Otedola’s Geregu Power Plant Revenue Drops By N4.3bn In Q1

Geregu Power Plc controlled by billionaire businessman, Femi Otedola suffered a revenue drop of N4.3bn in the first quarter of 2023.

The company’s revenue earnings dropped from N18.5bn in the first quarter of 2022 to N14.2bn

A look at the company’s revenue shows that energy sold by March was N9.08bn, a drop from the N11.78bn sold same period in 2022.

Revenue from capacity charge plunged from N6.74bn in 2022 first quarter to N5.14bn in March 2023.

Geregu’s profit fell 36.3 per cent to N3.54bn compared to N5.5bn, underpinned by high finance cost of N3.1bn- with interest expenses on borrowing accounting for N1.7bn and interest on bond expenses on bond constituting N1.43bn of the finance cost.

Finance cost incurred in 2022 was N318.7m.

The company retained a strong asset base of N160.07bn which however fell 8 per cent compared to N174bn recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2022.

Geregu disclosed in its books that the N40.085bn unsecured corporate bond for a 7-year tenor issued in July 2022 will be used to acquire one of the power-generating companies.

According to the company, the acquisition talk “is currently in the final stage of the bidding process by the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE)”.

Otedola’s Geregu is believed to be eyeing Geregu Generation Company Limited, Kogi state, to increase the capacity of Geregu Power Plant.

The House of Representatives is kicking against the sale of the government-owned GenCos and summoned the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, Minister of Power, Abubakar Aliyu, and the Director-General for the Bureau for Public Enterprise, Alex Okoh.

The GenCos are: Omotosho Generation Company Limited, Calabar Generation Company Limited, Cross River state, Ondo state, Olorunsogo Generation Company Limited, Ogun state, Geregu Generation Company Limited, Kogi state and Benin Generation Company Limited at Ihovba, Edo state.

“The House of Representatives has observed with grave concern, the proposed sale of the five National Integrated Power Plants namely Benin Generation Company Limited, Calabar Generation Company Limited, Geregu Generation Company Limited, Olorunsogo Generation Company Limited and Omotoso Generation Company Limited by the Bureau for Public Enterprise without due regard to constitutional principles and economic policy that informed the establishment of those power plants.

“The committee decried the proposed sale as unconstitutional and a disservice to all known principles of national development and the sharing equity among the three tiers of government,” the committee wrote.