Group Group
The Irish lighting efficiency firm eLight says it will list on London’s AIM market on January 9 and rebrand as eEnergy Group as part of an £8.6m (€10m) expansion into energy management.
The Malahide-based firm, which employs about 30 here and in the UK, made the move as part of a £6.6m (€7.25m) reverse takeover with an AIM-listed investment shell called Alexander Mining.
As part of the agreement announced today, Alexander – which had disposed of its previous mining interests and needed a new investment to remain on the AIM market – has been acquired by eLight and also has raised £2m (€2.35m) in a new share placement.
With all that extra Alexander cash and its AIM slot, eLight says it will list on January 9 on the London small-cap growth market as eEnergy Group.
Today’s agreement also allowed Alexander’s existing shares to resume trade on AIM. They were 9pc higher at midday.
eLight installs low-energy LED systems for schools and commercial firms. Its Irish clients include University College Dublin, the Blanchardstown shopping centre, the property investment groups Ires Reit and Hibernian Reit, and the Dalata hotel group.
Harvey Sinclair, who has been eLight’s chief executive since it acquired his own UK-based firm Energy Works last year, said the cash injection from Alexander would be used for working capital and growth.
“Workers, students and customers expect their work places, schools and shops to do all they can to reduce their carbon footprint and improve the environment. Our ‘energy efficiency as a Service’ helps organisations cut their carbon emissions by up to 80pc and save money from day one with no upfront costs,” Mr Sinclair said.
In its most recent results, eLight reported revenues of €4.5m and ebitda losses of €800,000 for the year ending in June.
eLight says it has upgraded lighting for 814 clients to date across Ireland and the UK and estimates this work will reduce their clients’ 2019 electricity bills by €13m.
In a separate statement, Alexander said to avoid suspension from the AIM market following its disposal of its previous mining-related assets, it needed “to change its business strategy” and “make an acquisition or acquisitions which constitute a reverse takeover”.
Alexander said its investment in, and takeover by, eLight will deliver “significant potential to increase shareholder value”.
It will achieve this “by creating a broader-based energy efficiency services provider that can supply multiple complementary energy-related services to both existing and new customers, and use the currency of its AIM-listed securities to participate in the consolidation and integration of other service providers in what is a highly fragmented market.”
Alexander chairman Alan Clegg said was “pleasing” that the firm had been able to sell its mining assets and negotiate the reverse takeover so that its investors could profit from the growing energy-efficiency market “despite the challenges embedded in the uncertainty of the UK investment landscape up to the foundational Brexit general election result”.
