Sri Lanka mini-hydro firm looks for cash to expand

Oct 15, 2010 (LBO) - Sri Lanka's Hydro Power Free Lanka is looking for 350 million rupees in equity to build three new plants while the firm also has a revenue stream from two existing plants, officials said. Hydro Power Free Lanka posted revenues of 114.

9 million rupees and earned profits of 56.7 million rupees in the year to March 2010 selling power to state-run Ceylon Electricity Board.

Existing Revenue

Last year the firm had 74 million shares in issue giving 77 cents of earnings per share. After the initial public offering the firm will have 109 million shares.

If the firm earns the same profit this year it will make about 52 cents a share.

In the first quarter however profits have fallen to 7.

5 million rupees, down 34 percent from a year earlier after one plant was closed due to a lightning strike.

It has since been repaired and an insurance claim is awaited, the prospectus said.

The firm now has one operating plant (Sanquhar) of 1.6 MegaWatts which generated 5.3 GigaWatt-hours of energy. It had plant factor 38 percent last year but had experienced a plant factor of only 25 - 26 percent in the previous three years.

The plant factor is the portion of actual hours a genera