Electricity and gas group Energias de Portugal(EDP) announced Thursday that it posted a sharp rise in net profit in the first quarter of 2023 to 306 million euros, compared with a loss of 76 million euros in the same period last year.
This recovery is due in particular “to the normalization of hydroelectric production in Portugal during the winter of 2022-23, after a period of extreme drought during the 2021-22 hydrological year,” the group stressed in a statement. During this period, the group’s gross operating profit(EBITDA) jumped 100% year-on-year to 1.41 billion euros, while EDP’s revenues fell 19% year-on-year to 4.48 billion euros.
For its part, EDP’s renewable energy subsidiary, EDP Renovaveis, had announced on Wednesday a profit of 65 million euros in the first three months of the year, down slightly by 1%. The net debt of EDP, whose main shareholder is the China Three Gorges group with a 20.86% stake, stood at 13.1 billion euros at the end of March, down 1% from the end of December 2022.
On the Lisbon Stock Exchange, EDP shares ended Thursday up 1.45% at 4.96 euros, as did its subsidiary EDP Renovaveis, which rose 2.62% to 20.18 euros.