Atomenergoprom sees 89% rise in first-half net profit
Atomenergoprom, the holding company of Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom, has today reported consolidated net profit of RUB40.7 billion ($700 million) for the first half of 2017. This is an 89% increase on the same period of 2016 when it recorded net profit of RUB21.5 billion.
The main drivers of the group's growth were power generation (17% growth) and energy equipment manufacturing (36% growth). The share of export revenues stood at 24.3% of consolidated revenue in the first six months of 2017, totalling RUB77.4 billion.
Rosatom First Deputy Director-General Kirill Komarov said the results demonstrate "robust growth and reinforce the reality that nuclear energy remains commercially attractive". He added: "As a reliable source of clean energy, nuclear is contributing significantly to reducing CO2 emissions and the fight against climate change."
Revenue for the first half of 2017 was RUB319.1 billion compared with RUB273.3 billion in the first half of 2016, a 16.7% increase year-on-year.
Stabilisation of foreign currency exchange rates increased consolidated earnings in 2017, compared with 2016 when currency exchange losses amounted to RUB49.3 billion, Rosatom said.
Total debt decreased by 24.9% to RUB222.3 billion from RUB295.8 billion as of 31 December 2016.
Komarov said: "Despite all the difficulties the global energy sector is now facing, we have managed to maintain a healthy financial position with a strong debt/EBITDA ratio and low implied cost of debt. This enables us to maintain our leadership position and continue to invest about 4.5% of our revenue in R&D, to ensure we can maintain our technological edge."
25 years of Rosenergoatom
Rosatom's nuclear power plant operator subsidiary Rosenergoatom is today celebrating its 25th anniversary.
Rosenergoatom is Russia's biggest electricity generator and, after EDF, the world's second biggest company by installed nuclear power capacity.
It manages all ten of Russia's nuclear power plants, which include 35 reactor units. Of these, 18 are of the VVER design - 12 are VVER-1000s, one is a VVER-1200 and five are VVER-440 of various modifications. Fifteen units are with channel reactors - 11 RBMK-1000s and four of the EGP-6 type – and two are fast neutron reactors with sodium coolant - BN-600 and BN-800. At present, Russia's nuclear power plants, which have a total installed capacity of 27.9 GWe, cover about 18.3% of total electricity generation in the country. Rosenergoatom also manages new reactors under construction, as well as a number of engineering companies and it is building eight new reactor units in Russia. Since its formation by government decree in 1992, Rosenergoatom has produced 3786 terawatt hours of electricity. Last year, it generated 196 TWh, exceeding the 2015 target of 195 TWh. Eight new units have been put into operation, including unit 1 of Novovoronezh Phase II and Beloyarsk 4.
"In all this time, safety standards at nuclear power plants in Russia have not only been maintained at a high level, but have also been constantly improved," Rosenergoatom said. There have been no safety violations above the first level on the INES scale since 1999, it added, and the coefficient of installed capacity utilisation has increased from 52.6% to 85.95%.
Andrey Petrov, head of Rosenergoatom, said: "The most important change over these years is the revival of the construction complex." Noting that eight new units are now under construction in Russia, Petrov added: "A few years ago, when a unit was completed on average once every three years, few could imagine that such a volume of construction work would be possible."
By year-end the company aims to launch operations at unit 1 of Leningrad Phase II and Rostov 4, and start up unit 2 of Novovoronezh Phase II, as well as prepare for first concrete at unit 1 of Kursk Phase II next year.
Also by the end of this year, the company plans to commission the first stage of the Mendeleev Data Processing and Storage Centre, near the Kalinin nuclear power plant.
Other projects include the development of new business lines, including the production of the cobalt-60 (Co-60) isotope, with the Leningrad, Smolensk and Kursk nuclear power plants serving as sites for this work.
Its overseas contracts cover 12 countries: Armenia, Belarus, Bolivia, Bulgaria, China, the Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary, India, Iran, Lithuania and Slovakia. In Armenia, Iran and Bulgaria, Rosenergoatom says it is the "market leader".
Rosatom Director-General Alexey Likhachov said in a message to Rosenergoatom staff that "history has shown that the decision to merge nuclear power plants into a single company - Rosenergoatom Concern - was absolutely correct". He added: "This enabled not only the preservation of the domestic nuclear power industry, but also to bring it onto the list of the world's leading energy companies.
Rosenergtaom is expected to produce 200 TWh of electricity this year, he said.
Researched and written
by World Nuclear News
