The Bord Gáis group boosted its profits last year by 44 per cent to €171 million, but the gain was wiped out by a €300 million writedown of its assets.

Most of the charge was due to the poorly performing Whitegate power station in Cork, which was built by the company four years ago for €400 million but was recently sold to British company Centrica for a fraction of that cost.

The State-owned group also revealed yesterday at its annual results briefing that it plans to borrow about €300 million, which will be returned to the Exchequer by way of a special dividend.

Michael McNicholas, the group chief executive, said a restructuring of Bord Gáis was under way following the €1.1 billion sale of its energy business to a consortium led by Centrica. That deal closed at the end of last month.

The group’s remaining gas networks operation, together with the nascent Irish Water business, are now owned by an entity called Eriva, as Centrica has acquired the exclusive rights to the Bord Gáis brand.

Mr McNicholas said a rebranding was under way to change the name of the networks business to Gas Networks Ireland, and this should be completed by year-end.

The company also said that the State will receive about €630 million from the proceeds of the sale of the energy business once debts associated with the assets had been paid off. About €150 million has already been paid to the Government, with the rest payable throughout the year.

The group’s finance director, Michael O’Sullivan, said the company planned to refinance its remaining debts this year at lower interests rates to reflect the fact that it has a lower risk profile because it no longer owns a retail business.

He said the company had calculated that the lower repayments it hopes to achieve will allow it to borrow €300 million more without affecting its current repayments. This cash will then be handed over to the State “over and above any normal dividend”.

Bord Gáis said last year it paid the Exchequer a dividend of €50 million.

The financial results, which received Cabinet approval only yesterday, show that the networks business that is remaining in State hands had revenues last year of €505 million, an increase of 11 per cent.

Profits before tax rose 43 per cent to €159 million. Mr McNicholas attributed the improved performance of its gas business to the especially cold early months of last year.

The energy business that was recently sold – comprising Whitegate, the group’s wind farms business, a customer book of 680,000 accounts and its Northern Ireland gas infrastructure business – had static revenues last year of €1.35 billion, and made profits of €12 million.

Mr McNicholas blamed the Whitegate asset writedown that drove the group into the red on a resurgence in competition from cheaper-to-run coal plants, increases in wind energy capacity, and a long-term reduction in demand for gas.

“Although exceptional charges meant we recorded an overall loss in 2013, our businesses improved their performance across all key financial metrics,” he said.