EDP says funding needs covered, crisis impact low
SINTRA, Portugal, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Portugal's largest industrial company, power firm EDP (EDP.LS), has a comfortable financing situation and sees no major impact from the widening financial crisis, EDP chief financial officer said on Wednesday.
"We have no short medium-term (financing) needs and we also don't expect this crisis to last long," Nuno Alves told Reuters on the sidelines of "Iberian Large Caps" conference hosted by BPI bank.
"But while it lasts, it is worrisome not only for banks," he added. "Things got worse. What remains to be seen is whether it's the worst moment now," he added.
Alves said EDP, Energias do Portugal, could eventually tap the market if it sees adequate conditions to diminish risks, but said there was no urgency to get new loans.
The company had a sizeable total net debt of 12 billion euros ($17.04 billion) as of the end of June, but its debt to EBITDA ratio has dropped to 3.8 times from 4.4 a year earlier.
He expected economic slowdown in Europe to have limited impact on EDP results this year, not least thanks to growing power consumption in Brazil, where EDP is an active player.
"The company is growing. We made investment at the right time, which allowed us to keep growing in terms of results," he said.
EDP shares were up 1.66 percent at 2.99 euros on Wednesday, outperforming the broader local market's rise of 0.9 percent. (Reporting by Elisabete Tavares and Shrikesh Laxmidas, writing by Andrei Khalip; Editing by Paul Bolding)
