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Utility Vistra reports quarterly loss due to higher costs and challenges with derivatives

Vistra Corp reported a loss for the first quarter of the year on Wednesday. The independent power producer suffered from setbacks with its hedging and increased costs. Its shares fell nearly 6% at the opening of trading.

The company stated that the quarter's deficit was mainly due to unrealized losses on derivative positions, as energy prices rose in advance periods.

The utility was impacted by the continued high interest rates for a longer period of time, as this made the cost to invest in critical infrastructure like electrical grids and construction more expensive.

Vistra's interest expenses rose by nearly 88%, to $319 millions in the third quarter. Total operating costs increased by about 39%, to $693million.

The company stated that the results of the newly acquired Nuclear Utility Energy Harbor were a major boost to the performance.

The company's core adjusted profit from ongoing operations increased to $1.24billion, compared to $810mil a year ago. This was due to higher prices and a strong retail performance.

Retail segment adjusted core profit was $184 million, compared to a loss $28 million one year ago.

Data centers will account for approximately 40% of the new demand.

Vistra confirmed that the current year adjusted core profit for continuing operations would be between $5.5 and $6.1 billion. This is compared to analysts' estimates of $5.9billion.

Irving, Texas based company reported a loss of $268m for the three-month period ended March 31 compared to a profit of $18m a year earlier. (Reporting from Vallari Srivastava in Bengaluru and Katha Kaalia; editing by Vijay Kishore.)

(source: Reuters)