My post last week on the continuing saga of the rollout of smart meters in the UK (see Smart Meter Madness (5)) generated a huge amount of comment from within our industry as well as interest from the national media.
The bandwagon is clearly rolling, evidenced by today’s launch on AIM of Smart Metering Systems plc (SMS), which claims to be “the only independent provider of the full range of gas infrastructure connection services, gas meter asset management services, and the development of smart metering technology solutions to the UK's key gas suppliers”. The stock listed at 60p a share, capitalising SMS at £50m. The IPO raised £10m gross in new investment. SMS has been around since 1995, and turned over £12.4m last year, generating EBIT of £2.2m.
It’s worth reading the SMS prospectus if you want a useful primer on what smart metering in the gas industry is all about. SMS itself is ‘a game of three halves’. UK Gas Connection is the blue collar bit, installing gas meters and providing gas connections. The other two bits are in ‘our space’: UK Meter Assets (IT systems for meter asset management) and UK Data Management (IT systems for automatic meter reading).
You may well have your own views on the prospects for success for a programme that will in effect lead to the replacement of 1.7m gas meters in industry and over 21m in consumer households (and you should know mine by now). But it must be said, SMS rather looks like ‘right place, right time’. But they are not alone in offering IT systems for meter asset management or for data analysis. Nor are they the only meter installer in town. But SMS does rather look like a nice ‘package’! (And please note this is NOT a stock recommendation – purely an industry analyst’s view of the IT market!).