Latest news from NorWatt

Market comment February

February was a volatile month in the Nordic power market. It started out with a sharp price increase were the spotprice peaked at almost three times the price level from just a few weeks back, then the prices fell sharply again. The reason for the price increase in the beginning of the month was first and foremost low power production due to operating problems in Swedish nuclear reactors at same time as Europe was hit by a cold wave. This caused shortage of power during peak hours. Later in the month the Swedish nuclear situation improved whilst the weather at the same time turned warmer with more precipitation leading Norwegian hydro producers to sell power for the next months. Norwatt Nordic Power Focused was hit hard by initially wrong positioning in the beginning of the month but managed to take some of this back towards the end of the month.
(2012-03-16)

Fusion

NorWatt Energy AS has merged with NorWatt Energy Invest AS. No new shares will be issued in this company and our overseas clients are asked kindly to visit our site for Hedgefund Nordic Power Funds; NorWatt Nordic Power Balance and NorWatt Nordic Power Focused. These funds are open for Professional investors.
(2012-02-16)

Market comment December

In December the Nordic power market was influenced by the similar price drivers as in the previous month. Warm and wet weather in combination with decreasing prices for CO2 resulted in falling power prices. The reservoir levels in Norway and Sweden were above normal and the availability of Swedish nuclear power was increasing. This increased the competition between power producers, and due to higher marginal cost in power production based on coal compared to production based on hydro, wind and nuclear power, much of the coal based production was squeezed out of the market. Power prices fell for the front as well as for product further out on the curve. Due to risk reduction in front of the festive season, the last two weeks of the month were calm. Norwatt Energy AS was well positioned for the price decrease, and the return in December was 4,0 %.
(2012-01-15)

Market comments November

The trading in the Nordic Power market was characterized by large uncertainty and large price movements in the beginning of November. Start up problems in Swedish nuclear power plants pushed the prices up, while wet weather forecasts and international financial uncertainty moved the prices in the opposite direction. In the last part of the month the power prices decreased. The main reason for this was the difficult political and economical situation in Europe which made the CO2 prices to fall which again reduces the marginal cost of production in coal and gas based power production. Large amounts of rain and low power consumption due to unusually mild weather also pulled the prices down. NorWatt Energy suffered in the begining of November, but the result was improved towards the end of the month. November delivered a negative return of 0,74%.
(2011-12-15)

Market comments October

At the beginning of October hot and wet weather resulted in high run of the river in many places, and the spot price fell to its lowest level in years. The weather then dried up resulting in sharply rising prices again. At the end of the month the filling levels in the Nordic power reservoirs was near normal, although the reservoir levels were significantly higher than last year. German power prices have been significant higher than the Nordic prices leading to large power exports and thereby draining the Nordic power magazine. On the other hand, the power intensive industry has had low power consumption after the financial crisis and has thus helped to reduce the reservoir drain. Sweden has had major operational problems at their nuclear power plants for a long time, and October represented no exception, although the nuclear industry assures that the situation is beginning to improve. The international debt crisis created great uncertainty in the markets for coal, gas and CO₂, and this increase the volatility of the Nordic electricity market. In October the result of NorWatt energy was 0.59%.
(2011-11-10)

Market comments September

Wet weather and heavy rain dominated in September. This led to extreme water flow in some rivers, and more water to the reservoirs for hydro production. Electricity was produced and sold at low prices instead of spilling the water and let it pass outside the turbines. Also the prices for electricity generated from coal, gas and oil were low in this period. However, production of electricity from the Swedish nuclear power plants, after the yearly revisions, was delayed. If not, the prices would have been even lower! The net return in NorWatt Energy has been very positive the last months, and by that uncorrelated with e.g. the stock market. Net return for September was + 5,16 %.
(2011-10-06)

Positive return in the two new offshore Energy funds

The two funds are released after a long period of analyses of the Nordic power market by the Norwatt team, and follow different strategies. NorWatt Nordic Power Focused Strategy Fund and  NorWatt Nordic Power Balanced Strategy Fund are two Malta based hedge funds that offers investors an opportunity of high risk adjusted absolute return from trading in cleared power and emission derivatives at the Nordic power exchange Nord Pool.

