European Utilities Key Player Profiles: Essent

Table of Contents

• CATALYST
• SUMMARY
• METHODOLOGY
• ANALYSIS
  • European Utilities Key Player Profile: Essent
  • Key Player Scorecard examines 31 leading utilities drawn from across Europe' s competitive arenas
    • Key Players dominate power generation capacity market share in the Wmed competitive arena
    • Key Players dominate power generation output market share in the Wmed and CEE competitive arenas
    • Despite ongoing industry consolidation, in no competitive arenas do Key Players dominate power supply volume market share
    • Despite ongoing industry consolidation, in no competitive arenas do Key Players dominate gas volume market share
  • The Key Player Scorecard assesses utilities across four pillars: Performance, Scale, Growth and Exposure
    • The Performance pillar combines 5 financial metrics to measure business performance
    • The Scale pillar combines financial and operational metrics to measure the size of a utility
    • The Growth pillar measures the rate of growth of a utility' s financial and energy resources
    • The Exposure pillar combines both operational and financial measurements of risk
  • Essent scores 28.8/100 on Datamonitor' s European Utility Scorecard and ranks 24 out of the 31 Key Players covered
    • Essent ranks at or below the Key Player average on each Scorecard pillar
    • Essent achieves an overall ranking of 24, with a utility score of 28.8
    • Essent scores significantly below the Key Player average on the Scale pillar
    • Essent performs slightly behind the Key Player average, with a slightly higher level of risk
    • Essent trails the Key Player average and most top ten utilities in both Scale and Growth
  • Essent scores well on operating profit margin, lifting its overall Performance ranking to 16
    • Essent' s lowest Performance metric is return on energy volume, where it ranks 18
    • Essent is less profitable than the average Key Player, and most top ten utilities
    • Essent outperforms the Key Player average and several top ten utilities on return on investment
  • Essent scores below average on most Scale metrics, for a ranking of 23 on this pillar
    • Essent scores below average on each Scale metric, though it ranks 12 in gas supply volume
    • In generation capacity, Essent ranks 18 with 5 GW
    • Although an integrated utility, Essent' s gas supply volume is 2.3 times its power supply volume
    • Essent has a negligible share of Key Player power customers
    • At 36 TWh, Essent ranks 19 in terms of power volume
    • Essent' s 84 TWh gas supply volume translates into a 0.8% EU25 market share
    • Essent has a 2.3% share of Key Player gas customers
    • Essent ranks 20 in revenue and 21 in net income, respectively
  • Poor revenue growth pulls Essent' s Growth ranking down to 21
    • Essent scores below average in power supply volume growth, yet it ranks 6 out of 31 Key Players on this metric
    • Essent is not a listed company, and so has no price earnigs ratio
    • Essent saw average annual profit growth of 6.6% slightly eclipse revenue growth of 1.2% between 2001 and 2005
    • Essent' s robust operating cash flow growth of 8.9% trailed power supply volume growth of 20.3%
  • Essent' s Exposure rank of 19 is below average due to a low power NTR volume score
    • Essent' s below average Exposure ranking illustrates its high overall operational risk exposure
    • Essent has a short position in both its power and gas NTR by 86.7% and 100% respectively
    • Due to its power volume obligations exceeding its generational output, Essent has a short power NTR position of 31,334 GW
    • Essent' s is lightly leveraged as debt represents 52.5% of the company' s equity
    • Essent ranks 11 of the 31 Key Players in terms of debt leverage
    • Essent' s growth in operational cash flow of 8.9% outpaced the decline in energy volume of -4.9%
  • Essent principally operates in the Netherlands
    • Essent has a negligible share of Key Player power customers
    • Essent' s 84 TWh gas supply volume translates into a 0.8% EU25 market share
• APPENDIX
  • Databook
  • Definitions
  • List of Tables
    • Table 1: The Key Players are drawn from across a diverse range of markets
    • Table 2: The Performance pillar combines 5 financial metrics to measure business performance
    • Table 3: The Scale pillar combines financial and operational metrics to measure the size of a utility
    • Table 4: The Growth pillar measures the rate of growth of a utility' s financial and energy resources
    • Table 5: The Exposure pillar combines both operational and financial measurements of risk
    • Table 6: Essent scores 28.8/100 on Datamonitor' s European Utility Scorecard and ranks 24 out of the 31 Key Players covered
    • Table 7: Essent scores 10.8/25 on the Performance pillar, and ranks 16 out of 31 on this measurement
