Latest news with #GreencoatRenewables
RTÉ News
21-05-2025
- Business
- RTÉ News
Greencoat Renewables gets approval for Johannesburg listing
Wind and solar energy group Greencoat Renewables confirmed today that the Johannesburg Stock Exchange has granted approval to the company for a secondary listing on the Alternative Exchange of the JSE. The listing and commencement of trading will take effect on Monday, June 9. The company said admission to the JSE is expected to be beneficial to the company over time as it will enhance liquidity, diversify the shareholder base and position Greencoat for growth by providing access to a new and deep capital market. It added that it remain listed on the Euronext Growth Market in Dublin and the Alternative Investment Market in London. "Greencoat Renewables' return profile offers an attractive proposition to South African investors who we look forward to welcoming onto our share register. Our listing on the JSE further demonstrates our innovative and proactive approach to improving liquidity," Ronan Murphy, Greencoat's non-executive chairman said.
News24
13-05-2025
- Automotive
- News24
Greencoat Renewables eyes AltX lift; Tariffs tear into Honda's profits
In a slower day for local corporate news, Irish renewable energy group Greencoat Renewables announced it's looking for a secondary AltX listing, while logistics group Grindrod announced the long-awaited exit of its marine fuels business. In international news, Japan's Honda Motor on Tuesday forecast a 70% drop in net profit for the 2025-26 financial year as US trade tariffs weigh on the global auto industry. European energy infrastructure group Greencoat Renewables announced it is in the process of applying for a secondary listing on the JSE's AltX as it looks to diversify its shareholder base, enhance its liquidity, and eyes possible expansion. The group will remain on the Alternative Investment Market in London and the Euronext Growth Market in Dublin, where it is valued at just under €850 million (about R17 billion). It was founded in 2009 and currently has fund mandates with strategies investing in bioenergy, renewable heat, solar, and wind energy infrastructure in the UK, Europe, and the US. 'The cash-generative qualities of our assets, combined with our intensive approach to asset management, delivers euro-denominated returns that we think will be attractive to the South African investment community,' said European CFO Diarmuid Kelly in a statement. 'Having met our dividend targets every year since inception and with a highly contracted portfolio providing strong visibility on future cashflows, we believe we are well positioned going forward.' Logistics group Grindrod announced it had commenced exiting its 50% investment in the marine fuel trading business Cockett Group and Cockett Marine South Africa which will proceed with a solvent wind-down - which refers to closing a company which is financially stable. This followed the execution of a framework agreement entered into between the Cockett shareholders, which became fully effective on 8 May, when Grindrod received $22 million (R405 million). Cockett was the only material asset remaining in Grindrod's non-core asset portfolio, and the group said the business will continue to fulfil all its existing contractual obligations to both suppliers and customers in a timely manner. ICT group Altron, an IT services company and the owner of vehicle tracker Netstar, flagged a climb of up to 75% in continuing headline earnings per share for its year to end February, while total headline earnings per share are expected to be as much as 136c, from a loss of 25c previously. The group didn't go into details, but it had seen a headline loss of R93 million in the prior year when it was hit by writedowns, including for its Altron Nexus business due to the loss of a Gauteng Broadband Network contract. UK and Ireland-focused ICT firm Bytes Technology, which was spun out of Altron in 2020, announced a 15% rise in its final dividend to 6.9p (£16.6 million or R401 million) per share and a similar climb in its special dividend to 10p (£24.1 million) for its year to end February. Gross invoiced income also climbed 15% and breached £2 billion for the first time, with the reporting of sustained demand for its software and services. 'Despite a challenging macroeconomic environment, we have not only deepened our relationships with existing clients - securing a greater share of their IT spend - but also successfully expanded our footprint across both public and corporate sectors,' CEO Sam Mudd said in the results. Micro-cap Ah-Vest, which produces sauces and condiments under the All Joy Brand, warned shareholders that its holding company, Eastern Trading, has expressed interest in acquiring the shares of the group it doesn't already own. Accordingly, an independent board has been appointed to commence formal discussions. Eastern Trading held just over 72% of the company as of its 2024 year while the group is valued at just over R3 million on the JSE. The Competition Tribunal said on Tuesday it has approved Old Mutual Corporate Ventures' (OMCV) planned acquisition of a stake in Fairheads Benefit Services (FBS) and Fairheads Financial Services (FFS). Once the proposed transaction has been completed the two target firms will be controlled by OMCV and Vunani Capital. OMCV manages beneficiary and unclaimed benefit funds solely from its own retirement products. It outsources some of this administration