Hebei province-based ENN Energy, one of the mainland’s largest city natural gas distributors, has revised down its gas sales volume growth after an original plan to import gas in liquefied form did not materialise.
Excluding wholesale volume, it is targeting 10 to 15 per cent growth for the whole of this year, chief financial officer Wang Dongzhi told reporters on Thursday.
ENN said in March it was targeting full-year growth sales volume - including both wholesale and retail volumes - of 25 per cent, compared to growth of 26 per cent last year.
Wang said a plan to import several vessels of liquefied natural gas from regasification terminals invested and operated by the three state-owned oil and gas giants did not materialise, since it would compete with the three giants’ gas sales amid the downturn of the distribution market. This has dealt a blow to its ambitious wholesale expansion plan.
Shares of ENN dropped as much as 5.8 per cent to its lowest in almost two years, after it posted late on Wednesday a 1.1 per cent year-on-year rise in net profit to 1.23 billion yuan. They closed the morning trading session 3.8 per cent lower at HK$40.45.
Excluding the gains and losses arising from convertible bonds, pre-tax profit grew 10.2 per cent to 2.24 billion yuan. First-half revenue grew 10.7 per cent, on the back of a 10.5 per cent rise in sales volume to 5.53 billion cubic metres - well below the 25 per cent growth target it set for the full-year due to the economic slow-down and eroded competitiveness of natural gas amid sharp falls in oil price.