Power firm has been put up for sale by I Squared Capital and could fetch up to €2bn
However, it still paid a €40m dividend to its owner, I Squared Capital. Energia said the dividend was paid at the end of April this year.
“The above dividends were paid out of retained earnings, with the ‘Solvency Test’ being passed,” noted its accounts for the quarter.
During the first quarter, the group reported an operating loss of €6.1m before exceptional items and “certain remeasurements”, it noted. That compared with a €53.8m operating profit in the first quarter of its 2025 financial year.
The company, which owns the 747MW Huntstown power stations in Dublin and a number of other electricity generating assets around the country, said the decline in profitability was due to lower profits across all its operating units.
Its customer solutions business saw profits fall 35pc to €26.3m on a pro forma basis, while its flexible generation unit swung to a €2.9m loss from a €5.5m profit in the first quarter of its 2025 financial year.
That customer solutions division supplies electricity and gas to 343,100 customer sites in Ireland via the Energia brand and 555,400 in Northern Ireland through its Power NI business.
The group’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda), declined almost 28pc to €56.1m.
The hit to the company’s profitability included the near halving of its Ebitda at its flexible generation arm, which includes the Huntstown power stations. Its Huntstown 2 power station had a total of 54 days of unplanned outage in the first quarter. That included 26 days in April due to a steam turbine rotor crack and 28 days between May and June because of a pipe leak.
Huntstown 1 had a 20-day planned maintenance outage in the first quarter of the financial year.
Energia is building a large data centre beside the Huntstown power stations that will be used by Microsoft. Construction of the project is set to start in coming months.
Energia has been given the go-ahead to build a data centre beside its power stations at Huntstown in Dublin
Energia, which could fetch as much as €2bn if sold by I Squared, has a portfolio that includes 358MW of onshore wind operational capacity and 50MW that is under construction.
It is currently building two 25MW onshore wind farms, in Crossmore, Co Clare, and Ballylongford in Co Kerry. The Crossmore project is due to be completed shortly and has secured a power-purchase agreement with Microsoft.
The company also has 1.5GW of offshore and solar projects in development. That primarily includes a development pipeline of almost 1.3GW of solar projects.
Industry publication PeakLoad noted in June this year that the initial shortlist to buy Energia included a joint venture between the UK’s Octopus Energy and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. It also included US private equity giant KKR, Japan’s Itochu and the Daniel Kretinsky-backed Czech energy firm EPH, Ardian and Energy Capital Partners.
Second-round bids for Energia were due to be made in July.
source