SeaEnergy said yesterday it planned to sell all or most of its 80% stake in subsidiary SeaEnergy Renewables (SERL) and had already had some approaches.
Steve Bertram, managing director of the Westhill-based energy-investment group declined to put a value on the subsidiary, the Aim-listed company’s principal asset after gaining three sites for offshore windfarms in partnership with bigger companies.
He said the plan was to achieve a sale and then focus on development of a marine service business to support the construction, installation and operational phases of offshore windfarms.
Chairman Steve Remp told shareholders yesterday: “The economic viability of offshore windfarms is strongly influenced by the degree of accessibility to turbines, and we have identified that an opportunity exists for provision of vessel systems capable of offering a far higher level of access than is currently available.
“The SeaEnergy Marine team of three has opened negotiations with potential customers (offshore windfarm developers and turbine manufacturers), financiers (private equity, Scottish Enterprise and others) and the supply chain (vessel owners and access suppliers) in support of the business plan. During the company’s time in the oil and gas industry we had a profitable and cash-generative service business and we would like to recreate that position in offshore wind.”
“Offshore wind continues to present an exciting and attractive proposition for shareholders, however, our recent discussions with the capital markets have highlighted the tough financing environment. Therefore, to maximise value for shareholders, we have come to the decision to dispose of our majority interest in our subsidiary business, SERL.
“SERL’s success in (offshore wind licensing) round three, with partner EDP Renovaveis, illustrates the business’s ability to develop major projects. We believe this makes SERL an attractive proposition for prospective buyers and we have already seen interest from . . . third parties over the past year.
“The sale of SERL would allow us to focus on the development of our marine service business which has the ability to generate earnings and cash-flow quickly.”
Mr Remp said the market had been tested but it had not proved possible to raise the funds required to support SERL’s likely future commitments, so it was time to hand over to someone who could.
SeaEnergy reported pre-tax losses for 2009 of £6.49million yesterday, almost double its £3.29million deficit of the year before but ended the year with £2.8million in cash. It reported no revenue.
Its shares dived 26% to 26.25p yesterday.