Despite tough economic conditions, cleantech companies traded on public exchanges worldwide grew net income 126% to $5.1 billion between 2009-2010, according to a report by Ernst & Young.
The number of companies also grew over 9% during that time to 399 companies, while their combined market capitalization grew 27% to $243.2 billion.
Total revenues over the 12 months ending in September 2010 reached $152.8 billion, an increase of 21% from the same period in 2009.
Total market capitalization increased 27%. 7% was due to growth among already listed companies and 20% was due to the addition of new public companies. The companies have a median ‘time since incorporation’ of just 13 years, yet employ nearly 500,000 individuals.
"The growth in the population of pure-play public cleantech companies and improvement in their financial performance signifies the industry’s ability to create new market leaders," Gil Forer, Ernst & Young’s Global Cleantech Leader, said. "These companies are at the forefront of the transformation to a more resource-efficient and low-carbon economy."
Regional influence
The Asia-Pacific region hosts the largest number of companies (149), whose revenue grew 44% between 2009-2010.
Asia-Pacific companies have the highest median headcount per company (400 employees) reflecting the region’s low-cost manufacturing workforce. China accounts for the greatest share of the Asia-Pacific company population, home to 52 companies with an aggregate headcount of 133,200 and a combined market capitalization of US$60.1 billion – the highest market value of any country.
Europe is the leader in terms of cleantech company revenues which reached US$72.8 billion in 2010. The region is the second-largest in terms of the number of companies (128), headcount (156,700) and market capitalization ($85.5 billion).
With 44 public cleantech companies, Germany is the regional leader in terms of the number of companies; Spain is the regional leader in terms of cleantech company market capitalization, with an aggregate value of US$20.3 billion.
With 117 public cleantech companies, North America is third-largest in terms of population. Regional revenues were $23.2 billion in 2010, an annual increase of 34%. The United States is home to largest number of cleantech companies (73) globally with a total market capitalization of $45.1 billion.
Forer continues: "The growth of the global cleantech market is being propelled by corporate adoption of clean technologies, government strategies to exploit cleantech for national competitive advantage and entrepreneurs who see the opportunity to participate in what many observers characterize as the next industrial revolution. Public pure-play cleantech companies are part of a broader global market that consists of thousands of venture-backed start-ups, private entities and large Fortune 1000 corporations."
Segment analysis
Examining the public cleantech market across 13 different sub-segments showed that solar constitutes over 25%, with 102 companies, of the total company population surveyed. These solar companies employ more than 160,000 individuals and generated more than $52.8 billion in revenues. Wind is the second largest segment in terms of number of companies, followed by the energy storage industry. The youngest of all the segments in terms of time since incorporation is biofuels, with a median age of seven years.
New entrants
The global public cleantech population increased nearly 10% through 38 IPOs in 2010 which raised $9.7 billion. IPO activity was propelled by a spate of listings by Chinese companies. The 20 Chinese IPOs in 2010 raised $4.7 billion, accounting for 53% of the deal activity and 49% of the capital raised. The solar segment saw the largest number of IPOs in 2010, with 11 deals representing 29% of activity and 17% of capital raised. Wind offerings, however, raised the most capital of any segment–$3.0 billion–thanks to several large deals from China. The $3.2 billion IPO by Enel Green Power SpA on the Milan Stock Exchange was the largest cleantech IPO of 2010.
Forer concludes: "We can expect further growth in the number of pure-play public companies as well as improving financial performance as the economic recovery continues. Additionally, the return of global IPO activity to pre-downturn levels and a strong pipeline of offerings in China will likely generate a significant number of new entrants. Political instability in the Middle East and the natural disaster in Japan in particular may cause national governments to further promote domestic cleantech industries."
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