Greenies and Greeks rain on Scroggie's parade
At NEXTDC "available liquidity" sounds much peachier than tonnes of debt.
NEXTDC chief executive Craig Scroggie is a busy man. As he jets about the nation and the world demonstrating what a world-class CEO looks like, he probably doesn't have a lot of spare time to study the meaning of Greek terms used in finance and the inner thoughts of Green-left councillors who set the agenda in some Melbourne suburbs.
That's a pity for NEXTDC shareholders, the ASX-listed data centre company whose share price collapsed 40 per cent on Wednesday, because a detailed understanding of those dual enigmas may have significantly mitigated the wipeout.
The immediate and apparent cause of NEXTDC shares' vertiginous plunge – which evaporated $2.9 billion of equity value – was a market update announcing a delay in the latest expansion of the company's M3 data centre in West Footscray, due to elusive planning approvals for an upgrade to "grid supply".
The delay in new and upgraded power lines forced NEXTDC to downgrade its financial 2027 revenue and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation range forecasts (at the mid-point) by $140 million and $142 million respectively (falls of 22 percent and 36 percent respectively against forecasts made in August).
NEXTDC said Jemena Electricity Networks, owned by the State Grid of China and Singapore Power, had suspended "parts of those works because of community and stakeholder opposition". But not to worry – upgraded power supply is on its way! The Victorian government's planning approval decision on the Stage 6 and Stage 7 M3 data centre is "now expected" after the state election on November 28.
