MPC Caribbean Clean Energy (MPCL) stock traded at a record $275 on the Jamaica Stock Exchange last week, as investors positioned to buy into 22,848,320 class B shares offered to shareholders by way of rights.
The Offer entitles shareholders to buy two new shares for each one they own and will open November 13 and will close December 16.
The shares are currently listed on stock exchanges in Jamaica and Trinidad and were priced at J$130 or US$1 when it came to the market in late 2018. The new shares are renounceable and priced at J$140 to Jamaican shareholders and US$1 per share for shareholders in Trinidad and Tobago on record on November 8. The Company seeks to raise the equivalent of US$22,848,320 to facilitate expansion into new renewable energy projects.
The company went to the market in November 2018 to sell up to 50 million shares, the take-up fell well short with the capital with just 11.25 million units with Jamaican taking up over 77 percent of the issue and Caribbean Clean Energy Feeder Ltd taking up 18.4 percent.
MPCL has 34.4 percent interest in the Paradise Park project that comprises a 50 MWP solar plant in Westmoreland, Jamaica, with a total investment of US$64 million.
The second asset, Tilawind is a 21 MW onshore wind farm based in Costa Rica in which MPC effectively holds 50 percent with the other half owned by ANSA McAL, a Trinidad and Tobago group. The total investment in that operation is approximately US$50 million. The wind park has been in operation since March 2015.
According to the company, a further 14 projects have been prioritized and form the indicative deal pipeline for the Investment Company. These require a total investment estimated at US$499 million to deliver up to 314 MW of new renewable energy capacity. The listed company invests in MPC Caribbean Clean Energy LLC, the company that invests in the operating projects directly.
The company posted earnings for the nine months to September that reverses the positives number in the June Quarter. The results released are confusing, lacks transparency and will not help the company in raising the desired capital.
The company does not invest directly in the operating entities but directing into a management company that invests directly. Effectively, the company accounts for its investments as shares of profits in associates and books their share of profit in accordance with international accounting standards. MPC has investments indirectly in two power-generating operations. The results for the September quarter reflects the share of results from activities of the wind farm in Costa Rican and that of Paradise Park.
According to the company, the Tilawind “wind farm generation is mainly dictated by the trade winds, presenting a clear high wind season, with a high tariff from January to May, and a low wind season, with a low tariff from June to December.” The impact of on profit in the second half of the year is telling, with around 20 percent of the year’s energy production. The situation is made worse by the wind farm machinery undergoing repairs in the period and resulting in losses. Paradise Park generation in the quarter that started in June was affected by lower than expected sunlight levels resulting from poor weather conditions generated by hurricane Durian in late August-early September.
The net effect is that the company profit share dropped to $56,788, down from $145 million generated in the June quarter. The management report states that production at the Costa Rican operation generated 9.4 percent more energy than in the prior year. The company reported total profit share of $205,858 and a loss of $45,749 for the nine months period, the results from operations look vastly worse. The company reported a loss of $109,523 for the September quarter but advertising cost of $87,020 was the major cause of the big loss along with the fall in revenues mentioned above.
The projections in the prospectus were for revenues of US$1.39 million and profit of $1.25 million for 2019 and projected revenues of US$2.94 million in 2020 with a profit of US$2.76 million. They seem set to meet the revenues forecast but will be off from the profit as a result of not investing in the Costa Rican operation from the start of 2019 to have benefitted from the higher revenue period from January to March.