PPC, the Public Power Corporation, has posted a sharp profit increase after taxes and EBITDA costs for the nine-month period in 2014, but the corporation’s turnover figure slipped by 1.5 percent, or 69 million euros, during this period.

PPC announced that profit after taxes reached 121.8 million euros for the nine-month period in 2014, from 6.7 million euros during the equivalent period in 2013, while pre-tax profit reached 179.5 million euros from 56.9 million euros in the nine-month period of 2013.

The corporation’s EBITDA figure for the nine-month period in 2014 rose by 113.4 million euros, or 16.7 percent, while the EBITDA margin increased to 18 percent from 15.2 percent.

The nine-month period’s financial figures include the positive impact of savings worth 23.2 million euro following a retroactive discount on natural gas orders concerning the second half of 2013. The discount was retroactively applied to this year’s first-quarter results.

Revenues from electricity sales fell to 4,287 million euros for the nine-month period in 2014 from 4,348.9 million euros in 2013, a 1.4 percent drop. Revenues from electricity sales rose by 47.8 million euros, or 3.2 percent, in the third quarter.

“Like many European electricity companies, we are faced with the challenge of upgrading and renewing our capacity and securing the necessary funding,” noted PPC’s CEO Arthuros Zervos. “Despite the adverse economic conditions in Greece we have implemented major strategic investments and are carrying on with our investment plan, the most important project under construction being the lignite station in Ptolemaida [northern Greece], while we are continuing to invest in the upgrading of our networks,” Zervos continued.

The CEO added that, for this purpose, PPC signed a 180 million-euro loan agreement with the European Investment Bank (EIB) in September. He also made note of the PPC subsidiary firm IPTO’s current development of an interconnection project to link the Cyclades with the mainland grid, which Zervos noted will ensure long-term energy supply security for the islands, bolster the region’s tourism sector, reduce electricity production costs, and further utilize the renewable energy source (RES) potential of the region’s islands. IPTO signed a loan agreement worth 65 million euros in September for the interconnection project, whose budget is valued at 130 million euros.