Thailand’s Egcomp, Malaysia’s Petronas will jointly invest in Sudan
Thailand’s Egcomp, Petronas will jointly invest in Sudan
DONRUDEE CHAISOMBAT
BANGKOK, Mar 10, 2004 (Business Day) — Thailand’s Electricity Generating Plc (Egcomp) and Malaysia’s Petroliam Nasional (Petronas) will jointly invest in an independent power producer (IPP) project in Sudan, which should help strengthen their presence overseas.
Egcomp senior executive vice-president Somyos Polachan said the company has already spoken with Petronas about the initial conditions of the joint investment. Both will finalise the details of the plan soon.
A source said that project’s minimum capacity should be at least 350mw. Petronas is currently involved in a refinery project in Sudan.
Egcomp, one of Thailand’s biggest energy producers, said it expects a revenue growth of at least 36 percent this year.
“We expect the company’s net profits to rise to at least four billion baht by the end of the year,” company president Sittiporn Ratanopas said in an interview.
Egcomp has a production capacity of almost 2,785mw.
It reported net profits of 2.94 billion baht for 2001. In the first quarter of the year, it recorded net profits of 1.25 billion baht, up from 442.6 million in the first quarter of 2001.
Egcomp accounts for about 10 percent of Thailand’s overall installed capacity. Thailand’s electricity consumption stood at 7,646gw as of last year.
The main reason for the increase in revenues was a 14 percent rise in electricity sales from its Khanom Electricity Generating plant in southern Thailand.
Profit projections made by Sitthiporn were about 11-25 percent higher than market expectations.
Sittiporn said the company was looking at various investment options, including an option to exercise treasury stocks (the repurchase of shares from the stock market).
Egcomp, Sittiporn said, was looking to further expand its production capacity to 5,000 megawatts. To achieve this target, he said, the company is looking into acquisition opportunities domestically and regionally.
It currently has about 4.1 billion baht cash on hand and another six billion baht in reserves.
Sittiporn added that Egcomp will focus on expansion within the Asean region, noting that while Myanmar is a potential market, the unstable political situation there was hindering such a move.
“Egcomp is also considering investing in privatised businesses in the Philippines,” he said without elaborating.
Domestically, he said Egcomp was interested at bidding for any energy company to be privatised or sold.
He also aims to lower the debt burden of the company by prepaying some debts. He did not specify how much would be paid off, but said any excess cash would be used for this purpose.