Umeme Limited has released its unaudited interim condensed financial results for the six months’ period ended June 2022.
In the financial statement signed by the company Chairman and MD, Patrick Bitature and Selestino Babungi respectively, despite the challenging macroeconomic environment, the electricity sector was resilient and posted a 9% increase in energy demand, due to the opening of the economy since January 2022.
“The economy was on course for a strong rebound at the start of the year, helped by higher domestic demand amidst the easing of pandemic-curbing restrictions,” they said.
“However, the challenging global environment in the wake of the geopolitical conflicts has led to inflation, supply chain disruptions, depreciation of the Uganda Shilling, an increase in interest rates and a generally weaker operating,” they added.
Accordingly, electricity sales to customers increased by 3.2% to UGX876.4 billion as compared to UGX849.2 billion in 2021.
They say that total electricity sales increased by 9% to 1.875 GWh amidst a reduction in energy losses to 17.1% as compared to 17.9% for 2021, as power consumption in the domestic, commercial, medium, and large Industrial consumer segments posted double-digit growth.
“However, growth in electricity consumption in the extra-large Industrial category was flat at 0.7%.”
The company says that despite inflationary pressures in the economy, Operating Costs reduced by 6.5% to UGX115 billion as compared to UGX123 billion in 2021, attributing it to reorganization of the business during the period and efficiency gains from their continued investments in technology.
Operating profit increased by 21% to UGX100 billion as compared to UGX82 billion in 2021 driven by performance on gross profit and operating costs.
Pearl Bank Celebrates Customers in Festive Campaign Dubbed Pearl SantaProfit After Tax increased by 33% to UGX64 billion as compared to UGX48 billion in 2021 and Earnings Per Share increased to UGX39.6 from UGX29.7 for the same period in 2021.
On the other hand, announced that net debt on 30th June 2022 was down 20% to UGX268 billion compared to the closing balance at 31 December 2021 of UGX337 billion following scheduled repayment of UGX90 billion.
Net Operating cashflow increased by 21.7% to UGX187.4 billion as compared to UGX154 billion in 2021.
The company says it invested UGX55.9 billion in the distribution network.
On dividends, they say that in line with the previous interim periods, the company’s strategy is to pay scheduled term debt and to fund ongoing capital investments in the distribution system for efficiencies and improvement in the customer experience.
“As a result, the Directors do not recommend the payment of an interim dividend.”
Also, the company recorded six fatalities on the distribution network, which they say was caused by network interference, power theft and illegal operations by unauthorized people.
“We appeal to the public to report unsafe networks power thefts, vandalism or unauthorized network operations through our multiple service channels.”
