Albioma books 13% revenue growth in Q1 2020

French renewable energy producer Albioma SA (EPA:ABIO) posted EUR 130.9 million (USD 142m) in first-quarter (Q1) revenues, recording a 13% year-on-year growth in 2020 and up by 17% when the impact of changes in fuel prices is excluded.

The company said Monday the increase was owed to solid operation of all power plants, careful maintenance schedule in France and Brazil and the full-year effect of additional remuneration to bring the facilities in line with the EU Industrial Emissions Directive (IED).

Albioma was able to confirm its 2020 guidance for EBITDA of between EUR 200 million and EUR 210 million and a net attributable profit of between EUR 48 million and EUR 54 million, excluding new effects related to the coronavirus pandemic.

A snapshot of Albioma’s revenues is presented below:

The company’s thermal biomass business in France benefited from additional IED incentives linked to fume treatment equipment to ensure compliance with the EU directive. The plant shutdowns for maintenance were postponed in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, which further added to the revenue stream.

The availability rate of thermal biomass plants was 90.6% in this year’s first quarter compared with 82.1% in the same period of 2019. The plants generated 517 GWh, up 13.1% year-on-year.

Revenues for the solar power business were mainly impacted by unfavourable sunshine conditions on Reunion Island, France's overseas department in the Indian Ocean. Solar power production was down to 27 GWh compared to 29 GWh in the first quarter of 2019.

In Brazil, three bagasse biomass-fired plants underwent annual maintenance between sugar harvesting campaigns in the first quarter. One of them, the Codora plant, resumed operations on March 2 using excess bagasse stock from 2019.

In Mauritius, where Albioma operates biomass and coal-based plants the availability reached 90.9% , while the production went down to 307 GWh compared with 341 GWh in January-March 2019.

The spread of the coronavirus disease and confinement measures to contain it negatively affected Albioma’s work on a plant in the French overseas region of Guadeloupe and halted construction of new facilities and the development of rooftop projects in Reunion, Mayotte and mainland France.

(EUR 1.0 = USD 1.085)

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