European Utilities Key Player Profiles: ESB

European Utilities Key Player Profiles: ESB

Introduction

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.

Scope

DATAMONITOR VIEW 1
CATALYST 1
SUMMARY 1
METHODOLOGY 1
ANALYSIS 2
European Utilities Key Player Profile: ESB 2
Datamonitor's Key Player Scorecard examines 31 leading utilities drawn from across Europe's competitive arenas 4
Key Players dominate power generation capacity market share in the Wmed competitive arena 5
Key Players dominate power generation output market share in the Wmed and CEE competitive arenas 6
Despite ongoing industry consolidation, in no competitive arenas do Key Players dominate power supply volume market share 7
Despite ongoing industry consolidation, in no competitive arenas do Key Players dominate gas volume market share 8
The Key Player Scorecard assesses utilities across four pillars: Performance, Scale, Growth and Exposure 9
The Performance pillar combines 5 financial metrics to measure business performance 10
The Scale pillar combines financial and operational metrics to measure the size of a utility 11
The Growth pillar measures the rate of growth of a utility's financial and energy resources 12
The Exposure pillar combines both operational and financial measurements of risk 13
ESB scores 29.1/100 on Datamonitor's European Utility Scorecard and ranks 22 out of the 31 Key Players covered 14
ESB ranks well below average on three of the four Scorecard pillars 16
ESB achieves an overall ranking of 22, with a utility score of 29.1 21
Only on the Scale pillar does ESB score significantly below the Key Player average 22
ESB's financial Performance lags the Key Player average, though with a lower level of risk 23
ESB lags in both Scale and Growth compared to the other Key Players 24
Low operating profit margins pull ESB's Performance ranking down to 22 25
ESB lags the Key Player average score on most Performance metrics 26
ESB is less profitable than the Key Player average and the top ten utilities 27
ESB has a higher return on energy volume than several top ten utilities 28
ESB is a smaller utility with no gas business, resulting in a Scale rank of 28 29
Generation capacity is ESB's best Scale metric, on which it ranks 19 30
In generation capacity, ESB ranks 19 with 5 GW 31
ESB is focused solely on power, with a supply volume of 14 TWh 32
ESB ranks in the lower half of the Key Player power customers, with a less than one percent share 33
At 14 TWh, ESB ranks 26 in terms of power volume 34
ESB ranks 27 in revenue and 26 in net income, respectively 35
Despite strong operating cash flow growth, ESB's ranks 25 on the Growth pillar 36
ESB's Growth ranking of 25 is due mainly to low profit and power supply volume growth 37
As an unlisted company, ESB does not have a price earnings ratio 38
ESB saw average annual profit growth of 7.9% outpace revenue growth 6.2% from 2001 and 2005 39
From 2004-2005, ESB had strong increases in operating cash flow (46.4%) despite a decline in power supply volume (-7.2%) 40
ESB's positive power NTR contributes to an Exposure ranking of 5 41
ESB outperforms the Key Player average on risk metrics 42
ESB has a long power NTR of 14.5 % 43
As its generation output exceeds its power supply obligations ESB has a long power NTR of 1,973 GW 44
ESB has a comparatively low debt to equity ratio of 72.6% 45
ESB ranks 15 of the 31 Key Players in terms of debt leverage 46
ESB experienced robust operating cash flow growth of 46.4%, despite a fall in power supply volume of -7.2% 47
ESB's power sales are focused on Ireland 48
Gas is ESB's main power generation fuel type 49
ESB ranks in the lower half of the Key Player power customers, with a less than one percent share 50
APPENDIX 51
Databook 51
Definitions 71
Datamonitor Consulting 71
List of Tables
Table 1: The Key Players are drawn from across a diverse range of markets 3
Table 2: The Performance pillar combines 5 financial metrics to measure business performance 10
Table 3: The Scale pillar combines financial and operational metrics to measure the size of a utility 11
Table 4: The Growth pillar measures the rate of growth of a utility's financial and energy resources 12
Table 5: The Exposure pillar combines both operational and financial measurements of risk 13
Table 6: ESB scores 29.1/100 on Datamonitor's European Utility Scorecard and ranks 22 out of the 31 Key Players covered 15
