AYALA-LED AC Energy Corp. was among the actively traded stocks last week amid sustained positive investor sentiments.
Data from the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) showed 190.41 million AC Energy shares worth P1.91 billion exchanged hands from Sept. 6 to 11, making it the most actively traded stock during the week.
Shares in the Ayala energy unit closed higher by 1.8% to P10.16 per share from its P9.98 finish on Sept. 3. So far this year, the stock has gone up by 11.4%.
“Overall, investors and traders are well informed about the activities in AC Energy. It is a growth stock which we think that at this level there is still room for upward movement. There are still a lot of projects which the company has that are still in the development phase,” said Mercantile Securities Corp. Analyst Jeff Radley C. See in a Viber message.
In an e-mail, I.B. Gimenez Securities, Inc. Research Head Joylin F. Telagen said the stock’s consolidation over the previous days last week and hitting a new all-time high last Friday at P10.22 per share was “an overextended sentiment” over its recent disclosure.
In a disclosure last Thursday, AC Energy said its wholly owned subsidiary ACEN Finance Ltd., has completed the issuance of $400-million worth of senior guaranteed green bonds, making up portion of its parent firm’s fresh capital which has hit nearly $1 billion in 2021 alone. The undated green bonds were issued at an aggregate amount of $400 million, with a fixed coupon of 4% for life, with no step-up and no resent, priced at par.
The bonds were issued by ACEN Finance under its $1.5-billion medium-term note program and are guaranteed by AC Energy. The bonds are listed on the Singapore Exchange.
The Securities and Exchange Commission earlier confirmed the bonds complied with the ASEAN Green Bonds Circular, making their net proceeds eligible for the funding or refinancing of new and existing green projects.
AC Energy said that earnings from this issuance may fund solar power facilities, offshore wind projects and geothermal undertakings with direct emissions of less than 100 grams of carbon dioxide per kilowatt-hour.
Late last month, the firm announced that its management gave the green light for the firm to embark on a joint venture with an affiliate of German solar firm ib vogt GmbH to develop local solar projects with an initial 300 megawatts of direct current.
It added its executive committee also cleared the respective capital expenditure (capex) amounts of the AC Energy’s planned solar project of about 288 megawatts (MW) in Buguey and Lal-lo, Cagayan; and its proposed 275-MW expansion of its Gigasol Palauig solar project in Zambales.
The listed energy platform of the Ayala group, AC Energy has about 2,600 MW of attributable capacity in Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, India and Australia. The firm said that its renewable share of capacity stood at 80%, among the highest in the region.
AC Energy looks to be the largest listed renewables platform in Southeast Asia, aiming to achieve 5,000 MW in attributable renewable energy capacity by 2025.
The company reported an attributable net income of P1.42 billion in the second quarter, lower by 28% from P1.97 billion in the same period last year. This was despite a 43% increase in its electricity sales to P7.63 billion from last year’s P5.36 billion. Cost and expenses involved in AC Energy’s sale of electricity reached P5.95 billion in the same period, twice the amount registered in last year’s comparable three months.
Still, its attributable net income of P2.69 billion in the first half was 4.5% higher compared with P2.57 billion in the same six months last year.
“AC Energy is a good long-term buy and HODL (hold on for dear life) as the future seems bright for renewables and with consistent expansion…,” I.B. Gimenez Securities’ Ms. Telagen said.
Ms. Telagen pegged the stock’s support at P9 per share with breakdown to P8.50. Meanwhile, resistance is placed at P10.16, which was last Friday’s closing price.
“[I]f it breaks, it might hit a new all-time high at P12 [per share],” she said.
Mercantile Securities’ Mr. See said: “Support levels are P10.00 and P9.50, while resistance levels are P11.30, P12.00 and P12.80.”
“Current earnings are good, but for sure this will be increase moving forward,” he said. — Abigail Marie P. Yraola
