Taqa earnings soar six-fold

PROFIT BOOST: Taqa said earnings increased six-fold in the first quarter to $1.8.1 million. (Getty Images)

Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (Taqa) posted a more than six-fold rise in first-quarter profit after adding petroleum business revenue from a C$5 billion ($4.94 billion) buyout of a Canadian firm.

The Arab utility and petroleum producer agreed on about $11 billion in acquisitions in 2007, including acquiring PrimeWest Energy Trust and a $540 million buyout of the Canadian unit of Pioneer Natural Resource Company.

Taqa, which is 75%-owned by the Abu Dhabi government, made 397 million dirhams ($108.1 million), or 0.1 dirhams per share, in the three months ended March 31, it said in a statement.

That was up from 64 million dirhams, or 0.015 dirhams per share, a year earlier.

"The increase reflects the positive impact of the acquisitions," Taqa said.

Its shares soared more than 5% after the earnings were released during trading hours.

PrimeWest contributed about 210 million dirhams to group profit since Taqa completed the acquisition on January 16, it said.

Revenues from oil and gas activities jumped to 1.9 billion dirhams from 76 million a year earlier, it said.

Revenues from its gas storage business grew to 216 million from 72 million dirhams while sales from electricity and water rose 38% to 1.2 billion dirhams.

Total quarterly revenue hit 4 billion dirhams, compared with 1 billion dirhams a year earlier.

Taqa also bought BP's Dutch gas operations last year.

The company said this month it planned to sell 4.15 billion dirhams worth of convertible bonds in the next two months. (Reuters)

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