EPM Full-Year 2020 Profits Grow 19% Over 2019
Medellin-based multinational utilities giant EPM announced March 23 that its full-year 2020 profits jumped 19% year-on-year, to COP$3.7 trillion (US$1.02 billion).
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) came-in at COP$5.8 trillion (US$1.6 billion) with an EBITDA margin of 29%, “slightly below the level of 2019, caused by the increase in operational costs related to the activities carried out to mitigate the pandemic,” according to EPM Acting General Manager Mónica Ruiz Arbeláez.
EPM Group revenues rose 8% year-on-year, to COP$19.8 trillion (US$5.47 billion), with the electric power business accounting for 87% of the total.
During 2020, EPM group invested COP$3.1 trillion (US$856 million) in infrastructure, according to the company.
Profit transfers to the city of Medellin – its sole shareholder – will total COP$1.4 trillion (US$387 million) this year, according to the company.
The impressive growth in 2020 profit and revenue came despite a COP$750 billion (US$270 million) cost hit from the Covid-19 crisis, EPM added.
“During the pandemic and the strictest days of confinement, EPM implemented the special measures decreed by the national government and added its own initiatives within the legal framework that governs it to accompany citizens in one of the most complex times,” according to EPM.
Those actions included reconnections of water, energy and gas services at no cost for disconnected users; zero-cost financing for new water and energy services; a freeze on finance fees for existing services provided; and discounts for timely payment of public services, according to the company.
Beyond the COP$1.5 trillion (US$387 million) profit transfer to the city of Medellín, EPM also paid COP$1.5 trillion (US$414 million) to various providers of goods and services during 2020, while another COP$221 billion (US$61 million) went to support local communities and environmental projects, the company added.
At year-end 2020, EPM saw its total asset values rise 16%, to COP$63.8 trillion (US$17.6 billion), while liabilities rose 19%, to COP$36.7 trillion (US$10.1 billion). Equity now stands at COP$27.1 trillion (US$7.5 billion), up 12% over 2019. The debt-to-EBITDA indicator rose to 4.37 in 2020, up from 3.49 in 2019, the company added.
