Wigton Windfarm Limited is currently searching for a new managing director who will take over from Earlington “Earl” Barrett as the renewable energy company l
ooks to multi-billion-dollar investments in the new financial year.

This was revealed in newspaper advertisements posted last week for the roles of managing director and business development and innovation manager. Barrett has been at the helm of Wigton for more than 12 years and was promoted from general manager to his current role in January 2020. He has steered the company from its transition as a subsidiary of Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica to being a publicly listed company with one of the largest shareholder bases.

The electrical engineer has more than 40 years of experience in various technical roles in different projects. However, it appears that he will be demitting his role in the 2025 financial year (April 2024 – March 2025) as the nominations, compensation and human resources committee, a subcommittee of Wigton’s board of directors, will be vetting the talent pool to make a recommendation to the board by March.

The potential managing director should have an MBA preferably supported by a BSc in Engineering or related discipline, more than five years in senior management experience along with a cadre of other qualifications. The applications close by February 23 with Great People Solutions (GPS) Limited handling the process. The remuneration for the managing director was $19.07 million in 2023 according to the company’s audited financials.

While Barrett is expected to depart from the executive role, it is not clear if he will be elected to Wigton’s board of directors as a non-executive director. As managing director, he was not subject to retirement by rotation at the company’s annual general meetings (AGMs). Although Barrett’s age is unknown, article 91 of Wigton’s guidelines, called articles of incorporation, states that no person shall be appointed to the board if they have attained the age of 70 with a hard stop at 75 years old. Any director who attains the age of 70 will vacate their role at the next company AGM. The 2024 virtual AGM covering the 2023 FY is set for April 14 at 11:00 am.

Gregory Shirley and former Wigton Chairman Oliver W Holmes retired from the board on May 24 and January 11. The retirement of these directors was filled by the appointment of Allison Philbert and Joseph Issa as non-executive independent directors on February 5. Dennis Chung was appointed the new chairman of the company on January 12 which triggered changes to Wigton’s subcommittees. Chung, Nigel Davy and Dan Theoc were removed from different subcommittees while Theoc, Hugh Johnson and Issa were added to the different subcommittees.

Large owners ready for May

There is expected to be an increase in the ownership concentration of Wigton’s largest shareholders in the coming months as the renewable energy company plans how to deploy its $4.05 billion war chest of cash. When Wigton was listed on May 22, 2019, no shareholder was allowed to own more than 10 per cent of the company’s ordinary shares for five years from the date May 1, 2019. This was further cemented in place by the issuance of a special share to the accountant general as the measure was meant to encourage wide ownership of the shares. However, once the shareholding cap is removed, any shareholder could own any percentage of Wigton as there would no longer be any limitations on share ownership.

Mayberry Jamaican Equities Limited (MJE), a subsidiary of Mayberry Group Limited, increased its stake from 9.8022 per cent to 10.0015 per cent or 1,100,166,982 shares in the April to June 2021 period. This was further increased to 10.0988 per cent or 1,110,866,982 shares in December 2021. However, MJE decreased its stake to 10 per cent or 1.10 billion in September 2022 where it has been ever since. Even the VM Building Society has a 9.8713 per cent stake or 1.086 billion shares as of September 2023. Wigton’s top 10 shareholders own 43.70 per cent of the company.

These large shareholders might want to see an increase in the size of Wigton’s dividend payments with the company declaring a dividend of $0.005943 or $65.37 million last week. This payment will be made to shareholders on February 27 to shareholders on record as of February 13.

Wigton’s largest ever payment to shareholders was a special dividend of $0.0182 or $200.20 million in January 2022. Wigton’s two other dividends total $0.007955, which is small relative to its listing price of $0.50.

Wigton is currently exploring its options to respond to Jamaica’s Generation Procurement Entity (GPE) request for proposal to supply 100 megawatts (MW) from renewable energy resources. The bidding window, which was been extended to March 25 – April 1, will see different entities bid in order to be allowed to develop their projects and supply the energy produced to the national grid as an independent power producer (IPP). Under the current legal framework, companies seeking to sell energy from renewable resources to the national grid must do it under an IPP agreement which comes up through requests for proposals.

Wigton currently operates a 62.7-MW wind farm complex located in Rose Hill, Manchester, spread across three plants which have been dubbed phase I, II and III. It is currently seeking to ‘repower’ phase I by replacing the older turbines with newer and more efficient units. Phase I began operations in April 2004 with 23 turbines under a 20-year agreement with the Jamaica Public Service Company Limited (JPS). The ‘repowering’ of phase I is not expected to result in a reduction of revenue with the company receiving a new 20-year generation licence which began in April 2023.

Wigton is also set to develop the 1.08-acre commercial property at Lot 28 Ferry Pen, St Andrew, which was priced at US$1.55 million ($243.68 million) when it acquired it in March 2023. The company has not updated the market on the development of this property in its subsequent market reports. There has also not been an update on its 21 per cent stake in Flash Holdings Limited, whose subsidiary was exploring other markets in the Caribbean last year.

Wigton’s six months revenue was down 22 per cent to $1.05 billion due to lower production and availability during the period. The reduction in revenue and increase in operating expenses saw the company’s operating profit dip 45 per cent to $409.40 million. Despite the dip in 64 per cent dip in profit before tax to $186.63 million, net profit jumped 29 per cent due to a tax credit arising from the reduction in tax rates on companies like Wigton from 33 1/3 per cent to 25 per cent.

Wigton’s total assets were down two per cent to $10.74 billion in September with $5.71 billion of the company’s assets in property, plant and equipment. Total liabilities and shareholders equity were $5.80 billion and $4.93 billion, respectively.

Wigton’s stock price is up 18 per cent year-to-date to $0.93 as of Tuesday which left it with a market capitalisation of $10.23 billion. The company’s third quarter report is due by February 14.