PRESS: RusHydro’s financial performance to worsen over next year

MOSCOW, Jan 10 (PRIME) -- Russian hydropower giant RusHydro expects its financial results to worsen or at least stagnate over the next few years, Kommersant business daily reported Thursday citing a business plan approved by the company’s board of directors.

RusHydro expects its net profit under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) to fall 25% to 30.8 billion rubles in 2019, while earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) are projected to decrease to 70.65 billion rubles from 78.96 billion rubles in 2018.

A source familiar with the situation attributed the projected drop in net profit to an expected depreciation of units at the Sakhalin GRES-2, the Sovetskaya Gavan thermal plant, and the Nizhne-Bureiskaya hydropower plant to be launched in 2019.

RusHydro expects that its net profit will grow in 2020–2023, but will decrease in 2022 due to an expiration of a forward contract with VTB Bank and reflection of the result of the sale of RusHydro shares to a strategic investor. VTB Bank purchased 12.9% in RusHydro for 55 billion rubles in 2017. RusHydro has to pay around 13 billion rubles to the bank over five years and the stake is then to be sold to a strategic investor, and if the price is higher than the nominal value of the forward, the difference will be paid to RusHydro, if lower – to VTB Bank.

Revenue is expected to grow 0.2% in 2019. Expenditures are projected to increase 9.2% in 2019, 9% in 2020, 0.1% in 2021, and 14% in 2022, and fall 15% in 2023.

Power output is seen at 86.5 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) in 2019 and 84.5 billion kWh in 2020–2023.

RusHydro declined to comment on its business plan.

(67.0795 rubles – U.S. $1)

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