I selected the The Top 10 Global Electric Utilities from the “Platts Top 250 Global Energy Company Rankings” for 2009. Generally electric utility stocks offer solid dividend yields and have slow growth. Investors love them because of their yields and their monopolistic nature in most markets. Though highly regulated, electricity companies make decent profits year over year.

The Top 10 Global Electric Companies are listed below:

[TABLE=237]

Source: Platts

Note: The companies in the list are selected based on “financial performance using four key metrics: asset worth, revenues, profits, and return on invested capital (ROIC) based on data from Standard & Poor’s Compustat”.

All the European electric utilities trade on the OTC markets in the US. Iberdrola and E.ON offer excellent yields. The two US companies that made it to this list are Exelon(EXC) and Florida-based Florida Power and Light (FPL). FPL’s average annual earnings growth is about 10%. Exelon serves millions of retail customers including those in Chicago,IL and Philadelphia, PA. It has an average annual earnings growth of about 25%.

On the strong performance of European Electric Utilities, Platts noted:

“Eight of the top ten electric utilities in Platts 2009 rankings were from Europe. Boosted by the European Commission’s 20-20-20 targets, which mandates that 20% of energy generation comes from renewable sources by 2020, Europe is leading the world in solar, wind and hydro power expansion. Spain, France and Germany are leading the rush to smart grid technology development in EMEA. France’s EDF Energy ranked first in the European leading companies table.

Also ranked number one in terms of assets, EDF has been on a buying spree; it took over UK nuclear provider British Energy in 2008 and Belgian electricity supplier SPE this year. Not to be outdone, Italy’s largest utility, the number two ranked Enel, bought a 25% share in Spain’s Endesa (ranked number 5) earlier this year. Only two US electric utilities made the top ten ranks of the Top 250; Exelon of Illinois, a nuclear and fossil fuel utility, and FPL of Florida, which is investing in large-scale solar plants. In the top 20 for all energy companies, there were only three utilities — RWE (a multi-utility) and electric utilities EDF and ENEL.”

Other U.S. electric utilities in the Platts list include: American Electric Power (AEP), Southern Company (SO), Edison International (EIX), Entergy (ETR), Duke Energy (DUK), PPL Corp (PPL), Progress Energy (PGN), Allegheny Energy Inc (AYE), Pepco Holdings Inc (POM) and Northeast Utilities (NU).

For the complete list of the Top 60 Global Electric Utilities which includes top companies in other countries such as Saudi Arabia, India, Japan, Brazil, Finland etc. click here.

The Platts Top 250 Global Energy Company Rankings for 2009 was released by Platts this week. This is the eighth year that Platts has published the rankings.

The factors used to select these Top Financial Performers are:

• Asset worth
• Revenues
• Profits
• Return on Invested Capital (ROIC)

Rankings are based are data from Standard & Poor’s Compustat.

The Top 25 Global Energy Companies for 2009 by Platts are:

[TABLE=236]

For the full listing of 250 companies go here.

On the roller coaster oil prices Platts noted:

“The past two years have been some of the most momentous in the history of the oil markets. A frantic commodities bubble redefined record oil prices and sent crude oil soaring to over $147 per barrel (/b) in July 2008. Oil products skyrocketed as well, boosted by unprecedented demand from China in the run-up to the Olympics. The oil price spikes were followed by freefall, caused by the global recession and a demand vacuum. Crude oil futures dipped below $40/b in December 2008 before rebounding from mid-February back up to over $70/b later in the year, despite continuing recession in the OECD countries”

Some observations on this year’s global rankings:

1. The US oil giant ExxonMobil(XOM) retained the number one rank for 5th year in a row.
2. Last year’s $100+ crude oil prices helped Integrated Oil and Gas (IOG) companies dominate the Top 13 of the 250 spots this year.
3. IOGs also took 30 of the top 20 places.
4. China’s PetroChina (PTR) and Brazil’s Petrobras (PBR) are in the Top 10 list underscoring the growing importance of Brazil and China.
5. EnCana(ECA) of Canada made it to the top 25 list.
6. More Latin American companies are in the Top 50 list with state-owned Colombia’s Ecopetrol (ECO) ranked at number 30. For more details on this Colombian ADR in NYSE go here.
7. Brazil’s Petrobras(PBR) jumped to 6th from 12th rank in 2008 due to “additions to its reserves resulting from its giant pre-salt layer oil finds”.

Related post: The Top Ten Energy Companies of the World 2008

Platts, the highly respected energy consulting company, released its Platts Top 250 Global Energy Company Rankings for 2009 this week. One of the sub-sector of this ranking is the Fastest Growing Energy Companies in Asia.

The Top 20 Fastest Growing Energy Companies in Asia:

Note:
IOG – Integrated Oil & Gas
DU – Diversified Utility
E&P – Exploration & Production
EU – Electric Utility
R &M – Refining & Marketing
C&CF – Coal and Consumable Fuels
GU – Gas Utility
ST – Storage & Transfer
IPP – Independent Power Producer

Source: Platts

Some of the large Asian oil companies in this list are China’s PetroChina (PTR) , S-Oil Corp of South Korea, CNOOC Ltd (CEO) of Hong Kong and Bharat Petroleum Corp of India.

The Platts report noted:

“Asian companies made up more than 20% of the 50 fastest growing companies list, and also took 30% of the top 10 places in the Refining & Marketing category. Reliance Industries and Indian Oil Corporation were first and second, with TonenGeneral Sekiyu of Japan third.”

In the Global Top 250 list, the presence of Asian companies has risen by about 15% in the last two years.