TENAGA SHARE PRICES UP SIX SEN FOLLOWING PLAN TO EXPAND RE PORTFOLIO

KUALA LUMPUR, July 9 (Bernama) -- Tenaga Nasional Bhd’s share prices rose six sen to RM14.28 in the early session today, driven by its target to increase its renewable energy (RE) asset portfolio.

At 10.10 am, a total of 932,200 shares were transacted.

Tenaga is set to expand its RE asset division in the United Kingdom (UK) to up to 2.5 gigawatts (GW) from 1.0 GW currently over the next five years, driven largely by investments in solar and wind farming.

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According to Kenanga Investment Bank Bhd, Tenaga started investing in the UK in 2017, and Vantage RE Ltd in London was set up in 2021 as a growth vehicle to drive sustainable growth in the UK and Europe’s RE markets via acquisitions of operating assets as well as those under development. 

Its current asset portfolio consists of solar farms, onshore and offshore wind farms in the UK and Ireland.

Tenaga manages a portfolio of 94 sites with 806 megawatts (MW) RE generation capacity, with two solar farms (102 MW) currently under construction, which make up three to four per cent of the RE generation market in the UK.

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The bank said it was upbeat on Tenaga’s RE venture and maintained its forecasts, with a target price (TP) of RM14.50 and a “Market Perform” rating.

“We continue to like Tenaga for its dominance in power generation, transmission and distribution in Malaysia, its defensive earnings backed by a resilient domestic economy and assets that are largely regulated, and its new avenue of growth fueled by electricity demand from data centres,” Kenanga said in a research note today.

Meanwhile, RHB Investment Bank Bhd said Tenaga should benefit from the continuous upgrade in transmission and distribution assets, where energy demand can be anchored by the mushrooming data centre development.

“We believe Vantage RE will remain one of Tenaga’s major RE key growth drivers internationally while also strengthening its internal capabilities via secondments and knowledge-sharing sessions.

“Apart from health and safety policies, environmental assessments, biodiversity development proposals and constant stakeholder engagement are in place for the company’s solar and wind projects,” it said in a separate note.

Therefore, the bank maintained its earnings estimates and TP of Tenaga at RM16.10 (with a six per cent environmental, social and governance discount). 

-- BERNAMA