Energy consulting firm Beond to be bought by eEnergy

Energy efficiency service company eEnergy Group has conditionally agreed to acquire UK-focussed renewable energy consulting and procurement business Beond Group, it announced on Friday.

The AIM-traded firm said total consideration, including £0.7m of surplus cash in the business, would comprise £2.4m cash and the issue of 64,948,456 consideration shares.

It said the cash component would be funded through a placing of at least £3m to new and existing institutional and other investors, at a price of 10p per share.

The board said the acquisition was in-line with eEnergy's stated strategy to develop as a broader energy services company through its ‘buy-and-build’ acquisition strategy, targeting adjacent businesses with energy management and efficiency capabilities, which offered strategic and synergistic growth opportunities.

For the year ended 31 December 2019, Beond's revenue grew 10.5% to £3.3m, with EBITDA coming in at £0.5m at a margin of 14.1%.

Following the expected benefits of operational efficiencies and further growth initiatives post-acquisition, the board of eEnergy said it was expecting Beond to generate revenue growth at an annual average rate of 22% from 2020 to 2022, base case EBITDA for 2021 of approximately £0.8m, and an EBITDA margin improvement from 14% for the year ended 31 December 2019 to 28% for the year ending 31 December 2022.

The acquisition was expected to be materially earnings enhancing in the first full year of ownership.

“The acquisition of Beond is the next step in our journey to delivering a sustainable future for our clients,” said chief executive officer Harvey Sinclair.

“Beond, a climate action business, leverages award-winning technology to secure the best zero carbon energy supply for their customers.

“With a focus on energy management, their technology will add significant value to eEnergy's existing client base by helping to make 'net zero' a reality.”

Sinclair said Beond's platform was “one of a very small number” of specialised reverse auction technologies available, securing the best priced zero-carbon energy through a competitive auction process.

“Beond's customer base is highly complementary to our own and should provide substantial energy efficiency opportunities for our light-as-a-service offering alongside the future ‘as-a-service’ offerings we intend to bring to market.”

At 1226 GMT, shares in eEnergy Group were down 1.85% at 10.21p.