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Romania’s Nuclearelectrica net profit falls 27% in 2016
Nuclearelectrica [BSE:SNN], the operator of Romania's sole nuclear power plant Cernavoda, said on Wednesday its net profit dropped 27% on the year to 108.7 million lei ($25.6 million/24.1 million euro) in 2016, seenews.com reports.
The company's 2016 results were influenced by the unfavourable fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates (EUR, USD, CAD mainly), lower regulated energy transport tariffs and lower energy sales, Nuclearelectrica said in a filing to the Bucharest Stock Exchange, BVB.
The company's operating revenues, which include revenues from electricity sales, fell by an annual 3% to 1.68 billion lei. Revenues from the sale of electricity decreased by 3% to 1.62 billion lei due to the extended outage of one of Cernavoda's two nuclear reactors, the company added.
In order to perform investment works on Cernavoda's Unit 1, the power plant's operator extended the outage from the normal duration of some 30 days to 50 days, which led to a decrease of 3% in the volume of sold electricity and implicitly, a decrease in revenues of 3%, Nuclearelectrica said.
Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) decreased by 1% to 158 million lei, while earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 3% to 632 million lei.
In November 2016 and January 2017, Nuclearelectrica disconnected Unit 1 from the grid for several days due to damages to a power line caused by harsh winter weather conditions.
The Cernavoda power plant, located in southeastern Romania, operates two reactors of 700 megawatts each, which meet about a fifth of the country's power needs.
In November 2015, Nuclearelectrica and China General Nuclear Corporation (CGN) signed an agreement on the development, construction, operation and eventual decommissioning of Units 3 and 4. Negotiations on the details of an agreement between the Romanian government and CGN have been under way since then.
Shares in blue-chip Nuclearelectrica were traded 1.99% lower at 5.90 lei by 1247 CET on Wednesday on the BVB.