Abu Dhabi National Energy (Taqa) has reported profit attributable to equity holders of the parent of Dh398 million ($108.35 million) for 2018, an increase of 149 percent year-on-year. 

 

Revenues also grew by 6 percent in 2018 to Dh17.7 billion and EBITDA grew by 6 percent to Dh9.7 billion, mainly driven by an increase in oil and liquid prices in 2018.

 

Free cash-flow generation remained strong at Dh7.1 billion despite higher capital expenditures, which increased from Dh1.3 billion in 2017 to Dh1.7 billion in 2018. Taqa’s capex was completely self-funded by cash generated from the company’s operations and was focused on sustaining and developing its power and water and oil and gas assets, positioning the company to leverage future growth opportunities.

 

The company reduced its total debt by Dh4 billion, and reduced interest paid by Dh163 million during 2018. The robust financial performance has resulted in improved leverage ratios where net debt-to-EBITDA multiple improved to 6.5 from 7.3 the year before.

 

Taqa also reported a strong liquidity position of Dh13.1 billion, with cash and cash equivalents of Dh3.4 billion and undrawn credit facilities of Dh9.7 billion, giving the company flexibility to address opportunities and challenges as they arise.

 

Taqa’s chairman Saeed Mubarak Al-Hajeri said: “Despite challenging business and economic conditions, Taqa’s financial and operational performance remained impressive throughout the year. We continued to define and implement a growth strategy that took into account emerging challenges while also capitalizing on the opportunities offered by the evolving power, water, oil and gas industries.” 

 

Operationally, Taqa’s power and water achieved steady performance with gross power generation of 89,922 GWh and technical availability increasing to 93.1 percent from 92.1 percent last year. Gross water desalination reached 246,556 million imperial gallons (MIG) versus 249,469 MIG on the prior year.

 

The Oil and Gas business achieved average production of 123,100 boe/d, a 2.4 percent decline from 2017 as the company mitigated natural base decline of existing assets with investment in new development projects, the most notable being the Atrush field in Iraq which achieved entitlement production of 3,855 boe/d over 12 full months of operations in 2018.

 

Saeed Hamad Al Dhaheri, CEO of Taqa, said: “In a year that businesses confronted challenges emerging from the global energy transition, Taqa has delivered strong financial and operational performance in 2018 with profits up year-on-year and revenue increasing by approximately Dh1.0 billion. In 2018, we successfully achieved a debt reduction of AED 4.0 billion, which was the result of a robust cost rationalisation exercise and operational improvements executed across the organisation.”

 

The impressive financial and operational performance registered by Taqa was driven by a combination of factors: strong performance of our Power and Water division; enhanced oil and liquid prices; and the management’s dedication towards delivering maximum shareholder value.” Al Dhaheri added. – TradeArabia News Service