to FBS and FFS, both of which are currently controlled by Vunani. FBS administers beneficiary and unclaimed benefit funds and FFS provides tracing services to FBS to locate and contact beneficiaries. Exxaro Resources, one of Eskom's largest coal suppliers, will expand into manganese through a multibillion-rand deal to acquire select assets, including more than 60% of South Africa's largest manganese mine. Exxaro on Tuesday announced it has entered into two separate agreements with Ntsimbintle Holdings and OMH Mauritius to effectively acquire their stakes in the Tshipi Borwa Mine - South Africa's largest manganese mine in terms of export volumes and amongst the largest manganese mines in the world. Through the acquisition Exxaro gains exposure into four operating mines, which includes a 60% effective ownership in Tshipi Borwa Mine, 51% in the Mokala manganese mine - which is operated by a Glencore subsidiary – and 9% in Hotazel Manganese Mines, which operates Mamatwan and Wessels mines. The unadjusted purchase price is R11.67 billion, although the structure of the deal allows for this to ratchet up to R14.64 billion, in the event that Glencore's Blue Falcon chooses to exercise certain pre-emptive rights. Landlord Octodec said on Tuesday that despite a weak SA economy, it is confident enough to up its dividend, citing a pickup in office activity and continued resilience of the Johannesburg and Tshwane CBDs. Octodec reported on Tuesday that distributable earnings edged up 1% to R221.7 million in the six months to end February, when collection rates rose and its core vacancies - excluding properties held for redevelopment - improved to 14.7% from 15.9%.Vacancy rates have been elevated by the strain from the result of a deadly gas explosion on Lilian Ngoyi Street in 2023, which has hit foot traffic in the area as well as put pressure on letting. Octodec said that there is still interest in these properties from national retailers and says there are signs of progress in the repairs, and it upped its interim dividend by 3.3% to 62c per share, about R165 million. SA's biggest short-term insurer Santam reported that it saw strong performance in the three months to end March, its first quarter, managing to exceed its targets for key performance indicators. Particularly pleasing was a double-digit growth in gross written premiums, an underwriting margin above the upper end of the 5% to 10% target range and annualised return on capital in excess of 30%, it said. The conventional insurance business achieved gross written premium growth of 11%, with solid contributions from all businesses, it said, with a highlight including double-digit growth at MiWay. Favourable interest-rate market returns and an outperformance of benchmarks by Santam's investment managers supported investment return earned on insurance funds, it said, which amounted to 2.5% of net earned premium, slightly exceeding the comparable period. Global business Japan's Honda Motor on Tuesday forecast a 70% drop in net profit for the 2025/26 financial year as US trade tariffs weigh on the global auto industry. The announcement comes after rival Toyota, the world's top-selling carmaker, predicted a 35% year-on-year drop in annual net profit because of the levies and other factors. Honda said it expected net profit of 250 billion yen (R31 billion) in the 12 months to March 2026. 'Tariff impact and recovery efforts' will have a negative effect on operating profit, it warned, estimating they will cost the company around 450 billion yen over the year. In an attempt to rev up the US auto industry, President Donald Trump last month imposed a 25% toll on imported vehicles, dealing a major blow to Japanese carmakers. 'The impact of tariff policies in various countries on our business has been very significant, and frequent revisions are being made, making it difficult to formulate an outlook,' CEO Toshihiro Mibe told reporters Tuesday. Mibe said Honda would examine the impact of US tariffs on supply chains and 'carefully' make any decisions on pricing changes. - AFP Japanese tech investor SoftBank Group, a major player in the US Stargate artificial intelligence drive, on Tuesday posted a bumper annual net profit of $7.8 billion (R143 billion), its first in the black for four years. The 1.15 trillion-yen net profit for the 12 months to March 2025 was up from a net loss of 227 billion yen in the previous financial year. The company's earnings often swing dramatically because it invests heavily in tech start-ups and semiconductor firms, whose share prices are volatile. Tuesday's result marked its first full-year net profit since the 2020-21 financial year. SoftBank has been actively investing in AI in recent years under its flamboyant founder and CEO Masayoshi Son, who has repeatedly said 'artificial superintelligence' will arrive in a decade - bringing new inventions, medicine, knowledge and ways to invest. The company is leading the $500 billion Stargate project to build AI infrastructure in the United States along with cloud giant Oracle and ChatGPT-maker OpenAI. - AFP International travel spending in the United States is expected to decline about 7%, or $12.5 billion (R229 billion), in 2025 as politics and a strong dollar prompt foreign visitors to opt for other destinations, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council. International travelers are shunning US vacations due to unpopular policies from the administration of President Donald Trump, fear of being stopped at the border and an unfavorable exchange rate, said Julia Simpson, CEO of the WTTC, an organization representing the travel industry's private sector. 