Seaenergy PLC (SEA)

SEAENERGY (SEA)

DESK PIECE

It’s not often that a company moves its focus from what it can dig up under the sea to what’s happening above the waves.
SeaEnergy did just that in 2009 when it decided to make a radical shift in strategy and identity, changing its name from Ramco and changing its business from oil and gas to wind.
The decision coincided with the government’s promise of a “new North Sea” investment boom.
It pushed offshore wind power as an essential way for the UK to meet its target of generating 30% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020; a goal which has been maintained by the Coalition.
AIM-listed SeaEnergy became the stock market's only company purely focused on offshore wind.
Based in Aberdeen, it’s chaired by Steve Remp, whose name may be familiar to oil investors from his background in Caspian ventures in the 1990s.
SeaEnergy’s fortunes are also closely tied to those of Lansdowne Oil & Gas, a spin-off in which it retains a 23% stake.
AIM-listed Lansdowne has secured extensions to its Celtic Sea licences and raised £5 million through a new share placing in March.
All seemed well until June this year when SeaEnergy shares lost more than a third of their value. Investors reacted badly to the company’s decision to sell its loss-making wind farm development business, SeaEnergy Renewables (SERL) to Repsol for £30.7 million cash.
SeaEnergy said it would use some of the proceeds to develop its marine business, providing vessels for constructing and servicing offshore wind turbines.
"We believe that the provision of services for offshore renewables presents one of the greatest opportunities in the sector,” confirmed Steve Remp.
His company is now sitting on around £28 million after clearing its debts, so investors will be keen to see if there is gold in them there er... gusts.