Taqa group’s net income rises 37% to AED2bn in Q1 of 2022

Abu Dhabi / Gulf Time

Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (Taqa), one of the largest listed integrated utilities in the region, reported consolidated financial results for the three months ended March 31.
Taqa delivered strong performance underpinned by its stable regulated and contracted utilities businesses and boosted by higher commodity prices.
The company reports group revenues of AED12.4 billion, 20% higher than the prior-year period, primarily due to higher commodity prices within the oil and gas segment.
Adjusted Ebitda of the company grows by 20% to AED5.6 billion, reflecting higher revenues as well as improved income from associates, partially offset by higher expenses.
Net income (Taqa-share) reached AED2.0 billion, 37% higher than the prior-year period, with greater contribution from the oil & gas segment.
Taqa reports AED868 million of capital expenditure, 31%, lower than the prior-year period, mainly driven by lower expenditure in the transmission and distribution segment.
Free cash flows of Taqa reached AED3.3 billion, 5% lower than the same period last year, maintaining significant liquidity (AED19.3 billion in cash and cash equivalents and undrawn corporate credit facilities).
Gross debt of the company reached AED63.9 billion, down from AED65.0 billion at the end of 2021, further improving the group’s credit metrics.
Transmission network availability for power and water of Taqa reached 98.0%, flat to the prior-year period and company’s generation global technical availability hits 84.0%, lower compared to 88.7% from the prior-year period, mainly due to planned and unplanned maintenance within the UAE fleet.
Oil & gas average production volumes of Taqa increased to 126.9 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), an increase of 5%, driven by higher production in Europe.
Upon approval of the financial results, Taqa’s Board of Directors also declared a first interim cash dividend for the year of AED675 million (0.60 fils per share), in line with the company’s dividend policy.
Jasim Husain Thabet, Taqa’s Group Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, commented: “Taqa’s solid financial results for the first quarter of 2022 demonstrate the value of our agile and robust business model, and more importantly, provide an excellent foundation for our strategic growth plans.
“We started the year by issuing a green bond linked to our first solar PV plant, which was oversubscribed by international investors. The bond is listed on the London Stock Exchange with a secondary listing on the ADX. In the UAE, we announced a partnership with Etisalat Digital to enhance digital capabilities and customer experience for our power and water customers across Abu Dhabi, as well as expressing an interest to acquire EGA’s power generation assets to boost Taqa’s UAE capacity,” added Thabet.
The current market conditions further advance our positioning to actively pursue organic and inorganic growth opportunities in the UAE and abroad and make the Taqa a competitive investor that is agile and able to swiftly execute.”