Third Quarter FY2015 Trading Update

RNS Number : 1593G

OPG Power Ventures plc

27 February 2015

 



27^th February 2015

OPG Power Ventures plc

("OPG", the "Group" or the "Company")

Trading update for the three months ended 31^st December 2014

OPG (AIM: OPG), the developer and operator of group captive power generation plants, announces the following trading update for the three months ended 31^st December 2014 ("Q3 FY15").

Highlights

·   Average Plant Load Factor (PLF) of 94% and average tariff of Rs 5.71 in Q3 FY15;   

·   300 MW Gujarat : 150 MW unit I synchronised, plant expected to commence operations in early March;

·   180 MW Chennai IV expected to commence operations by April 2015

·   Over 10% increase in tariff on 55 MW Group Captive sales in Tamil Nadu

Operations Summary

Parameter	Quarter ended			Nine Months ended		Year ended
	31 Dec 14	30 Sep 14	31 Dec 13	31 Dec 14	31 Dec 13	31 Mar 14
Generation (million units)
Chennai I	167	115	161	429	493	646
Chennai II	173	158	178	500	512	668
Chennai III	145	152	178	457	355	527
Total (million units)	484	425	518	1387	1360	1,841
PLF (%)
Chennai I	98	67	95	84	97	96
Chennai II	102	93	105	98	101	99
Chennai III	82	86	101	87	88	92
Average (%)	94	82	100	90	96	96
Tariff (Rs/kWh)	5.71	5.58	5.54	5.61	5.55	5.55

Power generation in Q3 FY15 was 14% higher than the immediately preceding quarter and 7% lower than in the previous year following the effect of planned shutdowns.  For the same reason, average PLF across the three operating units for the nine months to December 2014 was 90%.  Average tariffs have remained constant.  

Average load factors for the three units in January 2015 were above 90% and overall, we expect an average PLF of approx. 90% for FY15 at the Chennai plant as a whole.

Projects

300 MW Gujarat - expected to commence operations in early March 2015

With the plant now synchronised with the grid, the plant is expected to commence operations early in March 2015, selling power under the Group Captive model to industrial customers using an interim transmission line whilst the second 150 MW unit is expected to be synchronised during the next quarter.  Ramp up of the plant is now expected by Q2 FY16.

180 MW Chennai IV - expected to commence operations in March 2015

This unit is in the final phase of commissioning and the Company expects to start operations by April 2015.  Sales are to be to TANGEDCO until September 2015.

Domestic coal supply unaffected by ongoing coal block reallocation

Following the de-allocation of coal blocks under a Supreme Court order last year, the Government of India has established a process for re-allocating blocks or mines through a series of bidding processes.  We were not affected by the de-allocation as our domestic coal, which has in the past made up between a third and half of our coal supply at prevailing market price, is provided to us under a linkage arrangement from mines operated by Coal India Limited.  Those linkages remain in place and all of the domestic coal we anticipated during the quarter was received by us.  We continue to maintain our current track record of no generation outages on account of fuel shortage. 

Interest Rate reduction by Reserve Bank of India ("RBI")

The RBI announced a 25 basis points cut in benchmark interest rates in January 2015. We expect a corresponding rate cut to be effected across our plants in the next quarter.

Outlook

Trading for the current year continues to be good and the Board remains confident about the outlook for the year. With commissioning activities across our projects now more or less complete, we expect our gross installed capacity to ramp up to 750 MW during FY16. 

For further information, please visit www.opgpower.com or contact:

OPG Power Ventures PLC	[phone]
Arvind Gupta / V Narayan Swami / Ajay Paliwal
Cenkos Securities (Nominated Adviser & Broker)
Stephen Keys / Mark Connelly / Callum Davidson	[phone]
Tavistock Communications
Simon Hudson / James Collins	[phone]

About OPG

OPG is operating and developing power plants in India under the group captive model with 270 MW in operation and a further 480 MW under development.  In the half year ended 30 September 2014, OPG generated revenues of £46.5 million, EBITDA of £16.6 million and earnings per share of 2.24   pence.

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