RABAT: Taqa Morocco, which supplies about 38 per cent of the country’s electricity, said on Thursday its first-half net profit rose by 5 per cent to 467 million Moroccan dirhams (Dh176.2 million, $48 million) as it took advantage of cheaper coal.
Owned by Abu Dhabi National Energy Co, Taqa Morocco operates the largest coal-fired power plant in the Middle East and North Africa.
Taqa said it was awaiting the results of an inspection by the Moroccan tax authorities, which began in July, on its profits from 2012 to 2015 and on VAT from 2008 to 2015.
Revenues fell 7 per cent to 4.05 billion dirhams in the first six months of 2016 as production was slowed by maintenance in its fifth unit, the company said. However, it has taken advantage of 11 per cent drop in coal prices, it added.
Taqa Morocco invested heavily in its power plant at Jorf Lasfar near the city of El Jadida on the Atlantic coast. It has raised 1.5 billion dirhams on the Casablanca stock exchange and sealed a $1.4 billion financing deal with Japanese and Korean banks in the last two years.
Consolidated margins have improved to 15.2 per cent at the end of June 2016, up from 14.1 per cent in the same period last year, the company said.
