Trading Update

RNS Number : 8487Z

Good Energy Group PLC

12 February 2014

 

12 February 2014

Good Energy Group plc ("Good Energy" or the "Group")

Trading update

The Board of Good Energy is pleased to announce its trading update for the 12 months ended 31 December 2013.

Further positive progress was made during the second half of the year across both the supply and the generation businesses. On the supply side, the number of electricity customers increased to 40,000 (H1 2013 34,000) and the number of gas customers to 15,000 (H1 2013 11,000). In addition, further Feed-in-Tariff sites were added bringing the total to 59,000 (H1 2013 52,000).

A key factor impacting on growth in the latter months of the year was the announcement by the Group that it was holding electricity prices until end-March 2014, thereby reflecting the underlying cost structure of the business.  The Board believes that this has been responsible, in part, for the uplift in sales. Going forward, with the new trading system in place, the new CRM system now live and evidence of continued market-leading customer satisfaction levels, once again topping the Which? energy company customer satisfaction survey, the supply business is well placed for growth in 2014, and the Board is minded to increase investment in both brand and targeted marketing to ensure that momentum is maintained.

Significant developments were made during the year in terms of the operating assets, with Delabole Wind Farm exceeding Directors' expectations, generating just over 27GWh, representing around 14% of the business's total supply.  Positive progress was also made in respect of the Hampole Wind Farm, which is due to be commissioned in April 2014. In addition, in H2 some 100MW of solar parks received full consents to proceed to build and good progress has been made throughout the year to progress a total portfolio of circa 200MW, with a mixture of new solar and wind assets.

The Group's strategy of recognising value and reinvesting in the pipeline was demonstrated with the announcement of the sale of 40.5MW of the consented solar parks, and the commencement of construction of 6.4MW of new sites. With some 60MW of consented solar sites under funding evaluation by the Board, including the recently fully consented 49.9MW site at West Raynham, there is opportunity for the Group to meet its increasing demand for renewable electricity supply through its investment in development, whilst also contributing to the overall profit of the Group.

The Group expects to release its preliminary results in early April 2014.

Juliet Davenport OBE, Chief Executive, said:

"We are pleased by the progress made in the latter part of the year across all aspects of the business. With more than 117,000 supply and FIT sites now at the end of January, and financing in the form of equity, debt and proceeds from sales of developed sites, the Group is well placed to continue to grow its customer base and continue investment in its generation portfolio.  The two sections of the business complement each other well, and support the Group to successfully deliver our strategic goals, underpinned by our commitment to a cleaner, greener and more secure energy future for the UK."

For further information, please contact:

 Good Energy Group plc

Juliet Davenport, Chief Executive        01249 766795

N+1 Singer (Nominated Adviser & Broker)

Andrew Craig, Ben Wright                 020 7496 3000

Notes to editors:

·      Good Energy is a licensed electricity supplier. It ensures that all its customers' demand is 100% matched with electricity from renewable sources over the course of 12 months, backed by Renewable Energy Guarantee of Origin certificates (REGOs).

·      Good Energy Group plc is listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange. www.goodenergygroup.co.uk

·      Good Energy's first corporate bond, which it promoted to its customer base, reached the £15 million maximum subscription on 24th October 2013, three weeks ahead of schedule www.goodenergy.co.uk/bond 

·      Good Energy has over 40,000 renewable electricity customers and more than 15,000 gas customers (31 Dec 2013)

·      Good Energy works with a community of more than 59,000 small and medium scale renewable electricity generators (31 Dec 2013)

·      Good Energy is the owner of Delabole Wind Farm, the UK's first commercial wind farm. It has targeted the development of 110MW of capacity of new renewable electricity generation assets by 2016.

·      Good Energy is a founder member of the Social Stock Exchange.

·      Good Energy came top in the 2014 Which? Customer Satisfaction Survey for energy suppliers and has won first place in 4 of the last 5 years. It also won Company of the Year in the British Renewable Energy Awards 2013, and was named 'best green electricity supplier 2013' by the UK's leading ethical and environmental magazine, Ethical Consumer.

 

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