French renewable power plants operator Voltalia SA (EPA:VLTSA) saw its net loss widen in the first half of 2021 but posted higher EBITDA and revenues as new capacity came online.
The net loss for the period, group share, expanded to EUR 21.4 million (USD 25.1m) from EUR 15.8 million a year back. The company explained on Thursday that this is consistent with the growth in activity and seasonality of its business.
At EUR 34.1 million, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) gained 44% on the year at current rates and revenues jumped by 72% to EUR 152.1 million. The growth was triggered by the commissioning of new power plants, increased power generation and higher service sales.
"The continued strong growth in our revenues and EBITDA is driven by the sustained momentum of all our activities. While our installed capacity is growing month on month, our third party services business more than doubled over the period despite the absence of project development sales [..],” said CEO Sebastien Clerc.
More details on Voltalia’s performance in January-June 2021 are available in the table.
| Results in EUR million |
H1 2021 |
H1 2020 |
Change at current rates |
Change at constant rates |
| Revenue |
152.1 |
88.4 |
+72% |
+85% |
| -- from energy sales |
92.9 |
62.1 |
+50% |
+68% |
| -- from services |
95.0 |
49.9 |
+90% |
+93% |
| EBITDA |
34.1 |
23.8 |
+44% |
+69% |
| Eliminations and corporate items |
(10.1) |
(7.2) |
+41% |
+41% |
| Depreciation, amortisation and provisions |
(34.3) |
(22.6) |
+52% |
+66% |
| Operating profit (loss) |
(0.2) |
1.2 |
-116% |
+194% |
| Net loss (Group share) |
(21.4) |
(15.8) |
+36% |
+31% |
During the reporting period, Voltalia expanded its installed capacity base to 1,273 MW, of which 936.3 MW is in Brazil, from 820 MW a year back. Some 577.6 MW of capacity was under construction at the end of June, mostly solar and energy storage, except for a 99.4-MW wind farm in Brazil.
Voltalia’s power plants produced 1,622 GWh of electricity in the six months, or 77% more than in the year-ago period.
Looking ahead, the French firm continues to expect normalised EBITDA of EUR 170 million in 2021, helped by strong EBITDA growth in the second half amid improved seasonality. It also confirmed its mid-term goal for 2.6 GW of operational or under-construction capacity and normalised EBITDA of EUR 275 million-300 million for 2023.
(EUR 1.0 = USD 1.171)
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Molinons wind farm, located in Yonne.
