Electrica's H1 loss, 8.3 million euros

Electrica, the second-leading company on the Romanian market in terms of turnover, posted 8.3 million-euro loss in the first half, against the about 2 million-euro (73.9bn ROL) profit anticipated in the budget for that period, according to official company data. The situation in the national energy system induced by the drought will impact on the companies dealing in energy production, supply and distribution. Production of energy at higher costs will not result in a rise in end-user prices, as the additional costs will be distributed among the companies in the sector, Economy and Trade minister Dan Ioan Popescu has recently announced. Under the circumstances, Electrica will find it hard to make profit this year, as it did in 2002, for the first time in its brief history. It logged 212.8bn ROL (6.8 million euro) gross profit and total revenues of 65,612bn ROL (some 2.05bn euros) last year. Electrica made 950 million-euro (34,711bn ROL) revenues in the first half, 3% less than scheduled for this period. ZF