Boralex Q4 net earnings more than double to $8.2M; revenue rises to $56.5M

MONTREAL - Boralex Inc. (TSX:BLX) has more than doubled its fourth-quarter profits compared with the previous year, the renewable power producer reported Tuesday.

Montreal-based Boralex said net earnings attributable to shareholders totalled $8.2 million or 22 cents per share in the three months ended Dec. 31. That compared with $3.1 million or eight cents per share in the same 2010 period.

Revenue was $56.5 million, up from $53.7 million.

The results were "broadly in line with expectations," Desjardins analyst Pierre Lacroix wrote in a note to clients.

"Overall, we would not expect a significant market reaction" to the results, he added.

Boralex shares were up eight cents, a little under one per cent, at $8.33 in morning trading on the Toronto stock market.

"Recall that the company completed the sale of its U.S. biomass segment in the fourth quarter of 2011... as a result, about 96 per cent of Boralex's current capacity is under long-term contracts, with over $100 million of free cash available to be redeployed into long-term growth opportunities," Lacroix wrote.

"We continue to believe that Boralex's shares offer attractive upside potential from their current price."

Boralex sold its U.S. wood-residue power stations to a private U.S. energy company for US$93 million last year, booking an after-tax gain of about $81 million it has said it will spend on other clean power projects in North America and Europe.

The five Maine plants, which have a capacity to produce about 186 megawatts of power, were sold to ReEnergy Holdings LLC, a company based in Latham, N.Y., as Boralex foresaw "difficult business conditions" in the U.S. thermal power market.

For the full year, net earnings were $2.9 million or eight cents per share on revenues of $194 million. That compared with earnings of $35.1 million or 93 cents per share on revenues of $102.8 million in 2010 when the company recorded an extraordinary gain of $36.8 million.

Boralex said earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization or EBITDA totalled $100.8 million in 2011, compared with $39.4 million in 2010.

"This rise resulted primarily from the positive impact of consolidating the operations of Boralex Power Income Fund and growth in the wind and solar power segments, which contributed $38.2 million and $18.9 million respectively, in additional EBITDA," the company said in a release.

In the fourth quarter of 2011, Boralex sold its U.S. wood-residue power stations, which had an installed capacity of 186 megawatts, for US$86.8 million as the company focused on renewable energy assets covered by long-term power sales contracts with indexed pricing. These assets now account for 96 per cent of its portfolio.

"Boralex's savvy strategic development choices in 2011 delivered results once again," said president and CEO Patrick Lemaire. "We're convinced that our asset performance combined with the recent transactions will underpin growth and profitability for years to come."

Boralex operates an asset base with an installed capacity of nearly 500 MW in Canada, the northeastern United States and France.