Category: Credit Ratings

A recent report by S&P Global Ratings has concluded that growing competition from cheap renewable electricity, safety concerns, and rising costs of new plants are slowly undermining the viability of nuclear power.

“We see little economic rationale for new nuclear builds in the U.S. or Western Europe, owing to massive cost escalations and renewables cost-competitiveness, which should lead to a material decline in nuclear generation by 2040,” said Elena Anankina, the report’s author.

Despite these challenges, however, nuclear still has its role to play in the energy mix – largely due to the continual development of new nuclear capacity in Russia and China, supported by energy policies and significantly lower construction costs. Moreover, with regions such as Europe installing more intermittent sources, nuclear is playing a crucial role in ensuring grid stability.

Following outreach by Moorgate, news of the report was covered by Republic World, Stockhead here and here, NucNet, IREI, Euractiv, ESI Africa, Power Engineering International, and World Nuclear News.

In its recent report, S&P Global Ratings indicated that a no-deal Brexit could result in the downgrade of half of the 41 publicly rated U.K. social housing associations (HAs) in its portfolio by one notch. Particularly vulnerable are those ratings on providers that either depend on proceeds from market sales or receive extraordinary support from their related government.

Following outreach by Moorgate, the report was covered by Inside Housing, Social Housing, and Housing Today.

There could be turbulence ahead for ADP, France’s largest airport operator. A weakening economic environment could weigh on ADP’s credit quality during a period of significant international expansion. What’s more, ADP’s possible privatisation – despite being on hold pending a referendum – carries significant risks (should a change in ownership occur).

Writing for International Airport Review, Juliana Gallo, director, Infrastructure EMEA, S&P Global Ratings, argues that the many credit strengths in the ADP’s favour could allow the group to manage its heavy capex programme and future acquisitions, while maintaining credit metrics commensurate with an ‘A+’ rating.

Please click here to read the full article.

Market conditions for America’s independent power producers (IPPs) began to turn negative around three years ago – and they’ve barely improved since. In an article for Utility Dive, S&P Global Ratings’ senior director Aneesh Prabhu discusses how IPPs must adapt – or else face an uncomfortable future.

To continue operating against challenging market fundamentals – such as the industry’s fuel switch to natural gas, changing consumer preferences, new technologies and weakening commodity prices – IPPs have had little choice but to deleverage, diversify and, in some instances, go private. Against this backdrop, IPPs, in S&P Global Ratings’ view, cannot carry investment-grade ratings for the time being.

In his concluding remarks, Prabhu comments: “While the silver lining is that credit profiles in this segment are improving, the cloud over IPPs is yet to disperse.”

To read the full article, please click here.