Celsia 2Q 2023 Net Income Drops 48%-on-Year
Medellin-based electric power giant Celsia – a division of Grupo Argos — announced August 9 that its second-quarter (2Q) 2022 net income fell 48% year-on-year, to COP$78.6 billion (US$19.8 million) — all due to higher financial expenses.
Despite the profits dip, revenues actually rose 31%, to COP$1.58 trillion (US$399 million), while earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose 5%, to COP$480.7 billion (US$121.6 million), according to the company.
“Given the imminent arrival of the El Niño [drought] phenomenon, Celsia affirms that its clients in the regulated market have already largely covered the price of power generation and that our hydroelectric and thermal power plants are ready to face this situation,” according to the company.
Consolidated financial results for this latest quarter include its Central American assets. “The sale process of some assets in that region that we announced a few months ago and the closing conditions continue to be brought forward, so that the company expects these to be finalized during the third quarter of 2023,” Celsia added.
Revenues for Colombia operations accounted for 89.8% of the corporate total, while those in Central America accounted for the remaining 10.2%.
As for EBITDA, “Colombia contributed COP$435 billion [US$110 million] and the Central American operations contributed COP$45 billion [US$11 million],” according to Celsia.
Net financial expenses rose 93% year-on-year, hitting COP$223 billion [US$56.4 million], “mainly due to the increase in the IPC and IBR [inflation] indexes, compared to the previous year. So far this year [January through June], financial expenses have reached COP$456 billion [US$115 million], an increase of 114%,” the company added.
