Strong investor support drives CleanTech Index to new highs

Australian CleanTech Index outperformed the ASX200 for the month of December and the second quarter of FY18. Over the last 3 years, the Australian CleanTech Index leads the ASX200 by over 40%.

The sector has been maturing over the last three years with a greater number of revenue generating companies that has brought institutional investors into the sector for the first time. The sector represents the jobs and growth of the future and the investment community is starting to see these profitable opportunities more clearly.

There are now 11 cleantech companies listed on the ASX that have market capitalisation of over $1 billion with the largest being the New Zealand based Meridian Energy. Each of the four major sub-sectors of the Index now have a combined market capitalisation of over $7 billion.

These are becoming mainstream, mature and profitable companies that are delivering essential services to Australian communities. They are also becoming increasingly less reliant on government policy and are thriving because they provide needed services in the most cost effective way.

Over the second quarter of the 2018 fiscal year, the Australian CleanTech Index recorded a gain of 9.2%, ahead of the ASX200’s gain of 6.8% but behind the ASX Small Ordinaries’ 13.3% gain.

The month’s performance was driven by 15 companies with gains of more than 10%. The greatest percentage gains were recorded by BuildingIQ (BIQ), Cobalt Blue Holdings (COB) and Leaf Energy (LER). The greatest gain in market capitalisation over the month was from Sims Metal Management (SGM).

The quarter’s performance was driven by 14 companies with gains of more than 50%. The greatest gains were recorded by Papyrus Australia (PPY), Tag Pacific (TAG), Australian Vanadium (AVL) and ReNu Energy Limited (RNE).

The Australian CleanTech Index underwent its quarterly rebalancing at the end of December which took account of recent share issues and other corporate activity.  Enviromission (ASX:EVM) was removed from the Index having been suspended from trading since May 2016 and the following five companies were added to the Index:

• Nanollose Limited (ASX:NC6) focuses on discovering, developing, and commercializing intellectual property specialising in the development of Plant-Free cellulose technologies from industrial organic waste. www.nanollose.com
• New Energy Solar (ASX:NEW) owns, acquires and manages a diversified portfolio of solar and renewable energy assets in Australia and the US. www.newenergysolar.com.au
• Triton Minerals Limited (ASX:TON) is developing graphite resources in Mozambique. www.tritonminerals.com
• First Cobalt Corp. (ASX:FCC) is developing cobalt resources globally with a focus in Canada. www.firstcobalt.com
• Magnis Resources Limited (ASX:MNS) is developing flake graphite resources in Tanzania. www.magnis.com.au

To provide an analysis of the Australian CleanTech Index, a number of sub-indices have been developed. The best performing sectors for the three months to December 2017 were the Australia Efficiency & Storage Index and the Australian Waste Index.

To track the performance of the more established companies, the Australian CleanTech 20 tracks the largest 20 largest Index constituents by market capitalisation. New entrants to the Australian CleanTech 20 at this rebalance were New Energy Solar, Magnis Resources, Pro-Pac Packaging and Neometals. These replaced Fluence Corp, Eden Innovations, Pacific Energy and Metro Performance Glass. Each of the constituents in the Australian CleanTech 20 has a market capitalisation of more than $230m.

With 82 companies now falling under the coverage of the Index and with a record combined market capitalisation of $40.9 billion, the Australian CleanTech Index presents for the only complete picture of the Australian cleantech industry’s growth in a single measure.

The Quarterly Index Performance Report can be downloaded from here.