Spanish wind energy developer Iberdrola has announced its 2011 financial results. The company's net profit for 2011 came to 2.805 billion euros, which represents a 2.3% decrease from 2010.
Earnings before interest and taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) came in at 7.650 billion euros – an increase of 1.6%, the company says, adding that this was achieved despite group writedowns, difficult economic circumstances and lower extraordinary income.
Writedowns came to a gross 402 million euros and reflect three principal factors: revised capacity use estimations at the Longannet coal-fired plant in the U.K., new projections relating to Gamesa's business plan, and the development cost of renewable energy projects that have been abandoned, Iberdrola explains.
A challenging economic environment also affected the company's financial performance, due to falling demand and lower prices, as well as regulatory changes for renewables, a sharp increase in taxation and currency factors.
EBITDA was, nevertheless, underpinned by solid performance in the regulated and renewables businesses, which contributed 51% and 19%, respectively, to Iberdrola's total, the company says. Regulated business EBITDA rose 5.5% to 3.8254 billion euros, and renewables held stable at 1.4556 billion euros.
Performance in regulated business and renewables offset the results in liberalized businesses, which, despite contributing 30% to Group EBITDA, registered a 7.4% drop to 2.2551 billion euros. This was mainly due to a sharp increase in taxes, which last year rose 50.1% to 621 million euros, including 518 million euros in Spain.
Cashflow was 5.8% higher than in 2010, at 6.047 billion euros, while revenues rose 4% to 31.648 billion euros and gross margin rose 3.3% to 12.026 billion euros, Iberdrola says.
Renewable energy production continued to improve, rising 13.1% to 28,721 GWh, Iberdrola adds.
