ESB International profits rise to €22.7m

Day-to-day profits at ESB International rose last year to €22.72 million from €14.81 million in 2000, accounts newly lodged in the Companies Office reveal.

But while the figures show revenues in the subsidiary rose by more than €124 million to €314.27 million in 2001, almost three-quarters of the sales in the "international" division were actually derived from Irish operations.

Most of the increase in revenue was derived from the expansion of ESB Independent Energy, the ringfenced operation that competes with rival suppliers for industrial customers in the liberalised section of the market.

The ESB International accounts show sales generated in Ireland were €175.35 million last year. They reveal the core international consulting business had revenues of €38.68 million in Europe and €21.86 million outside Europe.

ESB International has nine offices in Europe, Africa, Asia, the US and Canada. The division is developing power stations in Derry and in the Basque region of Spain.

It recently won a contract worth €750 million to manage an electricity network comprising 10 per cent of the US market, one which will require an investment of up to €200 million.

Last year the Government blocked the ESB from bidding to purchase eight supply companies in Poland within hours of the deadline for a binding bid.

The ESB International accounts were incorporated in figures for ESB group, which were published in September. Group revenues broke the €2 billion barrier for the first time last year, but operating profits fell by €103 million to €199 million as wage and fuel costs rose.

The figures for ESB International and its associates were not broken down in the group results. These new filings reveal the exact performance of the State-owned company's subsidiaries.

Included in the division's revenues were engineering and consultancy services worth €43.83 million, electrical contracting worth €62.42 million and €10.22 million in financing.

Figures embraced in the international division's operation include those of ESB Independent Energy, which purchases power from the ESB's generation division at wholesale rates before selling it in the Irish liberalised market.

Sales at ESB Independent Energy rose last year to €113.01 million from €9.8 million in 2000, the year the market opened to competition. But ESB Independent Energy's profit margin was low, with the company showing an operating profit of just €93,000 for 2001, up from a €3.5 million loss a year earlier.

Also included in the ESB International accounts were figures for Financelectric, the consumer lending arm for electrical appliances, which operates in the ESB's network of retail outlets. The operating profit in the lending division rose last year to €4.63 million from €4.14 million in 2000.

The balance sheet reveals that loan advances rose to €61.95 million in 2001 from €54.39 million a year earlier. At the end of 2001, €36.78 million in loans were due within one year with €25.18 million falling due after one year.