May 14 (SeeNews) - Romanian power supplier and distributor Electrica [BSE:EL] posted a net profit of 80 million lei ($18 million/17 million euro) in the first quarter of 2020, compared to a 41 million lei net loss a year earlier, it said on Thursday.
Electrica's operating revenues rose to 1.69 billion lei in January-March 2020, compared to 1.62 billion lei in the like period of last year, the company said in an unaudited consolidated interim financial statement.
The company swung to an operating profit of 100 million lei in the first quarter of 2020, from a 47 million lei operating loss in the like period of 2019.
EBITDA surged to 224 million lei in the first quarter of the year, compared to 74 million lei in the like period of 2019, as a result of the a strategy involving new transformation and efficiency processes at a group level.
"The results recorded by Electrica Group in the first three months of this year are above expectations in the current context. Since the end of the first quarter, we have experienced a unique situation but we have succeeded in managing it well, reacting promptly and facing unprecedented operational challenges," Electrica CEO Georgeta Corina Popescu said.
Despite the coronavirus pandemic, Electrica is maintaining its plans to invest over 678.2 million lei this year, mostly in its power distribution subsidiaries.
"We are confident and maintain our ambitious investment plans for this year, of course, subject to the limitations imposed by the evolution of the epidemiological context and, implicitly, by the availability of contractors and partners involved in carrying out investment works or delivering equipment and materials," the CEO added.
Electrica booked a net profit of 206 million lei in 2019, down from 230 million lei profit a year earlier.
Shares of Electrica, in which the Romanian state owns a stake of 48.8%, are listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange.
Electrica's shares changed hands 1.47% higher at 10.35 lei by 1016 CET on Thursday in Bucharest.
(1 euro=4.8349 lei)