    • Table 8: Essent scores 1.5/25 on the Scale pillar, and ranks 23 out of 31 on this measurement
    • Table 9: Essent scores 8/25 on the Growth pillar, and ranks 21 out of 31 on this measurement
    • Table 10: Essent scores 8.4/25 on the Exposure pillar, and ranks 19 out of 31 on this measurement
    • Table 11: Essent scores well on operating profit margin, lifting its overall Performance ranking to 16
    • Table 12: Essent scores below average on most Scale metrics, for a ranking of 23 on this pillar
    • Table 13: Poor revenue growth pulls Essent' s Growth ranking down to 21
    • Table 14: Essent' s Exposure rank of 19 is below average due to a low power NTR volume score
    • Table 15: Return on fixed assets
    • Table 16: Return on sales
    • Table 17: Operating profit margin
    • Table 18: Return on energy volume
    • Table 19: Return on investment
    • Table 20: Generation Capacity / EU25 market total
    • Table 21: Power Supply Volume / EU25 market total
    • Table 22: Gas Supply Volume / EU25 market total
    • Table 23: Net income / Net income of 94 leading utilities
    • Table 24: Revenue / Revenue of 94 leading utilities
    • Table 25: Revenue growth, 2001-2005 CAGR
    • Table 26: Profit growth, 2001-2005 CAGR
    • Table 27: Growth in operating cash flow, 2004 to 2005
    • Table 28: Gas supply volume growth, 2004-2005
    • Table 29: Growth in power supply volume, 2004 to 2005
    • Table 30: Power NTR / Power supply volume
    • Table 31: Gas NTR / Gas supply volume
    • Table 32: Debt leverage
    • Table 33: Growth in operational cash flow - Growth in energy volume
  • List of Figures
    • Figure 1: Datamonitor' s Key Player Scorecard examines 31 leading utilities drawn from across Europe' s competitive arenas
    • Figure 2: Key Players dominate power generation capacity market share in the Wmed competitive arena
    • Figure 3: Key Players dominate power generation output market share in the Wmed and CEE competitive arenas
    • Figure 4: Despite ongoing industry consolidation, in no competitive arenas do Key Players dominate power supply volume market share
    • Figure 5: Despite ongoing industry consolidation, in no competitive arenas do Key Players dominate gas volume market share
    • Figure 6: Essent achieves an overall ranking of 24, with a utility score of 28.8
    • Figure 7: Essent scores significantly below the Key Player average on the Scale pillar
    • Figure 8: Essent performs slightly behind the Key Player average, with a slightly higher level of risk
    • Figure 9: Essent trails the Key Player average and most top ten utilities in both Scale and Growth
    • Figure 10: Essent' s lowest Performance metric is return on energy volume, where it ranks 18
    • Figure 11: Essent is less profitable than the average Key Player, and most top ten utilities
    • Figure 12: Essent outperforms the Key Player average and several top ten utilities on return on investment
    • Figure 13: Essent scores below average on each Scale metric, though it ranks 12 in gas supply volume
    • Figure 14: In generation capacity, Essent ranks 18 with 5 GW
    • Figure 15: Although an integrated utility, Essent' s gas supply volume is 2.3 times its power supply volume
    • Figure 16: Essent has a negligible share of Key Player power customers
    • Figure 17: At 36 TWh, Essent ranks 19 in terms of power volume
    • Figure 18: Essent' s 84 TWh gas supply volume translates into a 0.8% EU25 market share
    • Figure 19: Essent has a 2.3% share of Key Player gas customers
    • Figure 20: Essent ranks 20 in revenue and 21 in net income, respectively
    • Figure 21: Essent scores below average in power supply volume growth, yet it ranks 6 out of 31 Key Players on this metric
    • Figure 22: Essent is not a listed company, and so has no price earnigs ratio
    • Figure 23: Essent saw average annual profit growth of 6.6% slightly eclipse revenue growth of 1.2% between 2001 and 2005
    • Figure 24: Essent' s robust operating cash flow growth of 8.9% trailed power supply volume growth of 20.3%
    • Figure 25: Essent' s below average Exposure ranking illustrates its high overall operational risk exposure
    • Figure 26: Essent has a short position in both its power and gas NTR by 86.7% and 100% respectively
    • Figure 27: Due to its power volume obligations exceeding its generational output, Essent has a short power NTR position of 31,334 GW
    • Figure 28: Essent' s is lightly leveraged as debt represents 52.5% of the company' s equity
    • Figure 29: Essent ranks 11 of the 31 Key Players in terms of debt leverage
    • Figure 30: Essent' s growth in operational cash flow of 8.9% outpaced the decline in energy volume of -4.9%
    • Figure 31: Essent has a negligible share of Key Player power customers
    • Figure 32: Essent' s 84 TWh gas supply volume translates into a 0.8% EU25 market share