Emeria - comment

The call yesterday was as long as they usually are at Emeria, although the company’s policy to issue the financial report only a month later felt a little unfortunate. While revenues had held up and costs were only slightly higher than expected, the cash balance was lower than expected and the rudimentary explanation management offered on the call was not sufficient to help us reconcile some €40m unexplained outflow. Management assured investors along with a representative of the Partners Group that a “downgrade is not an option”. We agree. The RCF will become current this time next year. Despite these “beauty spots”, we continue to believe in the turnaround story this year and are holding on to our position - now four points lower.