'Of 184 countries, the US is the only one that's seeing an absolute decline in international visitor spending,' Simpson said. 'The US is definitely losing its crown in this area.' The US is the largest travel and tourism economy globally, she said. However, international visitor spending in the country is projected to fall under $169 billion this year, down from $181 billion in 2024 and 22% below its previous peak in 2019. - Reuters The United States will cut the low value 'de minimis' tariff on China shipments, a White House executive order said on Monday, further de-escalating a potentially damaging trade war between the world's two largest economies. The tariff relief comes in the wake of Beijing and Washington announcing a truce in their trade spat after weekend talks in Geneva, with both sides agreeing to unwind most of the tariffs imposed on each other's goods since early April. While their joint statement in Geneva didn't mention the de minimis duties, the White House order released later said the levies will be reduced to 54% from 120%, with a flat fee of $100 (R1 830) to remain, starting from May de minimis exemption, for items valued at up to $800 and sent from China via postal services, were previously able to enter the United States duty free and with minimal inspections. In February, President Donald Trump ended the de minimis exemption by imposing a tax of 120% of the package's value or a planned flat fee of $200 - set to come into effect by June - blaming it for being heavily used by companies such as Shein, Temu and other e-commerce firms as well as traffickers of fentanyl and other illicit goods. The number of shipments entering the US through the tax-free channel exploded in recent years with more than 90% of all packages coming via de minimis. Of those, about 60% came from China, led by direct-to-consumer retailers such as Temu and Shein. Chinese online retailers Shein, PDD Holdings-owned Temu and US rival Amazon did not immediately respond to requests for comment. - Reuters 46.1% In the first quarter of 2015, the official unemployment rate for youth aged 15 to 34 was 36.9%. Ten years on, that figure had climbed to 46.1% - a 9.2 percentage point increase that highlights deteriorating prospects for millions, Statistics SA said on Tuesday.
RTÉ News
13-05-2025
- Business
- RTÉ News
Greencoat Renewables to sell 6 Irish windfarms for €156m
Wind and solar energy group Greencoat Renewables has agreed a deal to sell a portfolio of six Irish onshore wind assets for a total of €156m to Norwegian private equity firm HitecVision. The wind farms have a total of 115.7MW in net capacity. The disposed portfolio comprises 100% of five assets (65.7MW) and a 50% stake in one of the larger assets in its portfolio. The company said today's sale aligns with its active portfolio management strategy that aims to maintain prudent gearing and a high level of contracted revenues through a combination of asset sales, the creation of new PPAs, and reinvestment in due course. Today's deal also builds on the disposal of the Kokkoneva wind farm in Finland announced last November 2024. Greencoat has now raised more than €200m from asset sales across six assets in the past six months. "The combination of these disposals increases our capital allocation options for the future," it stated. Greencoat said it continues to explore value further disposals and is in advanced talks over the sale of a significant minority stake in its 50MW Andella wind farm in Spain. Paul O'Donnell, Partner, Schroders Greencoat LLP, said the deal reflects the disciplined execution of the company's capital allocation strategy, unlocking value from its portfolio and further enhancing its financial strength. "We continue to see significant opportunities in the growing European renewable market for Greencoat Renewables to create value for its shareholders," he said. "As well as providing future balance sheet flexibility, this latest transaction underpins the opportunity to create increasing value from older assets including re-contracting PPAs and options for hybridisation and repowering," he added. Greencoat Renewables also said today that it is in the process of applying for a secondary listing on the Alternative Exchange of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. The company said it had received strong interest in the listing from a number of South African institutional investors, who are attracted to the company's scale, strong track record, high cash generation and progressive approach to distributions. It said it believes that admission to the JSE will be beneficial to the company and its stakeholders as it will enhance liquidity for shareholders, diversify its shareholder base and position the company for growth, by providing access to a new and deep capital market. Ronan Murphy, Non-Executive Chairman of Greencoat Renewables, said the company has been encouraged by the response of highly reputable South African institutional investors, and expect to increase liquidity, broaden the company's shareholder base and position it for future growth in due course. "Through the continued generation of high and secure cashflows, we consider the company well placed to provide local investors with attractive eurodenominated returns going forward," he added.