The Fund's main objective is to provide absolute return to the investors with target net ROI of 15% per annum in Balanced (standard deviation 12%), and 30% per annum in Focused (standard deviation 20 %). For more information please feel welcome to contact NorWatt AS. Contact person: Jan Sveen, jan@norwatt.no, tel +47 90 16 16 13.
(2011-10.06)

Market comments August

August was another very rainy month, and last winter's big deficit in the reservoirs was eliminated during the month. But it was the small and mediumsized water reservoirs that were filled. The large water reservoirs, that it takes several years to fill up, are still at relatively low levels. High water levels in the Norwegian rivers, combined with low consumption, led to lower spot prices over the first two weeks in August. Forward prices for power contracts further into the future also fell, but modestly. A lot of planned revision works in the Swedish and Finnish nuclear power plants was carried out during the month. In addition there were several error situations in the Swedish nuclear reactors that led to low nuclear power production. This helped to push up spot prices towards the end of the month. High German power prices and record levels of power export to the south was also a contributing factor. Forward markets also rose slightly towards the end of the month. NorWatt Energy fell 1.51% in August.
(2011-09-12)

Two new, exciting Energy funds established in June

The two funds are released after a long period of analyses of the Nordic power market by the Norwatt team, and follow different strategies. "NorWatt Nordic Power Focused Strategy Fund" and  "NorWatt Nordic Power Balanced Strategy Fund" are two Malta based hedge funds that offers investors an opportunity of high risk adjusted absolute return from trading in cleared power and emission derivatives at the Nordic power exchange Nord Pool. The Fund's main objective is to provide absolute return to the investors with target net ROI of 15% per annum in Balanced (standard deviation 12%), and 30% per annum in Focused (standard deviation 20 %). For more information please contact NorWatt AS.
(2011-09-12)

Market comments July

As for the last month most of July gave a lot of rain and good inflow to the water reservoir. Some of the reservoirs were filled to their maximum. Due to holyday in Norway the consumption was reduced and the combination of high production and low consumption gave a pressure on spot prices and the short term prices. Not so much effect on the long term market. The profit in July increased with 1,4 % and give a total of + 7,58 % so far in 2011 .
(2011-08-14)

Market comments June

Heavy rainfall gave a tremendous water flow in many rivers in June, and also led to flooding several places. The water reservoirs fillings higher up in the mountain rosed rapidly and passed the level for 2010 with good margin. Due to this substantial inflow the hydropower producers where under pressure to produce and struggled to maintain controll. This gave a pressure downwards on the spot prices, and also for the forward prices in the Nordic market. Our strategies were able  to take advantage of this price trend, which obviously had a fundamental character, and led to very positive financial results in June, + 9,57 %.
(2011-07-07)

Market comments May

The snowmelt started unusually early this year, and empty reservoirs welcomed the inflow. Dry and warm weather was eventually replaced by heavy rainfall. Thus, the hydrological situation improved considerably, which pointed to lower prices in the electricity market. But in May there was much unrest caused by nuclear power. Germany decided to close eight reactors that already went on "overtime". More surprising was the circulating rumors that they would shut the remaining reactors in the next few years. A small fire in the Swedish Ringhals plant also contributed to rising prices. The unrest had an negative effect on NorWatt Energy, which lost 4.24% in May.
(2011-06-16)

Market comments April

Reservoir levels are normally at their lowest in late April. This April the reservoirs were very low at the beginning of the month, but high temperatures led to rapid snow melting and a rapid filling of the reservoirs. In the rivers there is little storage capacity and high water levels meant that there was high production in run-of-the-river hydro plants. This pushed down the spot price and put pressure on the nearest contracts in the Nordic forward market. Prices on contracts with later delivery stayed more stabile. The result for NorWatt Energy  was + 5,15 % in April.
(2011-05-09)

Market comments March

In early March, the Nordic power market was turbulent and influenced by the tense situation in several Arab countries. In mid-March there were tendencies of panic, and prices rose to new record levels, when the German government unexpectedly decided to close its seven nuclear power stations with immediate effect following the natural disaster in Japan. The German power prices increased the most, but the Nordic prices followed. Subsequently a lot of rain in western and northern Norway pushed the spot prices and the price increase were eliminated within a few days. The extreme volatility subsided towards the end of the month. The results for NorWatt Energy was 1,78% in March.
(2011-04-06)

Market comments February

The first week in February was very volatile due to changing weather and unrest in several Arab countries. This resulted the first days in a sharp increase in prices with a corresponding fall the following days back to the same level. The hydrological balance is very tight and this was the underlying reason why the market acted very nervously on any new information. Many players had to realize large stop-loss and NorWatt Energy was unfortunately no exception. Positions were significantly reduced towards the end of the month. The result fell by 7.83% in February.
(2011-03-14)

Market comments January

2010 ended with the fear of resource scarcity due to historically low reservoir. January opened with weather forecasts with mostly low pressure, dominated by mild weather and high precipitation in western and northern part of Scandinavia. At the same time Swedish nuclear power plant had high production and a lot of power was imported from Russia and Germany. This led to lower spot prices, which resulted in a substantial fall in the power prices for the next weeks and months including the nearest quarter. This trend remained throughout the month. NorWatt Energy was generally short positioned in January and the result increased by 2.94%.
(2011-02-14)

