February 15 (SeeNews) - Romanian power supplier and distributor Electrica [BSE:EL] said on Thursday its consolidated net profit fell to 257 million lei ($68 million/55 million euro) in 2017 from 265 million lei in the previous year mainly due to higher prices at which it buys electricity.
Electrica recorded an operating loss of 107.4 million lei in 2017, down from the 115.7 million lei loss in 2016, the company said in an unaudited consolidated financial statement filed with the Bucharest Stock Exchange, BVB.
The company's revenues rose by 33% to 481 million lei in 2017.
Electrica's investments in its subsidiaries increased to 2.18 billion lei in 2017, higher than 1.43 billion lei in the previous year. Its total assets grew to 4.01 billion lei at end-December 2017, from 3.98 billion lei a year earlier.
At the end of January, Electrica said it plans to invest 900 million lei in 2018 in the rehabilitation and upgrade of the distribution network in order to improve the quality of service and energy efficiency and reduce network losses by 40%. Also, the company will invest in increasing its operational efficiency.
In November, Electrica concluded the purchase of minority stakes in four of its subsidiaries held by local investment fund Fondul Proprietatea [BSE:FP] for a total of 752 million lei.
Blue-chip Electrica, in which the state owns a stake of 48.8%, is listed on the BVB and the London Stock Exchange.
Its shares changed hands 0.17% higher at 11.9 lei by 1125 CET on the BVB on Wednesday.
(1 euro=4.6588 lei)