Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (Taqa) on Thursday reported a 95 per cent drop in profits for the first quarter of 2019 largely due to foreign exchange losses and re-evaluation of US based power assets, the company said.

Listed on Abu Dhabi bourse, the firm posted a profit of Dh6 million (attributable to shareholders) in the first quarter of 2019 compared to Dh110 million in the first quarter of 2018. Revenue remained almost flat at Dh4.3 billion during the period.

“While the group maintained stable operational results, the bottomline was impacted by uncontrollable items, namely foreign exchange losses and adverse movements on mark-to-market revaluations within its US-based power asset,” the company said in a statement.

Foreign exchange losses of the firm reached Dh65 million in the first quarter of 2019 compared to Dh3 million during the same period last year.

Taqa’s oil and gas production for the first quarter of 2019 reached 126.7 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (mboed), a slight increase compared to 123.8 mboed in the first quarter of 2018. Its power and water division achieved a gross power generation of 17,597 GWh (gigawatt hours) and 54,408 MIG (million imperial gallons) of gross water desalination.

“Taqa continues to demonstrate the resilience of its business model despite the various external challenges. We are also extremely pleased to make progress on our strategic priorities by maintaining our capital discipline whilst reducing our total debt levels,” said Saeed Mubarak Al Hajeri, Taqa’s Chairman of the Board.

Total debt was reduced by Dh907 million during the quarter primarily driven by scheduled project debt repayments, with an associated reduction in interest paid of Dh123 million compared with the same period in 2018.

The company’s liquidity at the end of the first quarter of 2019 remained strong at Dh13 billion, including Dh3.1 billion in cash and cash equivalents, and Dh10 billion of undrawn credit facilities.

Taqa has investments in power generation, water desalination, oil and gas exploration and production, pipelines and gas storage in different countries including Canada, Ghana, India, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, UAE and United States, among others.