By Yakubu LAAH InvestAdvocate
Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-Transcorp Ughelli Power Limited (TUPL), the power generation and investment subsidiary of Nigerian conglomerate Transcorp Plc said on Tuesday it increased its generation capacity 78 percent to 610 MW from 342MW as at December 2013, the company said in a statement.
This is coming on the heels of its 2nd Annual General Meeting (AGM) of shareholders and the release of its 2014 audited accounts.
Also, the generation capacity is a 300 percent increase from takeover; confirming the projection of Renaissance Capital (RenCap) financial advisory firm that this year, Transcorp Plc would more than quintuple its profitability by 2017 in part because of the outlook for TUPL.
The Report details outstanding progress during the first full calendar year of operations at Ughelli Power Plant, the Group’s power generating asset and Nigeria’s largest gas-powered generating company.
Adeoye Fadeyibi, chief executive officer (CEO) of TUPL in his statement to shareholders outlined the company’s short term, post-acquisition operational strategy — one based largely around the recovery of installed capacity.
According to RenCap, “We believe the government’s determination to make centralised electricity supply a reliable source of power for the economy, at half the price of the currently widely used diesel generators, is sufficient reason to see a bright future for the asset.
Emmanuel Nnorom group president/CEO of Transcorp Plc Group was pleased with TUPL results, saying, “Our team is excited and united. “Ade has done a fantastic job of assessing existing generating assets at Ughelli and determining a course of action for total recovery and as a result, we are on track to achieve 850MW per day by year-end 2015, which represents a major contribution to the country’s total energy output,” he said.
In the same vein, Tony Elumelu, Transcorp Plc board chairman during the TUPL board meeting on 16 June, predicted long-term mega-growth, saying, “We are determined to produce a quarter of all power generated in Nigeria and we are clearly on track to achieve this, thanks to the cohesiveness of the leadership team and the hard work of the staff, driven by the TUPL CEO.”
According to the board, 2015 will see the execution of expansion plans through key acquisitions, as well as a Greenfield project set to begin operations in 2018.
