Windfarm owner Greencoat taps energy price surge, but faces risk of 'caps or windfall taxes'         

Many firms that produce energy have posted significant increases in profits as wholesale energy prices flared this year, prompting calls for a windfall tax

Greencoat Renewables owns wind and solar farms in Ireland and across the rest of Europe.

Greencoat Renewables, which owns wind and solar farms in Ireland and across the rest of Europe, has tapped the huge increase in wholesale energy prices, but could face a degree of uncertainty as the EU mulls price controls or windfall taxes.              

Greencoat said its net asset valuation, or Nav, had risen to €1.25bn in the first six months of the year from €749m a year earlier. The earnings statement also showed it paid out a dividend to shareholders of 3.09 cent per share, or €35.3m for the period.

Many firms that produce energy, whether they are involved like Greencoat in wind and solar or in producing oil and gas have, posted significant increases in profits as wholesale energy prices flared this year. 

That has sparked demands on European governments and the European Commission for so-called windfall taxes. Its shares fell by 1.6% in the session but trade is almost 10% higher since the start of the year.   

"The recent surge and volatility in wholesale power prices is clearly a positive for Greencoat Renewables, pointing to the potential for further Nav per share appreciation, the sole caveat, in our view, to a continuation to the [first half] trend being the potential for EU or government intervention to cap prices or introduce windfall taxes," Goodbody said in a research note.

Greencoat non-executive chairman Ronan Murphy said it had added new capacity across Europe.    

"We achieved a further milestone with the acquisition of our first offshore wind asset in Germany and strengthened our European diversification with agreements to acquire new assets in Spain, Sweden and France," he said.