Overseas woes in Australia, India erode CLP earnings

The overseas business of CLP Holdings may bottom out this year after problems in Australia and India slashed the firm's earnings from abroad by 30.9 per cent last year.

The group's profit fell 8.8 per cent to HK$9.41 billion despite growth in the Hong Kong and mainland markets.

While the power company said it would still have to fork out an impairment loss of HK$315 million this year for its new plant in Jhajjar, where utilisation remained at 30 per cent due to a short supply of coal, chief executive Andrew Brandler said its performance should improve in the next six to 18 months.

He cited the company's adoption of imported coal and the Indian government's pledge to increase coal supply after CLP threatened to withdraw its investment.

The group's business in India posted a loss of HK$182 million last year. Several analysts expect earnings at its Jhajjar plant to break even, at best, this year.

CLP said that while utilisation at the plant could rise to 70 per cent in one year, it could take two to three years before its operation stabilised.

Brandler said the firm would stop investing further in thermal power generation in India for the time being.