From Friday:

International Power downgraded

Shares in International Power fell in early deals as DKW downgraded the UK utility to sell from hold.

In a note to clients, Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein said International Power's share price is up 10% in the last week, driven by earnings upgrades and bid hopes.

Dresdner played down hopes of a bid and cautioned that the high gas prices in the wake of hurricane Wilma in the US may be temporary.

Turning to M&A talk, it believes an RWE bid is highly unlikely; the German group is selling its US water operations and seems unlikely to want to make a new investment in the region in the near term.

Nor, in its view would, RWE be interested in generation capacity in Australia, Pakistan, Malaysia, Indonesia or the Middle East, which makes up 40% of the portfolio.


And today:

Japan's Sumitomo, 2 Europe firms to start 1.3 bln usd Bahrain power project
AFX


TOKYO (AFX) -- Sumitomo Corp and two European firms will begin a 1.3 bln usd power generation and water desalinization project in Bahrain by purchasing a state-owned plant, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported.

In its online edition the newspaper said the completed project is expected to meet 20 pct of Bahrain's total power needs and 65 pct of its urban water demand.

The partners plan to sell electricity and water to the government for 20 years.

Sumitomo's partners are leading UK power supplier International Power and Belgian electricity company Suez Tractebel.

The three firms will set up a joint venture to manage the project, the newspaper said.

It said they will buy a power generation-water purification plant in northeastern Bahrain that can generate one mln kilowatt-hours of electricity and desalinate 135,000 tons of sea water a day.

The firms will also build a new desalination plant with a daily capacity of 270,000 tons, scheduled for completion by November 2007.

The venture will be capitalized at 260 mln usd, with Sumitomo and Tractebel each contributing 30 pct and International Power 40 pct. Any remaining costs will be covered with bank loans.

I wonder if first offer will be at 400p (though initially doesn't look to be a cash offer)? Presumably then followed by a rejection & a bit of interference by HMG.

(London - 18 January 2010: 15.08 hrs) "International Power plc ("International Power" or the "Company") notes the recent market speculation and movement in the Company's share price. The Company confirms that it has held preliminary discussions regarding a potential combination of International Power and certain power assets of GDF Suez S.A ("GDF Suez").

No agreement was reached between International Power and GDF Suez and discussions are no longer ongoing"

Ouch! 345p down to 313p in the blink of an eye!

On the up again.

France's GDF to sweeten UK generator offer

Nice action this morning. Announcement due or just continuing spec?

Ironically - this announcement was made late yesterday.

GDF Suez: No Discussions With International Power At Present

PARIS (Dow Jones)
French utility GDF Suez (GSZ.FR) Tuesday reiterated that it wasn't currently discussing a potential tie-up with U.K.-based International Power PLC (IPR.LN).

On Jan.18, the two companies said that they had held preliminary discussions to combine International Power and certain assets of GDF Suez but that no agreement had been reached and that discussions weren't ongoing.

"There has been no change to the situation and there are no discussions in progress," GDF Suez said.

The company said its statement comes "following rumours which appeared in the U.K. over this weekend."

International Power Signs Financing for 815MW Paiton 3 Plant Expansion in Indonesia

(London - 8 March 2010) International Power plc is pleased to announce that PT Paiton Energy has signed the financing for the new 815MW, coal-fired Paiton 3 plant in Indonesia. International Power has a 40.5%* interest in PT Paiton Energy.

The total project cost is estimated to be US$1,519 million (1,004 million), which will be funded by a mix of debt and equity in an 80:20 ratio. International Power's equity investment of US$123 million (81 million) will be funded from current liquid resources.

International Power Plc goes Ex-dividend (8.28 GBp) wed 26th may '10.

Harry - I have it as 12.53p

Would be nice but it's 8.28p paid 24/6

Full year dividend is 12.53p

You have answered your own question, skinny. Interim divi was 4.25p (30/09/09) + this final divi of 8.28p.
Nasty head & shoulders forming on the graph & bid rumours gone away for the foreseeable future, would expect this to get knocked back immediately after the ex-divi date.

Harry - to some of us the full year figure is important :-) On a serious note, I can also see NG (which I also hold) coming off by more than the dividend next month.

Annual General Meeting 2010

(London - 18 May 2010) At the International Power plc Annual General Meeting,
held today at The Lowry Hotel Manchester, all resolutions were passed on a show
of hands. A summary of proxy votes received will be placed on the Company's
website www.ipplc.com.

Following approval by the Company's shareholders, the Company confirms that the
final dividend of 8.28 pence per ordinary share will be paid on 24 June 2010 to
shareholders on the register on 28 May 2010.

International Power IPR......

never mind the bid prospects the TA chart pattern is indicating a target SP of 370p

Interesting to see all the broker interest, little wonder on a lowly P/E of just over 10 going forward......

International Power PLC

FORECASTS 2010 2011
Date Rec Pre-tax () EPS (p) DPS (p) Pre-tax () EPS (p) DPS (p)

The Royal Bank of Scotland NV
08-07-10 BUY 636.10 28.76 12.92 569.04 27.06 13.33

Evolution Securities Ltd
06-07-10 ADD 28.60 12.90 26.90 13.50

Charles Stanley
02-07-10 ACCU

Ambrian Partners Limited
13-05-10 BUY 629.40 27.80 13.00 675.60 29.40 14.00

Eden Group
06-05-10 BUY

Nomura Research Institute [R]
11-08-09 BUY 705.00 31.60 12.60 770.00 34.10 13.60

2010 2011
Pre-tax () EPS (p) DPS (p) Pre-tax () EPS (p) DPS (p)

Consensus 633.14 28.67 12.91 616.13 26.97 13.42

1 Month Change -0.86 -0.06 -0.01 52.55 -0.09 0.09
3 Month Change 36.14 2.07 -0.29 -0.34 -0.22 0.17


GROWTH
2009 (A) 2010 (E) 2011 (E)

Norm. EPS 12.56% -24.58% -5.93%
DPS 17.26% 0.54% 3.98%

INVESTMENT RATIOS
2009 (A) 2010 (E) 2011 (E)

EBITDA 1,688.00m 1,410.28m 1,394.79m

EBIT 1,310.00m 1,062.00m 1,093.00m

Dividend Yield 4.08% 4.10% 4.26%

Dividend Cover 2.96x 2.22x 2.01x

PER 8.28x 10.98x 11.68x

PEG 0.66f -0.45f -1.97f

Net Asset Value PS 223.44p 315.15p 323.61p

Just look at the NAV per share from the Hemscott List above, little wonder theres bid interest in this..........

Net Asset Value PS 223.44p 315.15p 323.61p

Hardly any market premium.

Got to be way undervalued.

12 month high today.

Interim Management Statement.

Final Results.

Reported4 financial highlights
· Revenue €16,167 million (2010: €11,382 million)

· EBITDA €4,225 million (2010: €2,534 million)

· Adjusted current operating income €2,978 million (2010: €1,742 million) - up 71%

· EPS of 27.9 euro cents (2010: 30.4 euro cents) excluding exceptional items and specific IAS 39 mark to market movements - down 8%

· EPS of 28.1 euro cents (2010: 29.0 euro cents) including exceptional items and specific IAS 39 mark to market movements - down 3%

· Free cash flow of €2,698 million (2010: €1,554 million)