Romanianpower supplier and distributor Electrica plans to
invest 900 million lei ($241 million/ 194 million euro) in 2018, 24% more
compared to last year.
Investment activity will mainly focus on the rehabilitation and upgrade of
the distribution networks in order to improve the quality of service and energy
efficiency and reduce network losses by 40%, Electrica said in a statement
filed with the Bucharest Stock Exchange on Monday.
Also, Electrica will invest in increasing its operational efficiency.
In 2017, Electrica raised its investments by 31% to 727 million lei,
allocating to bulk to its subsidiaries Transilvania Sud, Muntenia Nord,
Transilvania Nord.
Electrica's consolidatednet profit fell to 95 million lei in the
first nine months of 2017 from 466 million lei in the year-ago period mainly
due to higher prices at which it buys electricity. Electrica's January-September
operating revenue edged down 0.5% on the year to 4.17 billion lei.
To offset this negative impact the company's management team has started to
implement programmes for cost-cutting and optimisation of processes and
administrative structures.
With approximately 10,000 of employees, the company is providing services
to over 1.6 million customers.
At the beginning of 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 48.8%, issimultaneously
listed on the BVB and the London Stock Exchange. Its shares changed hands 1.48%
lower at 12 lei by 1344 CET on the BVB on Tuesday.
(seenews.com)