Hydro Intl Share Discussion Threads

[rivaldo] 22/6/2007 07:28

Lex's column in the FT today looks like it'll get a lot of people thinking.

Anyone got a subscription for access to the rest of the article?



"Investing in water
Published: June 21 2007 12:05 | Last updated: June 21 2007 19:59

In Barcelona, water costs 90 per cent more than it does in Valencia, farther down the Spanish coast, where the commodity is scarce. As more global water shortages occur, such anomalies will have to disappear.

Annual world water use has risen sixfold during the past century, more than double the rate of population growth. But water supply, most of it from the sea, is the same now as it was 10,000 years ago. Based on United Nations population projections, Credit Suisse estimates that, by 2025, almost two-thirds of the global population will live in countries where water will be a scarce commodity.

The rest of this article is for FT.com subscribers only"

[rivaldo] 21/6/2007 10:00

The contract is now confirmed on HYD's web site:

[rivaldo] 20/6/2007 17:43

Nice spot gac100....worth £150k in monetary terms, but the real value is in HYD's getting selected from "a number of solutions" as a precedent for all those other areas considering possibly another £1.5m or more of purchases.

No wonder HYD have ramped up their USA distributor network. And I assume other federal governments are or will be going the same way.

[gac100] 20/6/2007 14:45

Not a massive deal:
"The $2.9 million project includes the costs of engineering services, purchases of property and demolition of buildings. The Hydro International equipment accounts for about 10 percent of the project's costs."

... but HYD must be in with a decent shout of winning further contracts elsewhere in Maine:
"Portland, Machias, Indian Township, Presque Isle, Calais, Ellsworth, Limestone, Loring and Caribou, are currently considering solutions"

[gac100] 20/6/2007 14:38

More US News



PORTLAND, Maine--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Hydro International, a leading provider of environmentally sustainable products and innovative solutions that control and treat stormwater, wastewater and combined sewer overflows, today announced that it has been chosen by the Town of Bucksport, Maine, to supply a Storm King® Overflow unit to treat the combined sewer and stormwater overflows that occur during heavy rainstorms.

The deal marks the first time a Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) treatment unit using advanced vortex technology will be installed remotely - away from a central wastewater treatment plant - in the state of Maine. Treating the flow remotely will remove the pollutants to meet the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) water quality standards and save the town the expense of having to pump the flows a long distance and upgrade sewer lines along the way.

The Town of Bucksport, located along the Maine coast just south of Bangor, is undertaking its CSO treatment project to comply with state and federal orders to improve the cleanliness of the flows discharging into the Penobscot River. The $2.9 million project includes the costs of engineering services, purchases of property and demolition of buildings. The Hydro International equipment accounts for about 10 percent of the project's costs.

"We needed a solution that improved the treatment of CSO discharges to Maine DEP specifications and, at the same time, came at a reasonable cost to taxpayers," Bucksport Mayor Jeff Robinson said. "We looked at a number of solutions, and Hydro International's Storm King has the best solution to meet both of those challenges."

Bucksport officials also pointed to Storm King's lower maintenance requirements as a key factor in the town's choice of a solution.

Bucksport has broken ground on the site of the 18-foot Storm King unit in the center of town, near the Penobscot shore, with plans to complete the project by next spring.

The federal government has issued longstanding orders to many Maine communities to deal with the environmental effects of Combined Sewer Overflows. Some communities are opting to separate their stormwater and wastewater sewers, at a high cost, while others are treating the flows at a much lower cost. A number of Maine cities, including Portland, Machias, Indian Township, Presque Isle, Calais, Ellsworth, Limestone, Loring and Caribou, are currently considering solutions to address the issue.

The Storm King is an advanced hydrodynamic vortex separator used for the effective removal of floatables, settleable solids and associated pollutants. The vortex technology spins the contents and allows solids to settle out cleanly and effectively.

"We are proud the Town of Bucksport chose Hydro's Storm King as the solution for this demanding project that is crucial to protecting the water quality of the Penobscot River," said Stephen Hides, CEO, Hydro International.

[gac100] 19/6/2007 16:01

The good news just keeps flowing...
... solids-free you might say!

