GPSC reveals its business plan in the second half of the year to focus more in ASEAN market to develop new value-added battery business and growth along with PTT Group, while net profit of its own jumps 79% in the first quarter of this year.
Dr. Toemchai Bunnag, President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Global Power Synergy Plc. (GPSC), an electricity and utility flagship of PTT Group, said the company had total revenue of 5,366 million Baht and had a net profit of 750 million Baht in Q1/2017, or 79% rise compared to Q4/2016.
However, the total revenue dropped 118 million Baht, or 2%, compared to Q1/2016, while a net profit dropped 14% on year due to a fall in revenue due largely to a 60 million Baht decrease in dividend derived from Ratchaburi Power Plant as well as a decline in earnings of IRPC-CP power plant, whose clients had maintenance shutdowns.
Moreover, there are 3 under construction projects, which are due to complete and start commercial operation date (COD) by this year. The first one is the Bangpa-in Cogeneration 2 which is due to start generating revenue in the third quarter of this year and other 2 projects are the Ichinoseki Solar Power in Japan and the IRCP Clean Power's second phrase, which are due to start generating revenue to the company in the fourth quarter of this year.
For the company's business outlook in 2017, GPSC will realize a full-year income from the solar farm project derived from the Chanthaburi Shrimp Farmers' Cooperatives Co., Ltd. and profit sharing from Nava Nakorn Electricity Generating Co.,Ltd., a small power producer (SPP) which has started COD since 2016.
"For GPSC business direction in the second half of 2017, we still set a strategy to continue the sustainable growth in line with PTT Group and work closely with them both in Thailand and overseas markets, including seeking opportunities by acquiring some stakes in other interesting companies outside Thailand and adding value to GPSC's existing businesses." Dr. Toemchai said.
As we foresee a trend of future of energy, therefore we focus more on the Energy Storage System (ESS). For the progress of the cooperation with the US-based 24M Technologies (24M), GPSC has bought 18.6% stakes in 24M in order to be licensed to produce and sell lithium-ion batteries in Thailand and ASEAN. Currently, GPSC is in a stage of evaluating battery market in ASEAN and is negotiating with partners to seek ways to work together in marketing, which the details will be figure out for the approval of the company's board of directors soon.
It is a golden year with increasing investment opportunities of GPSC since the trend of power demand in commercial aspect is tend to rise continuously, particularly in an alternative renewable power resources of wind power and solar power. As a result, high quality will play a major role in renewable power industry as it will help secure power supply for the whole 24 hours, with new technology of ESS that will help reduce the size, weight and costs of the batteries.