On July 6, 2005, Carmanah was added to the international Photon Photovoltaic Stock Index (PPVX). This German-based index tracks the performance of 18 publicly-traded renewable energy companies from around the world. To be included in the PPVX, more than 50 percent of the qualifying company’s sales in the previous year must have come through photovoltaic products or services.
The PPVX began on Aug. 1, 2001 with 1,000 points and is calculated weekly on a euro base. The PPVX is a weighted index so that the stocks of a few highly capitalized companies do not exert too much influence. It is divided into three classes, with different weighting points (WP) based on the companies’ market capitalizations:
- A capitalization of less than €50 million has 1 WP (Arise, Daystar Technologies, Reinecke+Pohl, Sunways, WorldWater, Solco);
- Between €50 million and €200 million = 2 WP (Carmanah, Phönix, S.A.G., Solar-Fabrik, Solar Integrated Technologies, Solartron);
- Greater than €200 million = 3 WP (Conergy, Energy Conversion Devices, Evergreen, Motech, SolarWorld, Solon).
It is interesting to note that as of July 5, 2005, PPVX has doubled the performance of the Amex Oil Index (comprised of the 15 biggest oil companies). The PPVX is up 96.5% versus 48% for the Amex Oil Index.
PPVX index will be regularly published in the German-based publications PHOTON (www.photon.de), PHOTON International (www.photon-magazine.com) and Oko-Invest (www.oeko-invest.de).