BG Group, at 673p February 15, 2006
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Green in the City, Investing , trackbackI made my first share investment the other day, buying a small stake in BG Group (British Gas) at 673p and woke up yesterday morning to find myself down about £20, so I hope it was a good idea.
Investors Chronicle tipped them last week, and their fundamentals seem strong. And of course, with gas prices increasing rapidly and most of the UK now tied into this for heating fuel, they’re on a roll right now. I’m not convinced that gas prices will continue to rise beyond the short (1 year) term - there is a big Norwegian field, the Ormen Lange, due to come on stream in 2007, but long term, there is money here.
This may seem like an odd investment for a self-confessed greenie, but there are a few things to consider. First of all, BG is on the FTSE4Good, which doesn’t really mean much as all sorts of polluters are in there, but at least indicates that they have some level of commitment to social responsibility. Secondly, natural gas has the lowest carbon-emissions per calorie of any fossil fuel so it ain’t great, but it could be worse. It is the conversion of British heating and power generation from coal to gas which has made us able to claim to have done so well in reducing emissions.
I’m also interested to see that they’re a major sponsor of micro-combined heat and power units, and will be releasing their product to the general public in 2007. That may be something of a cynical ploy, and I wonder how hard they are lobbying the government to, for instance, allow the owners of microCHP to be paid for the electricity they feed back onto the grid.
It’s actually rather difficult, if you’re investing via an ISA as I am here, to be very green with your shareholdings. ISA rules don’t allow AIM shares to be included, and larger companies are not exactly what many people have in mind when they think of a ‘green’ investment. Most socially responsible funds include some very unlikely players - Tesco’s, BP, Vodafone. Each of these companies is at least considered to be better than others in their sector, is on the FTSE4Good and has some level of social responsibility activity and reporting.
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