Irish Examiner
13-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Examiner
Greencoat Renewables enters deal to €156m to sell six Irish windfarms
Energy infrastructure investment company Greencoat Renewables has announced that it has entered an agreement to sell six of its onshore wind farms to HitecVision, a Norwegian private equity firm, for €156m. The company said these six wind farm assets generate a total of 115.7MW in net capacity. The deal includes an up-front consideration of €139m and €17m in non-contingent deferred consideration over 2026 and 2027. The disposed portfolio comprises 100% of five assets, accounting for 65.7MW, and a 50% stake in one of the larger assets in Greencoat Renewables' portfolio. 'Greencoat Renewables will work alongside HitecVision and its newly created platform company to assess future value creation opportunities at the jointly owned wind farm,' the company said. Proceeds of this sale will be allocated to Greencoat's revolving credit facility. Paul O'Donnell, partner at Schroders Greencoat LLP, said this deal 'reflects the disciplined execution of our capital allocation strategy, unlocking value from our portfolio and further enhancing our financial strength'. 'We continue to see significant opportunities in the growing European renewable market for Greencoat Renewables to create value for its shareholders,' he said. In November last year, the company announced the disposal of the Kokkoneva wind farm in Finland. Including this latest deal, Greencoat has raised in excess of €200m from asset sales across seven assets in the past six months. It is also in advanced negotiations over the sale of a significant minority stake in its 50MW Andella wind farm in Spain. Greencoat Renewables is an investor in euro-denominated renewable energy infrastructure assets. It was initially focused solely on the acquisition and management of operating wind farms in Ireland but has since invested in wind and solar assets in other European countries with stable and robust renewable energy frameworks. It is managed by Schroders Greencoat LLP.
RTÉ News
01-05-2025
- Business
- RTÉ News
Greencoat Renewables, Keppel agree second 10 year Power Purchase Agreement
Greencoat Renewables and Keppel DC REIT have signed a second Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) for the supply of renewable energy that will be used to power Keppel's two data centres in Dublin. Under the terms of the PPA, Singapore-listed Keppel DC REIT will purchase 100% of the electricity generated from Greencoat Renewables' Ballincollig wind farm in Co Kerry, which has an annual output of 31.5 GWh of renewable energy. The PPA for the Ballincollig wind farm is the sixth PPA within the Greencoat Renewables portfolio and the company said the deal underscores its capability to re-contract assets as they transition out of tariff regimes. The six PPAs amount to about 540 GWh of renewable energy a year and represent about 20% of Greencoat Renewables five year look forward merchant volumes. Paul O'Donnell, Partner, Schroders Greencoat LLP, said that as one of Europe's leading listed owners and operators of renewable energy infrastructure assets, it sees a significant opportunity to provide renewable electricity to the growing Irish data centre market. "Our second PPA with Keppel DC REIT further strengthens our position as a trusted provider of renewable energy, supporting our partners with their decarbonization efforts and advancing the energy transition," he said. "Looking ahead, data centres powered by renewable energy will be a key industrial enabler for the next phase of economic development. Greencoat Renewables is strategically positioned to deliver cost-effective, clean power - supporting the ambitions of our partners and contributing to sustainable economic growth," he added. Gary Watson, Country Manager, Keppel DC REIT (Ireland), said the company was delighted to meet its 2030 target of using 100% Irish renewable energy for its operations five years ahead of schedule.
