Bord Gais profits up 15% to E118m

Ian Guider

The company’s annual report for 2004 shows pre-tax profits rose by E15m to E118m.

And there was good news for consumers as the company is unlikely to seek a price rise in the short-term. Last October, the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER) allowed Bord Gais to raise prices by 10.9%.

Bord Gais chief executive Gerry Walsh said though the company had seen the wholesale price of gas rise by 20% in the past year,

it would not be looking to recover that increase from customers. The firm added that gas prices here were the fourth lowest in Europe and 19% below the average.

Mr Walsh said yesterday that 2004 was a “tremendous” year for the company. It connected 39,000 new customers to the gas network, bring its total customer base to more than 500,000 for the first time.

It also made inroads in the electricity market, claiming a 7% share of the market. And it expects the electricity business to continue growing following the full opening of the market earlier this year. At present it is only focusing on commercial and industrial customers, but Mr Walsh said it would be looking at domestic customers at some stage.

Turnover rose by 8% to E755m, though much of the rise was due to its electricity arm. Turnover from its gas supply division rose by E10m to E499m.

“Of the year’s result, we did 124m in electricity supply alone. The approach we took to diversify our interests and put in place new investments is paying off,” Mr Walsh said. He said business in the North would become a major part of Bord Gais. It won a licence to supply 10 towns in the North, which would add 65,000 new customers. Last year, Bord Gais spent E197m on capital profits and plans to spend E1 billion over four years on its infrastructure. At the end of 2004, Bord Gais has borrowings of over 1bn, but Mr Walsh said this was only 50% of its asset base.

The annual report also reveals the total pay to the board went up by 25,000 to 420,000. Mr Walsh saw his pay packet rise by E17,000 to E302,000.

The numbers employed by Bord Gais fell by 10 to 694. The workers’ pension fund deficit fell in 2004 by E1.7m to E18.3m.