Power firms' 9mth operating profits rise 37%

After three years of uncertainties, Brazil's power sector is beginning to show consistent results, local daily O Estado de São Paulo reported Thursday. Power companies had January-to-September operating profits of 8.8bn reais (US$3.2bn), 37% higher than in the same period last year, according to a survey of 27 publicly traded utilities by Economática consulting firm, the newspaper reported. Net revenue totaled 43.6bn reais over the same period, up 12%. The results reflect higher-than-inflation tariff adjustments and the recovery of Brazil's economy, which boosted power consumption. The amount of energy produced by generators in the first nine months of the year increased 4.7%, according to data from the National Power Grid Coordinator (ONS). On the other hand, net profits fell 6.3% between January and September, to 2.62bn reais in the year-on-year comparison. Economática attributed the decline to the exchange rate. In the equivalent period of 2003, a weaker dollar helped net earnings hit 2.79bn reais.