Russia OGK-1 posts 5-fold jump in profit
MOSCOW, July 2 (Reuters) - Russian electricity producer OGK-1 (OGK1.MM) posted a five-fold increase in net profit for its first quarter on Thursday after cost cutting measures helped offset a decline in revenues.
The results to international accounting standards helped OGK-1's stock outperform the market, gaining 2.7 percent, compared to a drop of 3.4 percent on the Micex index at 1404 GMT.
The company's net profit for the first quarter came to 2.03 billion roubles ($65.08 million), up from 378 million in the same period a year ago, while revenues fell 12.8 percent year-on-year to 11.87 billion roubles.
"The growth in net profits resulted from the economic effect of implementing a series of anti-crisis measures," OGK-1 wrote in its results.
It named lower fuel purchases as the main cost cutting measure. The global financial crisis has pushed down demand for power, allowing OGK-1 to buy less natural gas than last year, when demand for power was higher.
During the first quarter, OGK-1, which is indirectly controlled by the government, increased the amount of long-term debt on its books by 51.8 percent to 5.03 billion roubles, while reducing its short-term debt by 30 percent to 5.16 billion.
OGK-1 was the only one of twenty large thermal power producers that was unable to find a strategic investor when Russia sold off all of the firms during a sweeping privatisation of the sector last year and in 2007.
The company has a total power generating capacity of 9.5 gigawatts at five power stations scattered across Russia.
A stake of 61.9 percent is jointly held by two state-controlled companies -- the Federal Grid Co (FEES.MM) and RusHydro (HYDR.MM). (Reporting by Tanya Yegorova, writing by Simon Shuster; editing by Elaine Hardcastle)
