BUCHAREST (Romania), June 23 (SeeNews) – Romanian hydropower producer Hidroelectrica said on Friday that its gross profit jumped by an annual 26% to 744 million lei ($182 million/163 million euro) in the first five months of the year.
Production during January-May was approximately 6.5 TWh, down from 7 TWh achieved in the same period of 2016, Hidroelectrica said in a press release.
You can subscribe to our M&A newsletter here
The company posted a turnover of 1.436 billion lei in the five months through May, up 11% on the year.
"Hidroelectrica's performance in deficient hydrological conditions, expressed in turnover and gross profit, is better than in the similar period of 2016 and reflects the continued sustainability measures of the company," the company said.
At the beginning of April, Hidroelectrica exited insolvency, paving the way for a long awaited listing on the Bucharest bourse, seen as the biggest in Romania's history.
The initial public offering (IPO) of a 15% stake in Hidroelectrica, which has been going through insolvency proceedings for five years now, is expected to raise 1 billion euro ($1.06 million), the judicial administrator said.
During 2013-2016, Hidroelectrica reported a cumulative profit of 1 billion euro and annual earnings before Interest, depreciation, and amortization of 500 million euro. During insolvency, the market value of the company was doubled from 2 billion euro in 2012 to 4 billion euro in 2016, data from its judicial administrator Euro Insol showed.
In 2016, Hidroelectrica's gross profit rose 36% year-on-year, reaching 1.5 billion lei.
The government in Bucharest owns 80.06% of the company and property restitution fund Fondul Proprietatea holds the remaining shares.
Government plans to dual-list a 15% stake in Hidroelectrica on the Bucharest Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange have been repeatedly delayed as insolvency proceedings were taking longer than expected, despite the company's strong financial recovery.
Hidroelectrica operates more than 207 hydro power plants with a combined installed capacity of over 6,432 MW.
(1 euro=4.5673 lei)
Hidroelectrica SA is among the biggest companies in SEE. You can download our SEE Top 100 ranking
here or subscribe to our free Top 100 newsletter
here