Power giant PPC posts increased profits for first half of this year

Greece’s Public Power Corporation (PPC) has announced increased turnover and profitability for the first half of 2015, along with a new pricing policy for businesses and a total of 80 million euros in perks for loyal domestic customers.

Of this, a total of 30 million euros will be returned to households who pay their bills on time. A new corporate invoice will also be put into effect from September 1. The scheme will offer highly competitive rates to large companies and groups with a nationwide presence.

Moreover, reduced tariffs, similar to those currently available to large commercial and industrial enterprises with consumption over 10 gigawatt-hours, will be available from October 1. Discounts will apply to several other categories of commercial invoices from the same date.

Reduced tariffs will also be offered from October 1 to small commercial enterprises and workshops.

Regarding the financial results for the first half of 2015 announced on Thursday, PPC reported that turnover increased by 2.8 percent while the company posted a net profit of 105.6 million euros compared to 96 million for the first six months of 2014. Earnings before interest, taxes and depreciation in the first half of this year increased by 17 percent compared to the same period in 2014.

The president and CEO of PPC, Manolis Panayiotakis, cited increased hydro production and reduced prices on the energy markets as the main drivers behind the profit figures. For the full year, he estimated that revenues from electricity sales will come to 5.6 billion euros.

Revenues from electricity sales increased 3 percent in the first six months of 2015 compared to the same period in 2014. A negative development was the 50.9 percent increase in the provision for bad debts compared to 2014.

Also noteworthy is the decline in the share of the coverage of aggregate demand to 61.2 percent (including imports) compared to 68.8 percent in the first half of 2014. This was due to lower lignite-fired production (-22.5 percent) and lower gas-fired production (-36.5 percent), plus the doubling of imports from third parties, mostly Balkan countries in the case of electricity.