Russia OGK-1 2007 net drops 3-fold due to one-off

MOSCOW, May 5 (Reuters) - Russian electricity producer OGK-1 (OGK1.MM: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said on Monday net profit last year fell to 1.966 billion roubles ($83.13 million) from 5.970 billion roubles in 2006 due to a one-off reversal of prior losses.

In its 2007 financial results published on Monday, the company said that the apparent drop was due to the reversing of earlier acknowledged losses from the economic depreciation of current assets. It gave no more specific details.

Without this one-off factor, net profit in 2006 would have been 739 million roubles, meaning that the 2007 results would have marked a drastic increase in net profit rather than a threefold drop.

"The net profit of OGK-1 Group amounted to 1.966 billion roubles, which is two-and-a-half times more than the real indicator of 2006," Chief Executive Vladimir Khlebnikov said in a statement.

The company's revenues grew to 44.89 billion roubles last year from 30.06 billion roubles in 2006.

OGK-1 is 92 percent controlled by former Russian electricity monopoly Unified Energy System (UES) EESR.MM, which is in the process of selling off all of its assets, including OGK-1, by July 1.

The sell-off is part of a sector-wide reform that will see the Soviet-era monopoly dismantled and mostly privatised to raise money for an overhaul of Russia's power systems and to open up the electricity market to competition.

OGK-1 is one of the last large generating firms to be sold.

Its sale has been delayed because of tough negotiations with the last remaining bidder, a consortium of Russian billionaires represented by Integrated Energy Systems, the investment vehicle of metals and oil magnate Viktor Vekselberg. [ID:nL1851693]