Impax Environmental Markets PLC
07 November 2003
IMPAX ENVIRONMENTAL MARKETS plc
All information is at 31 October 2003 and unaudited
DATA AND PERFORMANCE
Data Pricing & Performance
Price (pence) 55.75 IEM MSCI Impax
Net Asset Value World ET50
Total Fund Size (m) 33.6 Pence (31/10/03) 67.4 n/a n/a
Management fee 1.0%
Established 22 February 2002 Performance
Fund structure Investment Trust 1 month (%) +7.0% +3.6% +5.2%
Number of stocks 53 3 Months (%) +12.1% +2.7% +8.3%
held
Exchange London 1 year (%) +22.3% +12.1% +13.3%
Currency GBP Year to date (%) +23.0% +15.3% +18.6%
ISIN Number GB0031232498
Sedol 3123249
Reuters RIC Code IEM.L
Bloomberg Code IEM LN
TOP TEN HOLDINGS
Company Holding % Description Country
RPS Group 4.5 Environmental consulting UK
Vestas Wind Systems 4.5 Wind Denmark
Casella Waste 4.0 Waste disposal & recycling US
Ionics 3.7 Water treatment US
Hydrogenics 3.5 Fuel cells Canada
Impco Tech 3.3 Clean engines US
Tetra Tech 3.2 Environmental consulting US
Wedeco 2.7 UV disinfection Germany
Veolia Environnement 2.7 Water & waste France
Fuel Cell Energy 2.7 Fuel cells US
Total 34.8
PORTFOLIO ANALYSIS*
Geographical Company Size
North America 56% >£500m 22%
Europe 38% £100-500m 56%
Rest of the World 6% <£100m 22%
Sectoral Profitability
Energy 34% Profitable 81%
Water 34% Pre-Profitable 19%
Waste 29%
Cash 3%
* of funds invested as of 31 October 2003
MANAGER'S COMMENTARY
The Company NAV increased 7.0% during the month compared with the MSCI World Index and the Impax ET50 which rose
3.6% and 5.2% respectively. Technology and materials performed best as environmental-interface sectors such as
utilities and energy tended to underperform. Specific developments in Environmental Markets during the month
are discussed below.
The competitive landscape in the fuel cell sector was under scrutiny during the month as a number of important
players made announcements. The leading independent company, Ballard Power (fuel cells, Canada) produced better
than expected results with a reasonable outlook going forward. The OEMs were also active - Honda (one of
Ballard's customers) demonstrated a new fuel cell vehicle powered by its own fuel cell stack while GM and Toyota
extended their fuel cell collaboration to April 2006. In the stationary fuel cell market Hydrogenics (fuel
cells, Canada) announced a collaboration with Idatech (subsidiary of Idacorp) to develop a 50 kW stationary fuel
cell. The increased market interest in fuel cells and hydrogen was reflected in the successful fund raising
($61 million) by Quantum Fuel (hydrogen systems, US) which should be enough to finance the company through to
profitability. In the wind sector, it was reported that the German market declined by nearly 28% in the third
quarter which was disappointing, however the news was more positive for Repower (wind, Germany) as it gained the
most market share to around 8.5%. Meanwhile, Gamesa (wind, Spain) announced another set of strong results as
well as making an acquisition of a small German wind developer thus further developing its business outside
Spain.
It has been a good month for Ionics (water treatment, US) as the new management team provided details on the
restructuring of the company which will involve a reduction of costs and focus on key high margin markets with
recurring revenues. The company also won a contract to build, own and operate a 200,000 cubic metres per day
desalination plant in Algeria with an attractive pricing structure ($60 million per year revenue). Both Zenon
Environmental (membranes, Canada) and Veolia Environnement (water & waste, France) announced large drinking
water projects during the month in Jackson, Mississippi and Oslo, Norway respectively. There were mixed results
from US water-related companies as Badger Meter (water meters, US) reported record results driven by strong
sales of residential automated meter reading (AMR) systems while Insituform (sewer repair, US) reported that,
despite an improvement in municipality spending, revenues and earnings were lower than expected reflecting the
slow progress in implementing the company's restructuring program.
It was a good month for companies in the waste technologies and resource management area as a number of
companies announced better than expected results and, particularly, margin expansion. Firstly Tomra (recycling
systems, Norway), while still waiting for a pick-up in German orders, reported good margins, strong cashflow and
interesting international opportunities. Also in Scandinavia, Lassila & Tikanoja (waste & recycling, Finland)
reported very strong margins driven by good performance in the environmental businesses; the company also
announced its first move into Eastern Europe with an acquisition in Latvia. Finally, Stantec (environmental
consulting, Canada) also increased margins as it successfully integrated the ten acquisitions that it made in
2002 - the impact of these economies of scale is expected to continue into next year.
Latest information available at: www.impax.co.uk/asset/iemdown.htm
7 November 2003
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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