[rivaldo] 19/6/2007 15:21

HYD going for it in the USA, appointing a PR firm:



"PAN Communications, a mid-sized public relations firm specializing in technology, consumer goods and professional services, was the recipient of eight awards at the Annual Bell Ringer Awards ceremony....

...PAN was also named the agency of record for 11 companies over the past quarter. New clients include....Hydro International of Portland, Maine;"

[rivaldo] 19/6/2007 10:45

A recent article here about HYD's StormBank being used in houses in Dulwich:


Extract:
"Eco House Design saves rainwater with StormBankTM

For two pioneering eco houses being built in drought-hit South London, rainwater harvesting is a top priority. A showcase site for the Save the RainTM campaign, the Landells Road houses use Hydro's StormBankTM rainwater recycling system to provide water for toilets and external use (eg. cars and gardening) to save water resources and reduce utility bills.

Owner and developer, Bill Bradley explained:" It's everyone's responsibility to use precious water resources carefully, as anyone living in the South of England this summer can testify. I believe that we all need to do what we can to save rain so, when developing these houses, I installed rainwater harvesting as well as energy efficiencies and other sustainable aspects into the house design."

The two detached 4 bed houses are located on an infill brownfield site surrounded by Victorian properties in Dulwich, SE London. Site Manager for the developing company Talisman Manufacturing, Paul Smith, explains: "The rainwater is collected from the green roofs which are planted with sedum for insulation and to be CO2 friendly. Via the filtration layers built into the roofs, the rainwater is collected in the StormBank tanks, and pumped on demand for the non-potable uses. We chose the StormBankTM system as we found Hydro particularly responsive to our eco-requirements and unfazed by our need for practical information. Also, it was a very easy system to install. ""

[rivaldo] 17/6/2007 09:20

Two Torygraph stories of a positive note for HYD holders. From Friday:


Extracts:
"Flood defences 'not up to required standard'
By Paul Eccleston
Last Updated: 12:01am BST 15/06/2007

Flooding facts
Not enough is being done to protect millions of homes and businesses in England from the risk of flooding, a spending watchdog claims today."

""Flood defences are critical to the protection of towns, cities and people's homes. There are significant variations on the amount spent on defences, with only small change going to the North East compared with the Midlands and Thames.

"Flooding is an ever present risk to millions of homes and businesses in this country but the Environment Agency has not done enough to improve the condition of our flood defences."

The Committee had called for more action after its last report on flood defences in 2001 but the new report found there had not been any significant improvement.

Currently 50 per cent of linear defences and 61 per cent of flood defence structures were in good condition compared to 64 per cent and 57 per cent respectively six years ago.

The NAO report said it recognised the Environment Agency had made a number of improvements in the management of flood risk and had also taken on a lot of responsibilities formally held by local authorities.

An additional 100,000 households had been better protected from floods in the past year and it was estimated that 99 per cent of properties were now protected against flooding.

But only 57 per cent of all flood risk systems and 46 per cent of high risk systems - in towns and cities - had reached the target level. And spending work on construction and maintenance work varied across the country and did not reflect the risk of flooding in each region.

An investigation of the autumn 2000 floods found that instances of flood defences failing were rare - less than 1 per cent of flooding was due to such instances.

However, spending on locally-managed construction and maintenance work continues to vary across the country and did not adequately reflect the risk of flooding in each region.

And there were wide differences across the country in the proportion of high-risk systems reaching their target condition.

In the South-West only 18 per cent reached the target while it was 60 per cent in the Southern region.

Spending on high-risk systems varied from 24 per cent of maintenance funds in the North-East compared to 67 per cent in the Midlands and Thames regions.

The Environment Agency has estimated it will need an extra a £150m per year to bring all defences up to scratch.

In 2006-2007 it spent £162m on new flood defences, £176m on maintaining existing defences and another £39m on responding to flooding incidents and raising public awareness.

The NAO estimates that 2m properties and 4m people are at risk of flooding each year. It can cost each household up to £40,000 to put right the damage caused by flooding. At the same time it is expected that warmer, wetter winters in the UK brought about by climate change will result in more people being affected by flooding."

