Kenya Power’s net profit for the six months ended December 2017
dropped by 30.3 per cent to Sh2.93 billion, as the high cost of
financing debt took a toll amid lethargic power consumption growth in a
slowing economy.
Financing costs rose by 42.7 per cent
or Sh976 million to hit Sh3.3 billion in the period pulling down profits
even as the total revenue grew by 14.8 per cent to Sh67.1 billion.
“The
decrease (in profit) was attributed to the general slowdown of the
economy and an increase in financing costs…which rose during the period
under review compared to the previous year as a result of utilisation of
short term facilities,” said Kenya Power in a statement.
No interim dividend
The firm will not be paying an interim dividend for the period.
The
State-owned power distributor has said that its electricity sales grew
by 2.3 per cent from 3,805 Gigawatt Hours (GWh) to 3,893 GWh in the
period, which in turn saw sales revenue rise by 2.5 per cent to Sh46.93
billion.
Meanwhile, total operating costs went up by
17.4 per cent to Sh59.3 billion, mainly due to higher fuel costs — which
doubled to Sh12.3 billion — as drought pushed the country to use more
thermal power.
The company now says it will bank on
increased power consumption from industrial customers under the
discounted night-time tariff plan to grow its revenue in the second half
of the financial year.
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