PROFITS AT State-owned peatlands manager and energy company Bord na Móna increased by almost 29 per cent to €16.7 million this year, the latest figures show.
The company published its annual report yesterday, which showed that in the 12 months ended March 31st, revenues dipped by less than 1 per cent to €382 million from €384.4 million in 2010.
A fall in costs boosted its operating surplus to €24.4 million from €23 million.
At the same time, reduction in its interest bill to €7.7 million this year from €10.1 million in 2010 left it with pretax profits of €16.7 million, a 28.5 per cent increase on the €13 million it reported last year.
The company’s debt increased sharply in the 2009/10 period after it borrowed $200 million from US banks through a bond sale in August 2009.
This drove up interest payments, which in turn hit profits in the 12 months ended March 31st, 2010.
Bord na Móna paid a €3.5 million dividend to its shareholders, the biggest of which is the State.
The company is planning to spend €500 million over the next five years on continuing to diversify from peat-harvesting and processing into energy, waste-management, water-treatment, fertilisers and a number of linked activities.
The company is fully funded for this according to finance and corporate affairs director, Michael Barry. He pointed out that the money raised from two bond issues, which totalled $350 million, and its own cash flows, should cover most of this planned expenditure, barring a very small proportion of the total.
The company is poised to start building two wind farms at Mount Lucas, Co Offaly, and Bruckana on the borders of Laois, Tipperary and Kilkenny, after successfully getting planning permission and grid connections for both projects.
They will have a combined capacity to generate 120 mega watts (MW) of electricity. It has also agreed the terms of a joint venture deal with fellow State company, the ESB, to build a 172 MW facility at Oweninny in Co Mayo.
During the year, Bord na Móna brought a peaking plant with a 116 MW capacity into commercial operation at Edenderry, where it already has a peat-fired electricity generator.
Bord na Móna is also seeking to become the Republic’s water utility, provisionally named Water Ireland, and recently began talks with accountants Pricewaterhousecoopers and lawyers McCann Fitzgerald, who are carrying out a consultation for the Government on the issue. They are due to report in September.