And today:



"Landlords moving to force tenants to conserve energy
By Jonathan Russell, Sunday Telegraph
Last Updated: 11:32pm BST 16/06/2007

Office workers could be forced to turn out the lights and use less water under proposals being worked on by commercial property landlords and their advisers."

[rivaldo] 16/6/2007 19:29

Flooding all over the place at the moment. Not pleasant for the victims - the Environment Agency are being lambasted for not having been prepared. Any extra expenditure should see a proportion coming HYD's way.

[rivaldo] 14/6/2007 20:02

Interesting recent article written by HYD about rainwater harvesting, which will hopefully soon be compulsory for new homes:



"RAINWATER HARVESTING 'CAN ADD VALUE TO NEW HOMES'

Hydro International
04/06/2007

NEW green building standards are turning rainwater harvesting into a 'must-have' accessory which adds value to new homes in the eyes of house purchasers. As a result, using rainwater to flush toilets and water gardens will soon be much more common in new homes developments.

Installing rainwater harvesting is a simple and low-cost method by which housebuilders can achieve the Government's new coveted Eco ratings, says the Save the Rain campaign. The introduction of the Code for Sustainable Homes and the Chancellor's Spring Budget pledge of stamp duty exemption on purchases of homes below £500,000 which achieve the 'zero-carbon' standard both rely on builders installing significant water saving features in new properties.

A recent UK survey, sponsored by Save the RainTM has already shown that a significant proportion of homeowners (1 in 3) would be more likely to buy a house if a rainwater harvesting system was already installed. The survey conducted in association with British Water and Hydro International, questioned homeowners all over the UK about their attitudes to water saving.

"These are clear signs that the general public will begin to see rainwater harvesting as adding real value to a property. Enterprising housebuilders who have studied the requirements for the Code should be starting to see that installing rainwater harvesting could give their homes an edge over competitors properties," says Chris Williams, Managing Director of Hydro International which sponsors Save the Rain™.

The Code's Ecohome criteria outlined by CLG includes a significant requirement for water saving. To achieve the coveted full six stars classifying a "zero carbon home" will not be possible without rainwater harvesting.

Even if the housebuilder's target is less than the maximum six stars, rainwater harvesting can still make a significant contribution. A new house cannot even achieve a three-star rating if only one-star rating for water-saving is achieved. The easiest way to guarantee a higher water rating is to install rainwater harvesting.

At the moment the Code for Sustainable Homes is voluntary, but the Government is thinking about making assessment under the Code mandatory in future. Every new house will have a published rating between one and six stars. With the two most important elements being energy and water usage, buyers will be looking for a house's water saving performance.

The recent Save the Rain™ survey in association with British Water and Hydro International, revealed that 9 out of 10 householders believe rainwater harvesting is a good idea and one in three would be more likely to buy a house with rainwater harvesting already installed.

Housebuilders can also use rainwater harvesting to contribute to discharge consents for stormwater in their development. Rainwater Harvesting reduces surface water runoff from the roof, helping to reduce stormwater flooding risks. Some developers have already successfully demonstrated the contribution of rainwater harvesting to meeting local authority discharge consents. Reducing runoff is also a one-star level requirement of the Code for Sustainable Homes.

The Save the Rain™ campaign was established to increase awareness of the benefits of saving water and in particular recycling rainwater."

[stegrego] 13/6/2007 19:46

Notice that Modern Water MWG is up over 10% today...

Im a bit dubious about it myself - someone obviously likes the story though.

[rivaldo] 13/6/2007 09:23

Polzeath, there must be better things to do at 4.52 in the morning than posting on a bb!

You may be right given HYD's relative illiquidity. On the other hand HYD's virtues stand out a mile, so by the same token any buying or another contract win RNS could see HYD at 215p-220p pretty quickly. That's the gamble :o))

[polzeath] 13/6/2007 04:52

I'm no chartist but don't be surprised if 175p is re-tested. HYD has gone a bit gappy/ vertical, might be top up time for some.

[gac100] 12/6/2007 14:51

Steg & riv, I agree. Can't see the share price falling much without attracting buyers. I've bought several tranches between 92p and 150p over the last couple of years and I'm weighing up whether to buy a few more now on a price dip - would be looking for it to go just a little lower than it did today ideally. I have a feeling the market hasn't yet priced in the positive newsflow from the US, which hasn't been RNS'd or otherwise widely disseminated. Even if I'm wrong about that, HYD's prospects over certainly the next year or two (and in all likelihood well beyond) look excellent.

