Essbío H1 net profit up 4.45% to US$17.5mn

Chile's Region VIII water utility Essbío posted an 11bn-peso (US$17.5mn) net profit in the first half, up 4.45% from 1H03, Essbío said in a filing to the country's securities regulator (SVS). For the period, revenue was up a slight 0.66% to 31bn pesos and operating profit grew 5.14% to 14.7bn pesos. In 2003, the utility posted a 20.2bn-peso net profit, up 29.5% from the year before, due to the incorporation of 155,000 new clients from the merger with Region VI water utility Essel as well as an increase in sewerage treatment revenues due to the start-up of new wastewater treatment plants. Essbío and Essel continue to use their respective names, logos and corporate image. Combined, the two utilities serve 545,000 clients, second only to Santiago's Aguas Andinas with 1.3 million clients. The UK's Thames Water controls 51% of Essbío and Essel through Inversiones Agua de Arauco and also holds the concession for Aguas Nuevo Sur Maule, the water utility for Region VII which lies between the two concession areas. The merger was part of Thames' growth and consolidation strategy in Chile. The Chilean government's industry development arm Corfo owns the remaining shares in the utilities. Earlier this month, La Tercera quoted Essbío's general manager Greg Holland as saying that Thames will invest some US$60mn next year in its Chilean waterworks concessions.