27th Oct 2014 07:58
LONDON (Alliance News) - APR Energy PLC Monday said revenue rose 45% on the year in its fiscal third quarter, driven by higher fleet capacity, although it was uncertain about its outlook and said earnings and revenue growth is set to slow as customers are becoming increasingly hesitant about spending on big projects.
The power technology company said revenue in the three months to October 27 was USD122 million, up from USD84 million a year earlier, as its fleet capacity rose by more than a third to 2,189 megawatts, from 1.607 megawatts. It said utilisation was high at 76%, although this was down from 85% in the third quarter of its last financial year.
"We continue to have outstanding success extending contracts, as seen with the renewal of our 60 megawatt contract in Yemen, our 450 megawatt Libya contract extension and a renewal rate exceeding 90% year to date. We continue to see opportunity in our market place, in spite of slowed decision making by customers," Chief Executive Laurence Anderson said in a statement.
The CEO admitted that conditions in Libya remain challenging, but said APR Energy's operations in the country and running normally and profitably.
"Our customer continues to make payments in accordance with our contract and together with our risk mitigations in place, we feel comfortable with our continuing operation. Our plants operate at full baseload capacity and the underlying structural electricity deficit in Libya only grows more acute," Anderson said.
"These factors, together with our strong relationship with our customer, give us confidence that our services will continue to be required into the medium term and we maintain our ongoing commitment to providing much needed electricity to the Libyan people," he added.
The company said cash on its balance sheet stood at USD92 million at the end of the third quarter, up 75% compared with the end of June. Net debt stood at USD523 million, slightly up on USD518 million at the end of June.
Its outlook was less positive.
"The group's pipeline of longer-term, larger-scale power projects, in both emerging and developed markets, has never been larger and the ongoing global energy deficit continues. However, recently there has been hesitancy among our prospective customers to make decisions, which may be attributable to escalating geopolitical and global economic uncertainty," APR Energy said.
"While still early, the group believes these challenging external factors may impact growth in 2015, resulting in modest year-on-year revenue and earnings progression," it said.
By Steve McGrath; [email protected]; @stevemcgrath1
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