Smokin' figures from Drax

22nd Feb 2011 07:12

Earnings from power provider Drax in 2010 were ahead of expectations, thanks to record breaking operational plant performance and the strong forward sales the group enjoyed at the start of the year."We began the year with a strong hedged position, contracted at higher average margins than for 2009. Our record operational performance and continued tight cost control have further enhanced profitability," said chief executive officer, Dorothy Thompson.Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation in 2010 totalled £391m, up from £355m last year, and ahead of market expectations of £384m.Total revenue was comfortably ahead of market consensus at £1,648.4m, up from $1,475.8m; the market had pencilled in a figure of £1,426m.Underlying earnings per share (EPS) improved to 64p from 58p in 2009. The market had been expecting EPS of 62.03p.The board has been more generous than the market was anticipating, proposing a final dividend of 17.9p, giving a total pay-out for the year of 32.0p, up from 13.7p last year and ahead of market expectations of 30.6p.The generous payment is despite what the chairman, Gordon Horsfield, described as a "challenging" outlook "as we face pressure on coal generation margins due to today's commodity market conditions."Net cash at the end of 2010 stood at £204m, including £117m of ring fenced tax cash. At the end of the previous year, the group had net debt of £54m.On the operational side, the forced outage rate tumbled to 3.4% from 6.5% in 2009, and availability improved to 92.1% from 89.1%.Electrical output (net sales) increased to 26.4 terawatts per hour (TWh) from 22.6 TWh in 2009, reflecting unseasonably cold weather and high plant availability.