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03 Mar 2023
Drax Group : Options, clarity in May? - Buy
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Drax Group : Options, clarity in May? - Buy
Drax Group plc (DRX:LON) | 881 79.3 1.0% | Mkt Cap: 2,978m
- Published:
03 Mar 2023 -
Author:
Martin Young -
Pages:
11 -
Following the recent FY22 results, we have updated our estimates. For FY23E, we lower our CfD unit output assumption, reflect the updated hedging position, a nudge up in the cost of biomass, the cost of a double outage on the ROC units, and increased development spend. This sees our FY23E EBITDA estimate fall by 5.8% to £1,160m, with our EPS estimate falling by 15% to 106.2p (undiluted).
However, we suggest that additional optimisation opportunities could present themselves as the year progresses, and should the shutdown of the coal units be delayed by a year due to governmental request, this is something we suggest would be accretive to our estimates.
FY24E and FY25E are impacted by reflecting updated hedging positions, updated commodity/power price assumptions, and increased biomass cost assumptions, with our EPS estimates falling by 12.6% and 17.8% respectively.
Despite the near-term earnings cut, our target price only nudges down slightly to 1,080p, as the £63/kw/yr clearing price in the recent T-4 Capacity Market auction causes us to nudge up our long-term peak power and Capacity Market assumptions, benefitting our segmental DCF approach to valuation.
We now split our valuation of generation into biomass, hydro and gas. We value biomass at £1,550m (1.6x FY23E EV/EBITDA), and hydro at £1,725m (11.7x FY23E EV/EBITDA).
In our view, an electrified economy with greater intermittency on the supply side will require an increasing amount of both carbon free flexible generation and storage. Through BECCS and the Cruachan expansion, Drax has growth options, and we look for May’s CMD to provide more clarity on the pathway.