BEH's profit for the first quarter is BGN 224.3 million, but coal issues remain

George Velev

The profit of the Bulgarian Energy Holding before taxes is improving and has reached BGN 224.3 million for the first three months of the year. This is indicated by the data from the financial report of the company, which were published recently. Compared to the same period last year, the profits of the financial holding jumped by more than 300%, according to the abridged analysis.

BEH's ESG rating remains at a relatively low level, and it is a key indicator important to the shareholders and bond issues of the state-owned company. The holding has a contract with the company Sustainalytics, which updated the ESG rating in April. BEH's overall judgment rating is unchanged and remains at 34.2 points, placing it in the "high risk" column. BEH's exposure score is 54.3 points (average performance), and the management score is 39.9 points, according to the report as of the end of March this year.

BEH's rating for green investments is largely determined by the fact that the holding is the owner of the largest coal-fired power plant in the Balkans - TPP "Maritsa East 2". The financial parent company purchased quotas for CO2 emissions of the plant for BGN 178.8 million in the first quarter of the year. For the same period last year, quota purchases were for a shocking 835.5 million BGN. The current drastic reduction in purchases is due to the stable income that TPP "Maritsa East 2" received last year despite high electricity prices.

Loans

The largest loans granted to BEH are to "National Electric Company". As of the end of March 2023, the funds owed are over BGN 1.6 billion, and the company manages to repay them regularly.

Maritsa East 2 TPP's liabilities to BEH are over BGN 1.13 billion. The latest ones are from the end of April 2023, when the loan "swelled" by a new 88.5 million BGN.

The project company ICGB has also been granted a loan by the holding company. The funds amount to BGN 215.1 million at the end of March and are regularly repaid by the gas company. This is actually the loan granted by the EIB for the construction of the gas interconnector, as it is now being repaid by BEH.

Bulgartransgaz's obligations under loan agreements with BEH amount to over BGN 122.6 million, the report makes clear. However, due to an error in the scanning of the file, it is not clear whether these are the final and full obligations of the company until the end of March 2023. The said funds are mainly going to finance the Chiren gas storage expansion projects.

The gas trader "Bulgargaz" also manages to repay its obligations on the loans to BEH on time.

BEH also has trade receivables from "Sofia District Heating", which at the end of March amounted to BGN 8.9 million. Compared to the same period last year, these liabilities have increased dramatically - in March 2022 they were for over 46, BGN 2 million. The capital’s heating system also has rescheduled old liabilities to the holding, but they are noted in the current report for the quarter. It is only recorded that the sums received from "Sofia District Heating" until the end of March this year are BGN 50.5 million.

As of March 31, the accrued write-downs of receivables from related parties to BEH were reduced by 14% to a level of BGN 1.3 million.

It is also clear from BEH's report that the company already has expenses for cars assigned to the Ministry of Energy. For the first three months of the year, the expenses for motor vehicles amounted to two thousand leva, as there was no such expense during the same period last year.

BEH is also waiting for the decision of the European Court in the BEH gas case for violations of the gas market in our country. The hearings on it were last held in September last year.