ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates, February 11 /PRNewswire/ --
- Preliminary Profits for the Year Grew by 89% to Reach AED 2.0 Billion
Abu Dhabi National Energy Company PJSC, a publicly listed company on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX: TAQA), today reported preliminary financial results for the period ended 31 December 2008. These are unaudited preliminary results, subject to changes that may be caused from the final determination of certain accounting estimates.
The company's preliminary profits for the year grew by 89% to reach AED 2.0 billion in 2008. Preliminary revenues grew by 102% to AED 16.9 billion, from AED 8.3 billion in 2007. Total assets grew by 29% to reach AED 88 billion in 2008. The basic earnings per share grew from 25 fils to 39 fils.
Commenting on the preliminary results, TAQA Chief Executive, Peter Barker-Homek said:
"During 2008, TAQA built on the progress we made in 2007, transforming our business into a global integrated energy company. The year was characterised by two key achievements; our ability to deliver financial growth in the context of market disruption and volatility and the execution of select transactions that will be value accretive to our group.
"We completed three financial transactions during the year that totalled US$6 billion, placing us in a very strong financial position to navigate challenging financial times ahead.
The fall in oil and energy prices during the course of 2008 demonstrated the importance of our diversified global operations. Despite the prevailing environment, we have been able to deliver significant growth in top and bottom line.
In seeking to diversify our operational base, we took the opportunity to expand our UK presence with the purchase of select North Sea operations from Shell and Esso - further evidence of our long-term commitment to Europe. We believe that the North Sea offers significant potential for next generation operators like TAQA and aim to extend the productive life and commercial viability of these assets."
January 2008 marked TAQA's completion of its Cdn$5 billion acquisition of PrimeWest Energy Trust. This positioned TAQA as one of Canada's top ten energy companies in terms of net proven natural gas reserves and in the top 12 in terms of oil and gas production.
In January 2008, TAQA agreed to a US$3.1 billion, one-year credit facility to partially finance the PrimeWest acquisition. The one year facility was refinanced in August 2008 and syndicated to multiple international lenders with a term of three years.
At its AGM in April 2008, TAQA declared a dividend of AED 4.15 million to its shareholders.
In June 2008, TAQA announced the issuance of AED 4.15 billion (US$1.1bn) of convertible bonds which converted into common shares on 1 September 2008. The new shares commenced trading on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange on 16 October 2008.
On 7 July 2008, TAQA announced that TAQA Bratani had signed a Sale and Purchase Agreement with Shell U.K. Limited and Esso Exploration and Production (UK) Limited to purchase the equity pertaining to operating licenses for six offshore fields in the UK North Sea. The US$631 million acquisition closed on 2 December 2008.
At the end of July 2008, TAQA completed a bond offering in the US market totalling US$1.5 billion in five and ten year notes.
In September 2008, TAQA completed the sale of a 20% interest in Shuweihat CMS International Power Company (SCIPCO) and a 50% interest in Shuweihat O&M Limited Partnership ("SOMLP") to Sumitomo Corporation. TAQA retains a 54% interest in SCIPCO.
In December 2008, TAQA, and the Bergermeer project consortium, signed a joint venture agreement with and Gazprom export, in respect of cushion gas for the Bergermeer gas storage facility.
December 2008 also saw the creation of TAQA Gen X, a joint venture with RBS Sempra Commodities focused on investments in the downstream energy business in North America. Simultaneously, TAQA Gen X announced its first investment in a tolling agreement for the Red Oak power plant, an 830 MW combined cycle gas turbine plant, located in Sayreville, New Jersey, USA.
Note on comparative data
Since the beginning of 2007, TAQA has completed a number of acquisitions which have been fully or partially consolidated into the period under review. The effect of these acquisitions should be considered when making year-on-year comparisons.
In the second quarter of 2007, TAQA completed the acquisition of CMS Generation, contributing two months of revenue to that quarter. In subsequent months TAQA acquired Northrock Resources and Pioneer Canada, significantly increasing the company's upstream assets. The largest company acquisition to date, PrimeWest, was completed on 16 January 2008.
About Abu Dhabi National Energy Company PJSC (TAQA)
Founded in 2005, TAQA (Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (PJSC)) is a global energy company with a growing asset base of AED 88 billion (US$ 24.0 billion). One of the largest companies listed on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX), with 2007 revenue of more than AED 16 billion (US$ 4.4 billion), TAQA is a flagship corporation for the Government of Abu Dhabi.
TAQA's strategic goal is to build and operate a geographically diverse global portfolio of energy businesses across the value chain. It has operations in power generation, water desalination, upstream oil/gas, pipelines, and gas storage.
TAQA employs approximately 2,800 people from 38 different nations and operates from its offices in: Abu Dhabi; Ann Arbor, Michigan; Aberdeen; Amsterdam; Calgary and The Hague. This footprint is further extended through alliances with partners across Africa, the Middle East, Europe, North America and India.
TAQA carries Aa2 and AA- credit ratings from Moody's and S&P respectively.
Contact Details:
TAQA
Ms. Tanis Thacker
Head of Investor Relations
+971-2-691-4933
Mr. Mohammed Mubaideen
Manager, Investor Relations
+971-2-691-4964
UAE
Mr. Jonathan Ellis, Capital MS&L
+971-4-367-6172
jonathan.ellis@capitalmsl.com
London
Ms. Claire Maloney, Capital MS&L
+44-207-307-5341
claire.maloney@capitalmsl.com
