified pipeline of over 30 sites in the UK where DMG units may be deployed. If there was an operational DMG facility on one-third of these sites, this would represent more than £5m in annual licence fees for PowerHouse.
Exhibit 1: Financial summary
Year end 31 Dec |
£'000s |
2014 |
2015 |
2016 |
2017 |
2018 |
PROFIT & LOSS |
||||||
Revenue |
|
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Cost of Sales |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Gross Profit |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
EBITDA |
|
(1,182) |
(397) |
(784) |
(1,609) |
(1,940) |
Operating Profit (pre amort. of acq intangibles & SBP) |
|
(1,182) |
(397) |
(784) |
(1,610) |
(1,941) |
Amortisation of acquired intangibles |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Share-based payments |
0 |
0 |
(68) |
(195) |
(554) |
|
Exceptionals |
(1,038) |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Operating Profit |
(2,221) |
(397) |
(852) |
(1,805) |
(2,495) |
|
Net Interest |
(329) |
(385) |
(482) |
(70) |
(0) |
|
Profit Before Tax (norm) |
|
(1,512) |
(782) |
(1,266) |
(1,680) |
(1,941) |
Profit Before Tax (FRS 3) |
|
(2,550) |
(782) |
(1,334) |
(1,875) |
(2,495) |
Tax |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
145 |
|
Profit After Tax (norm) |
(1,512) |
(782) |
(1,266) |
(1,680) |
(1,796) |
|
Profit After Tax (FRS 3) |
(2,550) |
(782) |
(1,334) |
(1,875) |
(2,350) |
|
Average Number of Shares Outstanding (m) |
376.6 |
390.1 |
551.4 |
975.1 |
1,541.7 |
|
EPS - normalised (p) |
|
(0.40) |
(0.20) |
(0.23) |
(0.17) |
(0.12) |
EPS - normalised fully diluted (p) |
|
(0.40) |
(0.20) |
(0.23) |
(0.17) |
(0.12) |
EPS - FRS 3 (p) |
|
(0.68) |
(0.20) |
(0.24) |
(0.19) |
(0.15) |
Dividend per share (p) |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
|
Gross Margin (%) |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
|
EBITDA Margin (%) |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
|
Operating Margin (before GW and except.) (%) |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
|
BALANCE SHEET |
||||||
Fixed Assets |
|
0 |
0 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
Intangible Assets |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Tangible Assets |
0 |
0 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
|
Current Assets |
|
6 |
177 |
154 |
839 |
1,049 |
Stocks |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Debtors |
6 |
1 |
6 |
88 |
905 |
|
Cash |
0 |
176 |
148 |
750 |
145 |
|
Current Liabilities |
|
(2,416) |
(199) |
(3,383) |
(1,643) |
(247) |
Creditors including tax, social security and provisions |
(235) |
(199) |
(51) |
(241) |
(247) |
|
Short term borrowings |
(2,181) |
0 |
(3,332) |
(1,402) |
0 |
|
Long Term Liabilities |
|
0 |
(2,939) |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Long term borrowings |
0 |
(2,939) |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Other long term liabilities |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Net Assets |
|
(2,410) |
(2,960) |
(3,227) |
(802) |
804 |
CASH FLOW |
||||||
Operating Cash Flow |
|
(1,961) |
(813) |
(637) |
(1,311) |
(1,909) |
Net Interest |
(329) |
(385) |
(482) |
(70) |
(0) |
|
Tax |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Capital expenditure |
0 |
0 |
(2) |
(1) |
(0) |
|
Capitalised product development |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Acquisitions/disposals |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Equity financing |
1,225 |
231 |
701 |
4,104 |
3,402 |
|
Dividends |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Net Cash Flow |
(1,066) |
(966) |
(421) |
2,722 |
1,493 |
|
Opening net debt/(cash) |
|
1,490 |
2,181 |
2,763 |
3,184 |
652 |
Finance leases |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Other |
(375) |
(384) |
0 |
190 |
0 |
|
Closing net debt/(cash) |
|
2,181 |
2,763 |
3,184 |
652 |
(840) |
|
Source: Company data, Edison Investment Research |
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|
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Research: Real Estate
To accompany its AGM, Primary Health Properties (PHP) issued a trading update covering Q120. With 90% of contracted rental income paid directly or indirectly by the UK or Irish governments and the balance primarily coming from co-located pharmacies, rent collection remained robust through Q120. Reflecting the security and predictability of cash flows, PHP has no change to dividend policy and confirms payment of the recently declared second quarterly DPS of 1.475p as planned.