In Power, Most European Utilities Have a Net Trade Requirement over 100% of Their Supply Obligations - Utilities Market Drivers: Corporate Agenda.DUBLIN, Ireland -- Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c42848) has announced the addition of Utilities Market Drivers: Corporate Agenda to their offering. The utility industry is witnessing a period of heightened M&A activity, spurred on by national governments. At the same time, the need for improved profitability is driving utilities to search for improvements in business processes. At the wholesale level, price volatility is causing some utilities to expand their position in the value chain as they reassess reassess Verb to reconsider the value or importance of reassessment n Verb 1. reassess - revise or renew one's assessment reevaluate their strategic risks. Scope of this title: * An analysis of the driving factors behind M&A activity in the European and American utility sectors. * An examination of business processing outsourcing (1) Contracting with outside consultants, software houses or service bureaus to perform systems analysis, programming and datacenter operations. Contrast with insourcing. See netsourcing, ASP, SSP and facilities management. and cost-to-serve metrics metrics Managed care A popular term for standards by which the quality of a product, service, or outcome of a particular form of Pt management is evaluated. See TQM. . * A review of wholesale market risk and the structural hedges of key European utilities. Report Highlights * Even where governments have no significant shareholding in a utility, there is a perceived strategic national interest in maintaining the national character of the incumbent utility. Utility consolidation is partly driven by these efforts to create and sustain national champions. The Suez-GdF merger is an instructive in·struc·tive adj. Conveying knowledge or information; enlightening. in·struc  tive·ly adv. example. * While the general business process outsourcing Business process outsourcing (BPO) is the contracting of a specific business task, such as payroll, to a third-party service provider. Usually, BPO is implemented as a cost-saving measure for tasks that a company requires but does not depend upon to maintain its position in and offshoring
Offshoring describes the relocation of business processes from one country to another. trend is increasing, there is a counter-trend with respect to front office functions that go offshore. Many utilities have refrained from sending front-office processes offshore because they fear irreparable ir·rep·a·ra·ble adj. Impossible to repair, rectify, or amend: irreparable harm; irreparable damages. [Middle English, from Old French, from Latin brand damage if customer service quality falters. * In power, most European utilities have a Net Trade Requirement over 100% of their supply obligations. This provides utilities with a wide scope to sell power on the wholesale market or serve Major Energy User customers from their own power stations. In gas, the Net Trade Requirement is reversed. Reasons to order your copy: * Understand what is driving M&A activity in Europe, and how it is likely to evolve. * Understand cost-to-serve drivers and how business process outsourcing is being used to boost profitability. * Benchmark against the Net Trade Requirements for Europe's largest utilities. The contents inside this report include: AUTHOR'S VIEW CATALYST SUMMARY METHODOLOGY ANALYSIS Utilities pursue M&A strategies to access future growth, protect themselves from hostile takeovers Hostile Takeover A takeover attempt that is strongly resisted by the target firm. Notes: Hostile takeovers are usually bad news, as the employee moral of the target firm can quickly turn to animosity against the acquiring firm. , and create national champions Utilities pursue M&A strategies as a defensive tactic In continental Europe Continental Europe, also referred to as mainland Europe or simply the Continent, is the continent of Europe, explicitly excluding European islands and, at times, peninsulas. , government intervention A procedure used in a lawsuit by which the court allows a third person who was not originally a party to the suit to become a party, by joining with either the plaintiff or the defendant. to create national champions spurs consolidation In the UK and US, liberal foreign investment regimes will be put to the test by future utility acquisitions The need to expand customer portfolios pushes utilities into an acquisition-based strategy The growth imperative pushes utilities into an acquisition-based strategy Increased competition is forcing incumbent utilities to focus on business processes in the search for improved profitability Utilities will continue to outsource business processes to boost profitability Moving front-office functions off shore is not popular with energy utilities, which fear irreparable brand damage due to low quality Many utilities in newly liberalized markets will be focusing on cost-to-serve for the first time The largest European utilities have the lowest cost-to-serve Technology, not foreign expansion, improves cost-to-serve Wholesale price volatility is a key strategic risk to utilities without an adequate structural hedge Utilities manage wholesale price volatility with structural hedges In power European utilities are over-hedged, in gas they are under-hedged APPENDIX Consultancy Ask the Analyst List of Figures Figure 1: Consolidation in the industry has created a top tier of utility giants Figure 2: Indicative service costs for European suppliers of three different sizes Figure 3: Competitive pressures have helped equalise Verb 1. equalise - compensate; make the score equal equalize, get even rack up, score, tally, hit - gain points in a game; "The home team scored many times"; "He hit a home run"; "He hit .300 in the past season" 2. cost-to-serve across UK utilities Figure 4: Most major European utilities have a structural hedge for over 100% of their power supply obligations Figure 5: European utilities are not sufficiently hedged in gas Figure 6: Only four utilities have some form of structural hedge in Verb 1. hedge in - enclose or bound in with or as it with a hedge or hedges; "hedge the property" hedge inclose, shut in, close in, enclose - surround completely; "Darkness enclosed him"; "They closed in the porch with a fence" gas For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c42848 Source: Datamonitor |
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