Dubai: Dubai’s district cooling leader Empower crossed Dh1 billion in profit for 2022, against Dh935.98 million a year ago, as new projects and significant capacity gains helped. The revenues were at Dh2.79 billion against Dh2.46 billion.
No transfer
The transfer of profit to statutory reserves has been 'suspended as the reserve has reached 50 per cent of the paid-up share capital in prior years'. (On DFM, the stock is trading at Dh1.56, up by 0.65 per cent.)
Empower's Board of Directors has proposed a dividend of Dh425 million out of the net profit for 2022, subject to shareholder approval. Last October, Empower raised Dh2.66 billion from the IPO, pricing the shares at Dh1.33 each. (Ahead of the IPO, which saw the company list 20 per cent, Empower had paid out Dh2 billion plus as a one-off dividend.)
The yield works out to just under 6 per cent.
Dh850m a year for 2
"The successes achieved during 2022 are unprecedented, as the company’s portfolio is growing at an accelerated pace serving a diversified portfolio of projects," said Ahmad bin Shafar, CEO of Empower.
The company is committed to distributing a total of 'Dh850 million per annum for the first two years'.
The company provides services to more than 64 per cent of residential and 15 per cent of commercial buildings in Dubai.
Regional aspirations
During the IPO process, the company had spoken about taking its coverage beyond Dubai. Matters could be headed in that direction this year itself, as 'The Group look forward to 2023 with more organic and inorganic opportunities in the region Driven by an ambitious strategy and operating within the established successful operating model, the efforts are directed towards increasing the market share within UAE'.
Empower had done some heavy consolidation in the years leading up to the IPO. During 2021, it acquired 100 per cent interest in Empower Snow llc, a company providing district cooling for various projects developed and owned by Nakheel for Dh673.9 million.
In 2020, it set up two subsidiaries - Empower FM llc and Empower Engineering & Consultancy llc with 100 per cent in each.
As of end last year, Empower provided district cooling services to more than 1,463 buildings, most notably the recently added Atlantis The Royal Hotel, Museum of the Future, Marsa Al Arab, One Zabeel, Wasl1 and others, bringing demand for district cooling services higher by 13.3 per cent compared to 2021.
DEWA shareholding
In 2009, DEWA increased its shareholding in Empower to 70 per cent and reduced Tecom’s interest to 30 per cent. On May 9, 2022, TECOM transferred its 30 per cent to Emirates Power Investment.
