Dublin-listed energy storage company Corre Energy slipped to a €30.2 million after-tax loss last year amid employee and administrative costs.
Established in 2018, the renewable energy company is focused on the development, construction and future operation of grid-scale underground storage facilities, as well as the production and sale of green hydrogen.
The company floated on Euronext Dublin in 2021 at a market value of €62 million after raising €12 million in an initial public offering.
Share options
Its results for the year ended December 31st, 2022, show it recorded a €30.2 million loss after tax, or €10.6 million excluding the effect of non-cash revaluation of share options.
It said this was primarily driven by employee-related costs of €5.6 million and administration costs of €7 million. The group said its funding profile “remains strong” with €8.9 million received in the period. The group capitalised project costs of €6.7 million.
Davy analyst Colin Grant described it as a year of “strong commercial performance” for the company. “Political support for energy storage continues to grow, and current market pricing remains above our forecast levels,” he said.
“As Corre’s projects are not yet operational, the main focus in the results is its financial position. We believe that the monthly cash cost from running the business is around €750,000-€800,000 — implying the company is in a very strong financial position.”
He added that Corre also has a large pipeline of projects that have material value, which Davy does not believe is reflected in its current valuation.
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Corre Energy chief executive Keith McGrane, a University College Dublin-educated geophysicist by background, said 2022 “was about putting in place the building blocks for our growth whilst maintaining prudent capital deployment”.
“Our standout priority was to progress our key sites to meet customer demand for long-term storage solutions from a rapidly growing renewables sector seeking to secure and balance future electricity supplies,” he said.
“Our projects in the Netherlands and Denmark both made strong progress in 2022, underpinning our focus on the successful commercial close targets for both sites during 2023.
“Off the back of our strong commercial performance, we successfully raised €10.9 million in May 2022 and €8.9 million in February 2023. This has allowed the company to advance its near-term projects whilst positioning the business for further planned pipeline growth.
“Corre Energy continues to make significant commercial progress on existing and prospective projects in 2023, and we look forward to providing a further market update in the near term.”
Grant income
Corre Energy is chaired by Frank Allen, current chairman of Irish Rail and former chief executive of the Railway Procurement Agency. The company’s headquarters are in the northern Dutch city of Groningen.
The group ended the year with €3.4 million in cash. The share price performed well in the period, rising from €1.20 at the start of 2022 to €2.90 by the end of the year, and continued to outperform the market through the early part of 2023.
The group’s loss for the year includes a €1.9 million reversal of grant income from the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency.
The company said expenditure remains focused on project development, raising funds and strengthening back-office functions to oversee and support key activities.