Market comments December

The level of the Norwegian power reservoirs has never been as bad as last December and there was a realistic discussion in the press and in the industry if there were need for certain actions. The temperature in November and December were far below normal and together with the reservoir situation this led to very high spot prices. Also the prices for future delivery rose, but not as much as the spot price. This fact was negative for our main trade strategy, and gave a loss. Generally the power prices in December have been very volatile with powerful recoil on the rapidly rising prices in the beginning of the month. The result for December was negative, - 5,32 %.
(2011-01-12)

Market comments November

Most of the fall the electricity market was locked in a price range. However the winter started early with very cold and dry weather. This worsened an already poor water reservoir level situation and the market began to fear a shortage of electricity during the winter. Rising prices of coal and gas made it more expensive to import power from the Continent. Prices in the Nordic power market broke through the established price range and rose sharply towards the end of November. NorWatt was positioned for rising prices and got very good results on these positions. The result for NorWatt Energy was 6.64% in November.
(2010-12-10)

Market comments October

In most of October the Nordic Power prices was locked in the well defined price range we have seen for some time now.  We saw a fall in marginal costs for gas power plant and stable marginal costs for coal power plants. More power from the Swedish nuclear plants, high temperature and a lot of precipitation the last week of October sharpened the competition between the producers of hydro power for delivery in the spot market. This led to a fall in spot prices from the relatively high spot prices we have seen this fall. Lower spot prices gave immediately an effect of the forward prices, and we saw the lowest prices since the middle of August. This “break through the bottomâ€� of the price range seen for some weeks now gave positive effects on our monthly results, that ended up positive + 1,37 % in October.
(2010-11-13)

Market comments September

In September, the Nordic power market traded within a fixed range. It was large intraday movements, but there was no willingness to break out of the range. The main reason was a lack of new fundamental signals. The hydrological balance remained stable throughout the month, and hydro power producers had good control of water inflow. The prices of CO2 and coal went up. However, since coal prices are nominated in dollars, this price increase was more than offset by a falling dollar against the euro. There was low nuclear power production in Sweden because of technical failures and planned audits. NorWatt were several times positioned for a breach out of the previously mentioned trading range and lost money several times when this did not occur. The result was -3.35% in September.
(2010-10-14)

Market comments August

The power market continues to be very volatile, as it has been for the last half year. This is very challenging for the power traders, as they often are forces to take stop loss dispositions. There was a lot of rain in many regions in August, but mostly in the lower regions, and less rain in the mountains where we have the water reservoirs. The reservoirs continue therefore to be low. There was a fall of prices for coal and gas used for power production in the continental Europe during August, while the CO2 prices rose. NorWatt Energy had a loss of 2,24 % in August.
(2010-09-14)

Dividend to shareholders

The General Assembly decided on February 9 a dividend of NOK 2.50 per share.
(2010-04-08)

NorWatt smooth out fluctuations in an investment portfolio

The stock market has for a long time been characterized by nervousness and high volatility. This is also reflected in the value of mutual funds. It is up to the individual investor to choose which degree of risk that one wants, but if one wants to take part of the rise in the stock market, one must also be prepared to withstand major downturns.

In the period since inception it has proved that there is no correlation between the movements in the stock markets and the development of the value of NorWatt. The correlation with OSEBX is -0,01. This means that an investment in NorWatt  will provide diversification to an investment portfolio.

The return of an investment must be seen in context with the risk it is exposed to. Risk is measured in standard deviation, and for NorWatt this is 4,8 % annualized. The annualized standard deviation of the OSEBX has been 34,2 % in the same period. Thus, the risk in NorWatt is very low.

NorWatt aims to maintain a healthy relationship between risk and return, our results will be uncorrelated with the stock markets and characterized by a steady growth rather than large fluctuations.
(2009-09-12)

Through the financial turbulence with surplus

There is still some debate about whether we are through the global financial crisis, or if we have some breathing space. The world's stock exchanges is still "jumpy" and turns with quite a big impact from day to day. Continued banks go bankrupt, if not in Norway so far. And, still we see rising unemployment in many countries. However, we can choose optimism. We have a positive feeling of seeing the light in the tunnel. And we are approaching the turn that around 70 % of the months have passed with a surplus. The cumulative annual return ii NorWatt Energy is at 4.14%. In other words, far from the budgeted result but better than most alternatives in the difficult period the economy has been through. Our goal is still 12% return after costs.