[rivaldo] 12/6/2007 12:40

An MM buy of 2.5k shares at 188p....didn't take much to bounce did it :o))

[rivaldo] 12/6/2007 11:39

Yep, looks like someone had a few to offload but didn't organise it too well. A shame, but we know HYD is illiquid - it's been like this ever since I bought in 2 years ago and won't change unless there's a seismic event like a big placing.

Profit-taking at the top never hurt anyone. It just means HYD is now an even better prospect than before for buyers imo.

[stegrego] 12/6/2007 11:08

quite a big fall from just 4 trades...

Just a bit of 'noise' though i guess

[polzeath] 11/6/2007 17:48

Looks a bit vertical :-)

Interesting long term.

[mustau] 11/6/2007 12:43

Some volume, at last.

[orange1] 11/6/2007 08:18

Water pressure: the race is on to plug the leaks in London and quench the thirst



"It is true, however, that many of Thames' problems are not of its own making. Like other water companies serving the South-east, it is grappling with two huge issues outside its control - population growth and climate change. London's population will increase by a a fifth over the next 20 years, according to government figures, while summers are becoming drier, in southern England in particular. When it does rain, it rains more heavily and in a shorter period of time, meaning companies need to have bigger reservoirs to store the water so it can last through the summer."

[rivaldo] 10/6/2007 07:20

Gathering pace in the USA:



"Downstream Defender® Approved by NY DEC
07-Jun-2007

PORTLAND, Maine – June xx, 2007 - Hydro International, a leading provider of environmentally sustainable products and innovative solutions that control and treat stormwater, wastewater and combined sewer overflows, today announced that its Downstream Defender® stormwater separator equipment has been added to the list of devices approved for use by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC).

Downstream Defender, which traps and removes pollutants from stormwater flows, is already approved for use by the New York State Department of Transportation for road construction projects. The Department of Environmental Conservation approval opens the market for Downstream Defender use in larger and more environmentally sensitive building projects that require permits from the DEC.

Hydro's Downstream Defender is a unique stormwater treatment device that utilizes advanced hydrodynamic vortex technology to prevent pollutants from being discharged into rivers, streams and coastal waters. It efficiently removes high levels of settleable solids, oils and floatables over a wide range of flow rates and prevents captured pollutants from being re-released into the environment.

Downstream Defenders have provided significant protection for municipal installations and private development projects throughout the U.S., Canada, and the United Kingdom. The New York Department of Environmental Conservation will review use of the Downstream Defender on a project-by-project basis to ensure that site-specific design, construction and maintenance requirements are met.

"New York State follows a rigorous process for approving stormwater equipment for use in environmentally sensitive building projects," said Dave Scott, Stormwater Products Manager for Hydro International. "We are very excited that New York's Department of Environmental Conservation sees the potential in the Downstream Defender to prevent growing problems from stormwater runoff."

The New York DEC has approved the Downstream Defender's "Flow Through" technology as a standard treatment system or pretreatment system in new projects and redevelopment projects. The agency rated Downstream Defender's 4-foot-diameter model as being able to remove particles at an equivalent or higher flow rate capacity as compared to other manufactured separators."

[rivaldo] 07/6/2007 11:49

More details about the Modern Water IPO today:


Excluding the cash raised, MW is valued at £40m for the IP of a couple of businesses they own just 50% or a majority stake in - so that values the core businesses, which are probably relatively early stage and unprofitable, at say £70m!

Whereas the highly profitable, cash-generative, globally expanding and IP-owning HYD is valued at just £27m. Enough said.

[rivaldo] 07/6/2007 09:27

Couldn't agree more philjeans.

A rather good excerpt for HYD shareholders from VP Group's results today:



"The AMP4 water industry capital investment programme is now gathering pace and is providing useful incremental revenue streams in many parts of the country."

[philjeans] 07/6/2007 08:47

Yep - I'm a doubler on this one now.

Happy to hold though - M/C still tiny at £27M for a truly global potential business that looks very appropriate in todays environment!