Table 7: ESB scores 9.5/25 on the Performance pillar, and ranks 22 out of 31 on this measurement 17
Table 8: ESB scores 0.8/25 on the Scale pillar, and ranks 28 out of 31 on this measurement 18
Table 9: ESB scores 7.6/25 on the Growth pillar, and ranks 25 out of 31 on this measurement 19
Table 10: ESB scores 11.2/25 on the Exposure pillar, and ranks 5 out of 31 on this measurement 20
Table 11: Low operating profit margins pull ESB's Performance ranking down to 22 25
Table 12: ESB is a smaller utility with no gas business, resulting in a Scale rank of 28 29
Table 13: Despite strong operating cash flow growth, ESB's ranks 25 on the Growth pillar 36
Table 14: ESB's positive power NTR contributes to an Exposure ranking of 5 41
Table 15: Return on fixed assets 51
Table 16: Return on sales 52
Table 17: Operating profit margin 53
Table 18: Return on energy volume 54
Table 19: Return on investment 55
Table 20: Generation Capacity / EU25 market total 56
Table 21: Power Supply Volume / EU25 market total 57
Table 22: Gas Supply Volume / EU25 market total 58
Table 23: Net income / Net income of 94 leading utilities 59
Table 24: Revenue / Revenue of 94 leading utilities 60
Table 25: Revenue growth, 2001-2005 CAGR 61
Table 26: Profit growth, 2001-2005 CAGR 63
Table 27: Growth in operating cash flow, 2004 to 2005 64
Table 28: Gas supply volume growth, 2004-2005 65
Table 29: Growth in power supply volume, 2004 to 2005 66
Table 30: Power NTR / Power supply volume 67
Table 31: Gas NTR / Gas supply volume 68
Table 32: Debt leverage 69
Table 33: Growth in operational cash flow - Growth in energy volume 70
List of Figures
Figure 1: Datamonitor's Key Player Scorecard examines 31 leading utilities drawn from across Europe's competitive arenas 4
Figure 2: Key Players dominate power generation capacity market share in the Wmed competitive arena 5
Figure 3: Key Players dominate power generation output market share in the Wmed and CEE competitive arenas 6
Figure 4: Despite ongoing industry consolidation, in no competitive arenas do Key Players dominate power supply volume market share 7
Figure 5: Despite ongoing industry consolidation, in no competitive arenas do Key Players dominate gas volume market share 8
Figure 6: ESB achieves an overall ranking of 22, with a utility score of 29.1 21
Figure 7: Only on the Scale pillar does ESB score significantly below the Key Player average 22
Figure 8: ESB's financial Performance lags the Key Player average, though with a lower level of risk 23
Figure 9: ESB lags in both Scale and Growth compared to the other Key Players 24
Figure 10: ESB lags the Key Player average score on most Performance metrics 26
Figure 11: ESB is less profitable than the Key Player average and the top ten utilities 27
Figure 12: ESB has a higher return on energy volume than several top ten utilities 28
Figure 13: Generation capacity is ESB's best Scale metric, on which it ranks 19 30
Figure 14: In generation capacity, ESB ranks 19 with 5 GW 31
Figure 15: ESB is focused solely on power, with a supply volume of 14 TWh 32
Figure 16: ESB ranks in the lower half of the Key Player power customers, with a less than one percent share 33
Figure 17: At 14 TWh, ESB ranks 26 in terms of power volume 34
Figure 18: ESB ranks 27 in revenue and 26 in net income, respectively 35
Figure 19: ESB's Growth ranking of 25 is due mainly to low profit and power supply volume growth 37
Figure 20: As an unlisted company, ESB does not have a price earnings ratio 38
Figure 21: ESB saw average annual profit growth of 7.9% outpace revenue growth 6.2% from 2001 and 2005 39
Figure 22: From 2004-2005, ESB had strong increases in operating cash flow (46.4%) despite a decline in power supply volume (-7.2%) 40
Figure 23: ESB outperforms the Key Player average on risk metrics 42
Figure 24: ESB has a long power NTR of 14.5 % 43
Figure 25: As its generation output exceeds its power supply obligations ESB has a long power NTR of 1,973 GW 44
Figure 26: ESB has a comparatively low debt to equity ratio of 72.6% 45
Figure 27: ESB ranks 15 of the 31 Key Players in terms of debt leverage 46
Figure 28: ESB experienced robust operating cash flow growth of 46.4%, despite a fall in power supply volume of -7.2% 47
Figure 29: Gas is ESB's main power generation fuel type 49
Figure 30: ESB ranks in the lower half of the Key Player power customers, with a less than one percent share 50