Eskom said full-year profit surged as revenue increased by 11% and the South African power utility was able to avert supply cuts, raising sales to neighboring countries that have shortages.
Profit was R4,6bn in the year to 31 March from R200m a year earlier, the Johannesburg-based company said in a statement handed to reporters in Johannesburg Tuesday. The previous year’s figure was hit by a fair-value loss on derivatives, which wasn’t repeated in 2016.
While revenue increased to R163,4bn, electricity-sales volumes fell 0,8%, with purchases by South African industrial users, the utility’s biggest customers, contracting by 6,2%. Sales to neighboring nations, which are suffering power shortages, climbed by 12%.
The utility serving the continent’s most industrialised economy has maintained consistent power supply for 11 months. Before that, consumers and factories endured almost daily cuts that curbed manufacturing at a time when a rout in commodity prices hurt the mining industry of the world’s biggest platinum producer.
“Generation performance has been stabilised, with continued improvement expected,” Eskom said. “No load shedding is anticipated.”
Power generated by Eskom’s plants fell to the lowest since 2006 last year, the utility said in a fact sheet on its website. Still, revenue has increased every year since then as the national energy regulator allowed the company to raise prices by an average 16% annually, or more than double the mean inflation rate of 6,1% over the 10-year period.
Of the R27,1bn customers owed Eskom on 31 March, 40% was more than 60 days overdue, it said. About R14,1bn was current.
The utility has secured about R38,7bn in funding, or 57% of the amount needed for the year to end-March. — (c) 2016 Bloomberg LP
- Reporting with assistance from Kevin Crowley