From Reuters:
Cash-healthy Camco faces carbon offset shortfall
* Says cash balance of 28 mln euros at Dec. 30, 2009* Still long way from 30.6 mln pre-2012 CER portfolio target
* CEO optimistic about CER issuances, U.S. climate bill (Recasts throughout, adds comments, deta
UK-based carbon offset aggregator Camco International Ltd (CAMIN.L) grew its cash balance to 28 million euros ($40.3 million), the firm said in a trading update on Monday, but faces a steep climb to reach its 2012 offset inventory goal.
Camco received 14.4 million euros in cash proceeds for 4.6 million tonnes of Kyoto Protocol offsets, called Certified Emissions Reductions (CERs), in two deals signed in December.
"We are very, very happy with these transactions ... we got a far greater price than the market price at the time, and the cash proceeds are non-recourse," said Yariv Cohen, Camco's chief carbon officer, adding that its CER costs remained around 8 euros a tonne.
Camco has increased its June 30, 2009 cash position of 18.3 million euros by over 50 percent. Camco shares traded up 1.5 pence or 10 percent at 16.5 pence at 1022 GMT.
For the three months ended in Dec. 2009, Camco trimmed its in specie pre-2012 portfolio of Kyoto Protocol carbon offsets, saying it expects to get 30.3 million tonnes compared 30.6 million in its last update in Sept. 2009.
In contrast, the company has received just 0.8 million tonnes to date, or just 2.6 percent of its pre-2012 target.
"30.3 million is pretty high ... the CER yield curve is getting increasingly steep and as we get closer to 2012, the numbers are not getting as fat as they need to be, the reason being the ongoing delays at the UN," said equity analyst Agustin Hochschild at Mirabaud Securities.
"We will need to see quite a healthy upswing.">>>MORE
Bloomberg reported the prices received in a short piece last December:
Camco Received Higher-Than-Expected Price for Sold Portfolio