Efforts to raise new capital takes place on an ongoing basis, and investors are advised to contact NorWatt AS or First Securities ASA
(2009-09-15)

Over half of the revenue was reinvested

Of the approximately 15.3 million paid in dividends to shareholders was in excess of 50% reinvested in new shares. We consider it as a vote of confidence from the market. New shares will be issued in the first half of May, on the basis of the exchange rate at 30 April.
(2009-05-07)

Payments of dividends and reinvestment in new shares

Dividends paid to shareholders on 20 April. It appears that a large portion of the proceeds will be reinvested in new shares. Re-arrangement will be made by new subscription of shares based on the NAV (price) per April 30th. Information is sent to all shareholders by mail.
(2009-04-16)

Press release: Dividend in NorWatt Invest AS

Annual General Meeting of NorWatt Energy Invest AS decided today to pay 6.5% of the shares' value in dividends to its shareholders. Despite the ongoing global financial crisis has had a positive return of 9.2% since inception in May 07, after all expenses and taxes are deducted. Read press release (pdf). Read article from the financial newspaper (pdf).
(2009-03-19)

Dividend offering reinvestment

NorWatt Energy AS in 2008 had a profit before tax of NOK 15 639 458, -. In accordance with its dividend policy decided the General Assembly in NorWatt Energy AS February 12 to pay NOK 15,258 million in dividends, equivalent to NOK 7, - pr. shares to its shareholders. This represents approximately 6.3% of total assets and is taken from retained earnings. The dividend is scheduled to be paid before the end of March. All shareholders will be invited to reinvest the dividends in new shares at no cost. Investors who has indicated that the dividend will be reinvested based this on that the profit performance over the past year is caused by the global financial turmoil and is not representative of what they would consider a normal return.
The Board of NorWatt Energy Invest AS, which owns just under 50 % of the shares in NorWatt Energy AS, will distribute the dividends to the approximately 500 shareholders shortly. Dividend reinvestment offering is scheduled issued by the end of March.

Direct investment in NorWatt Energy AS - lower costs!The limit for direct investment in NorWatt Energy is reduced to NOK 3 million, which means that an investment of NOK 3 million may be at a lower cost! Interested parties are requested to contact NorWatt AS.
(2008-01-09)

Surplus of NorWatt companies despite financial turmoil

The financial turmoil in the world continues into December. We are now seeing the effects in many areas of the economy. It may appear that consumers are more restrictive in their consumption than the real purchasing power give rise to. This provides an increasing challenge for firms which supply goods and services.

Electricity prices are also pushed down in November. This time we managed to see the evolution in time and positioned our portfolio in relation to this. November was thus one month where we show that the company can increase returns in periods when power prices are going down! November shows the best month results we've had since inception, with + 2.91% in NorWatt Energy and 2.76% in NorWatt Energy Invest.
See month reports.
(2008-12-09)

While the financial crisis leads to drop on the Oslo Stock Exchange, it has not affected returns in NorWatt. Although we see that the turmoil in financial markets affects the fluctuations in the electricity market, it is reassuring to see that they do not affect the return of NorWatt. It is especially in times like we now see that it is important to have invested part of the portfolio in NorWatt, since the return is uncorrelated with other markets. The return for October is so far positive and on budget. ROI report for September should be ready soon and seems to give a slight negative trend.
If you want to invest in NorWatt is prospect for the new issue available online.
(2008-10-09)

Changes in the management of NorWatt Energy Invest AS

The daily management of NorWatt Energy Invest AS will now be moved to the First Business Services AS. Business address also moved to First Security, Aker Brygge. The management of NorWatt AS says that this is a very desirable solution and that their takeover of the management of the company after the bankruptcy of Terra has always been regarded as temporary. We have full confidence that our partners in the First Business Services will have the best conditions for investors to provide professional service.
(2008-08-18)

Manager increase his investment in NorWatt Energy

General Manager in NorWatt increase his investment in NorWatt Energy with the NOK 200,000, -, to 1.2 million, it is generally regarded as positive when the management shows confidence in their own company through increased private investment.
(2008-08-18)

The share issue in June provided new fresh 20 million

But the new 20 million from the share issue in June has NorWatt Energy established a total assets of more than NOK 250 million during the first year of operation.
(2008-06-18)

Dividends to shareholders from fiscal year 2008

NorWatt Energy has decided to issue a dividend to shareholders from financial year 2008. The objective is a distribution of NIBOR + 3%, within the Act's provisions.
(2008-06-18)

First Securities ASA new partner for the future issues in NorWatt Energy

We are pleased to inform you that First Securities ASA is our new partner. This is a financial undertakings we have great confidence in and which houses a lot of competence. First will henceforth be responsible for the preparation of new equity issues in NorWatt Energy Invest AS, and do the practical management of the company. It means that NorWatt AS can have full focus on our core business and further development.
(2008-03-13)

Akershus county pension fund actively

Akershus county pension fund has invested NOK 50 million in NorWatt Energy. At the same time, the company has become an industrial partner of the management company NorWatt AS, and will be represented in the Boards of both companies.