“Hidroelectrica would have raised about EUR300 million from the listing of 15% this year. It will collect EUR500 million for the same stake next year because it will be a different company,” Borza said on ZF Live on Wednesday.
Borza did not say when exactly the company should exit insolvency, explaining that the timeframe depended on how much time it takes courts to rule on the petitions of the energy traders.
“Hidroelectrica’s exit from insolvency is not up to the financial indicators, which are solid, but up to the legal side of things.”
It was precisely the legal issues that drove the company back into insolvency in February 2014, after having exited it in mid 2013 once having terminated the contracts with the so-called ‘smart guys’, energy traders that were buying electricity from it cheaper than the market price. The termination of the contracts subjected Hidroelectrica to a number of lawsuits, some of which it won, some of which it did not, so it went back to being insolvent.
Hidroelectrica posted 125 million lei (EUR28 million) profit in the first two months of the year and RON910 million profit for the entire 2013. The revenue rose by RON670 million to RON3.69 billion last year. Borza expects this year’s revenue to stand at RON2.7 billion due to the drop in average price of megawatt/hour from RON200 in 2013 to RON150-RON155 and the additional costs generated by the special building structure tax. (EUR1=RON4.4637)
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)