November 15 (SeeNews) - Romanian power grid operator Transelectrica [BSE:TEL] reported on Thursday a net profit of 98 million lei ($24 million/21 million euro) for the first nine months of 2018, up 51% on the year.
The financial results were positively influenced by a 37% drop in operational costs, Transelectrica said in a filing to the Bucharest Stock Exchange, BVB.
However, the increase of the billed volume in the first nine months of the year as compared to the like period of 2017 has not entirely covered the 5% decrease in the average transmission tariff, resulting in a 4% drop in total revenue, to 852 million lei.
EBITDA shrank 9% on the year to 354 million lei in the first nine months, while operating expenses fell 26% to 1.71 billion lei.
Electricity production and consumption increased by 3% and 2%, respectively, in the first nine months of 2018 as compared to the same period of 2017, while net exports were down by 7%.
Transelectrica's net profit plummeted 90.3% on the year to 26 million lei in 2017, mainly due to lower income from electricity transmission services.
In October, Fitch Ratings has affirmed Transelectrica's long-term issuer default rating at 'BBB' with a stable outlook.
In September, Transelectrica has completed the second stage of the 400/110/20 kV Tulcea Vest substation refurbishment project following a 100 million lei investment.
At the end of July, Transelectrica completed the upgrade of its Suceava station following a 24 million lei investment from its own funds.
The Romanian finance ministry owns some 59% of Transelectrica.
Transelectrica shares traded 2.09% lower at 23.45 lei as at 1148 CET on Thursday.
(1 euro=4.6590 lei)