BGRIM defies Covid-19 impact with 21% profit leap in 2020

Harald Link, chairman and president of BGRIM, said the Bt2.617 billion in earnings attributable to its parent company was largely due to the increase in generating capacity and power sales to industries in Thailand. BGRIM last year added 162MW in capacity which ramped up its output by 6 per cent to 14,451 gigawatt-hours.

Power demand of BGRIM's industrial clientele in the Kingdom rebounded strongly between September 2020 and January 2021 over the same period of the previous year, he said.

The company has seen continued broadening of its customer base after new industrial clients with a total requirement of 15MW were connected to BGRIM's supply system in 2020.

This year, BGRIM expects more than 40MW in additional industrial demand to further consolidate the company's customer base.

Link noted that the recognition of full-year performance of large-scale solar power farms in Vietnam and the decline in natural gas prices contributed to BGRIM's robust results in 2020.

Last year saw the price of natural gas, the primary fuel of BGRIM's power plants, drop by 10.4 per cent year-on-year to Bt244 per million BTU (British Thermal Unit).

PTT Plc, Thailand's major supplier of natural gas, expects natural gas price to fall to an average of Bt225 baht/per million BTU in 2021.

Link said that in addition to the goal of expanding power purchase agreements (PPA) capacity to 7,200MW by 2025 from 3,058MW currently, BGRIM has advanced its achievements under the philosophy of "Doing Business with Compassion".

The philosophy, practised for over 143 years by B Grimm Group, emphasises cooperation with partners in all business groups. Such a spirit extends to collaboration with companies under the group which have engaged in various businesses ranging from industries, healthcare to real estate and digital. The cooperation has been forged with partners both at home and abroad.

Testifying to this direction is an array of partnership accords struck over the past six months.

These include a partnership with Univentures Plc (UV) which engages in real estate investment and development business with various products and services; and the alliance with the Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA) and subsidiary PEA ENCOM International (PEA ENCOM) to pursue business opportunities for independent power supply (IPS) projects, micro grid systems, and smart micro grid system, among others.

On December 15, 2020, BGRIM made a history by starting up its large-scale solar farm in Cambodia on schedule despite the impact of Covid-19 and floods in Cambodia.

This is the first Thai power plant project to operate under the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) entered with the Electricite Du Cambodge (EDC) for a period of 20 years and is guaranteed by the government of Cambodia.

Link said the conclusion of the syndicated green loan for the Phu Yen TTP solar farm project in Vietnam is another proud achievement of BGRIM last year.

This represents the first green credit in Thailand and the CLMV region (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam) certified by the Climate Bonds Initiative, part of an independent global environmental movement.

BGRIM was recognised for its sustainable development with five awards from four organisations in December last year, underscoring the company's dedication. These include:

* An "excellent" (5-star) rating from the corporate good governance survey of listed companies conducted by Thai Institute of Directors Association.

* Being ranked in the Thaipat Institute's ESG100 List for the third consecutive year in 2020 plus winning the Sustainability Disclosure Award 2020.

* Being selected for the Sustainable Stock List (THSI) by the Stock Exchange of Thailand for the third consecutive year.

* Being scored 100 out of 100 by the Thai Investors Association for the quality of holding its annual general meeting of shareholders in 2020.

BGRIM's power projects under development have progressed with the Bo Thong Wind Farms 1 & 2 with a combined installed capacity of 16 MW in Mukdahan province being completed by 80.8% and are on schedule for starting commercial operation in the first half of 2021. Meanwhile, works on BGRIM's nine SPPs construction have recorded 9-32% in progress, with part of them are set to begin commercial run in the second half of 2022.

BGRIM is to pay a dividend of 0.30 baht per share for the second half of last year, after offering an interim dividend of 0.15 baht per share, thus maintaining a full-year dividend payout at 45 per cent of net operating profit.

The closing date for dividend eligibility is March 10, 2021, with the dividend payment to be made on May 11.