Panasian Power seeks aggressive growth; looks for foreign opportunities

Panasian Power PLC (PAP) said it intends to further increase its installed capacity through solar and mini-hydro projects in FY19 while looking for opportunities in Africa and South East Asia, as the firm aspires to become the largest listed renewable energy solutions provider in the country within the next three years.  

The company’s top and bottom lines saw a significant growth during January-March period (4Q18), which the company attributed to the addition of more capacity to the national grid, improved operational efficiencies and prudent cost control practices.

For the quarter under review, PAP reported earnings of 09 cents per share or Rs.46.5 million against earnings of 01 cent per share or Rs.7.3 million reported for the same period, last year.

The top line improved to Rs.174 million against Rs.58.8 million in the previous year.

Meanwhile, for the full year ended March 31, 2018, PAP reported earnings of 35 cents per share or Rs.177.2 million against earnings of 04 cents per share or Rs.21.8 million. 

The full year revenue rose to Rs.489.4 million from Rs.204.5 million.

PAP said it added 6.3 MW to the national grid within the financial year. Also the company was able to record significant growth in revenue through solar power engineering, procurement and construction services (EPC) which constitutes part of their diversification process. 

“The company’s investments in rooftop and ground solar plants will result in an additional capacity of 7MW once the grid begins operations from 2018,” PAP said in a statement.

This diversification into solar comes on the back of CEB’s plan to move away from coal as a source of energy generation and become an energy self-sufficient nation by 2030. 

According to the CEB’s long-term power generation plan, renewable energy will contribute at least 21.4 percent towards total power generation by 2025.
In the near term, PAP said they would also explore opportunities in wind to eventually create an energy portfolio with equal exposure to all three renewable energy sources. 

Additionally, Panasian will look at foreign projects in Africa and South East Asia, with a view to securing dollar revenue streams as well as aggressively reviewing M&A opportunities for future growth.

PAP CEO Dr. Prathap Ramanujam said they would look at both organic and inorganic growth to increase their power generation as the company aggressively seeks bottom line growth. PAP, which was incorporated in 2002 owns and operates mini-hydro power plants and supplies electricity directly to the Ceylon Electricity Board. In 2017,  the company diversified into solar energy to meet its revised target of having an energy portfolio of 30MW by 2020.