Riga, 2013-05-31 09:58 CEST (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Latvenergo Group has started the year 2013 with a stable revenue and a growing market share in the Baltics. The revenue of Latvenergo Group in the first quarter of 2013 amounted to LVL 220.3 million, which means that the revenue has remained stable compared to the same period in 2012.
Latvenergo Group is the largest electricity trader in the Baltics; its sales volume in the first quarter of 2013 increased by 2%, thereby increasing the Group’s electricity market share in the Baltics up to 34%. In total, Latvenergo Group has sold 2,402 GWh of electricity to retail customers in the Baltics. In the first quarter of 2013, with the opening of the electricity market in Lithuania and Estonia, the number of retail customers in Lithuania and Estonia has also grown significantly – more than tenfold compared to the same period in the previous year.
The total amount of electricity sold in Lithuania and Estonia in the first quarter of this year was 600 GWh or approx. 25% of the total electricity sales volume, and exceeded more than twice the sales volume of the competing electricity traders in Latvia (289 GWh).
In the first quarter of 2013, Latvenergo Group generated 1,385 GWh of electricity and 1,242 GWh of thermal energy in total.
In the first quarter of 2013, the amount of electricity that Latvenergo AS bought as a public trader from the local producers in Latvia within the framework of the mandatory electricity procurement was 56% more than in the first quarter of 2012. This amounts to a negative impact of LVL 7.9 million and is the main reason that adversely has affected the profit indicators of Latvenergo Group. The net profit of Latvenergo Group in the first quarter of 2013 was LVL 5.0 million.
In the first quarter of 2013, investments in the amount of LVL 25.4 million were made. The Riga TEC-2 reconstruction project is coming to a completion; in the first quarter of 2013, commissioning works have been commenced at the plant. At the same time, the capital investments in transmission and distribution network assets were increased with the aim of improving the service quality and technical indicators.
In the first quarter of 2013, Latvenergo Group continued to attract funds in the capital markets and issued bonds in the amount of EUR 50 million, as a result the total amount in nominal value of the bonds issued reached EUR 70 million.
After the end of the reporting period, taking into account the large interest from investors, the total amount of the programme for the issuance of bonds was increased by LVL 35 million up to LVL 85 million or its equivalent in euro. In May 2013, bonds in the amount of EUR 20 million were issued. Despite the rather long maturity term of the bonds, which is 7 years, the investors’ demand for Latvenergo AS bonds exceeded more than twice the planned amount of issue, ensuring 2.89% yield.
Additional information:
Jānis Irbe
Group Treasurer
Phone: +371 67 728 239
E-mail: investor.relations@latvenergo.lv
www.latvenergo.lv/investors/eng
About Latvenergo
The Latvenergo Group is the largest power supply merchant in the Baltics, engaging in electricity generation and trade as well as providing electricity distribution and management of transmission system assets. Latvenergo holds one-third of the entire Baltic electricity market. Latvenergo AS has been acknowledged as the most valuable company in Latvia for several years in a row. International credit rating agency Moody’s has assigned Latvenergo AS an investment-grade credit rating of Baa3/stable.
The Latvenergo Group includes the parent company Latvenergo AS (electricity generation and trade, thermal energy generation) and its subsidiaries Latvijas elektriskie tīkli AS (management of transmission system assets), Sadales tīkls AS (electricity distribution), Elektrum Eesti OÜ (electricity trade in Estonia), Elektrum Lietuva UAB (electricity trade in Lithuania) and Liepājas enerģija SIA (thermal energy generation and trade, electricity generation), as well as Elektrum Latvija SIA, a subsidiary of Elektrum Eesti OÜ.
