The Montenegrin Electricity Transmission System (CGES) achieved a net profit of EUR 16.9 million last year, and its strong performance continued into the first quarter of this year, when profit amounted to EUR 5.7 million, announced the Chairman of the Board of Directors, Aleksandar Mijušković.
"Despite the very complex and challenging business environment in which we all worked during the coronavirus and the major energy crisis, we are proud to report the best business result in CGES's history, with a net profit of EUR 16.9 million," Mijušković told the Mina-business agency.
He pointed out that CGES has been operating at a profit consistently since its foundation.
"I would point out that last year we also paid the dividend for 2020, amounting to 7.4 million," specified Mijušković.
He said that CGES, which was founded in 2009, has increased its assets by 87 per cent and is very successful in all the fields in which it operates.
"As for the investments for this and the previous year, we have an average of around 60 per cent, due to various problems we had concerning the transport of equipment and major changes in the market prices of all construction materials, so we were not able to fulfil everything we had planned," added Mijušković.
The average investment is around 17 million EUR per year.
"The plan for this year is 40 million EUR, and of that, we have 15 million for motorway infrastructure," said Mijušković.
The shareholders of CGES are the Italian company Terna and the Serbian company Elektromreža Srbije, and Mijušković states that they have a good and proper relationship with them and that they use the best European practice.
"Therefore, and for that reason, we have such a good business result," believes Mijušković.
When asked how much revenue CGES had generated from the commercial use of the undersea power cable between Montenegro and Italy, Mijušković replied that it was one of the company's largest projects.
"Its commercial use began in 2020 and to date we have earned a total of around €18.6 million from the cable, and with some additional indirect costs, we can say that the revenue is €40 million," Mijušković specified.
He assessed that the cable, besides being important for CGES, is also very important for the region.
"We have, like Montenegro, become a regional hub and we have a great deal of interest from investors who are coming to us to enquire about investing in production capacity. As for Montenegro itself, we have gained a strong foothold on the Montenegrin coast, which now has much better conditions for electricity supply," said Mijušković.
He added that on the Montenegrin coast, during last year's tourist season, there were no incidents, power cuts or power supply interruptions.
When asked whether the current events in Ukraine, which have caused problems in the energy sector of European countries and the wider region, could in any way affect CGES's business, Mijušković replied that there had been disruptions to energy prices in the past year and that the war in Ukraine had only exacerbated the situation.
"As far as CGES is concerned, it certainly affects our business, because CGES is responsible for buying electricity to cover losses. We have had to buy electricity at much higher prices than what the Energy Regulatory Agency allows us. In order to stabilise the situation, I think the state should intervene and cap electricity prices, as has been done in many European countries," Mijušković said.
When asked what he expects for business this year, Mijušković replied that the first quarter of this year was good.
"For the first quarter, we had a profit of EUR 5.7 million, which is much better than in any of our record years, so we are continuing with positive results," concluded Mijušković.
You can watch the full video with the interview. HERE