RIGA, Feb 26 (LETA) - Latvijas Gaze natural gas utility turned over EUR 321.494 million in unaudited 2019 turnover, down 9 percent from a year before, and its profit contracted 19.8 percent on year to EUR 20.19 million, according to the group's statement to Nasdaq Riga.

At the same time, parent company Latvijas Gaze saw turnover decline 10.8 percent on year to EUR 273.163 million and its profit decreased 15.1 percent to EUR 19.7 million last year.

The gas company's management said in the report that the group faced a challenging market and operating environment in 2019. After a mild winter and an unexpected steep drop in market prices during the first months of the year the group's results for the first six months of 2019 were significantly lower than for the same period in the previous year. The sales and trading business (i.e. the company) even posted a half-year loss amounting

to EUR 4.3 million. However, during the second half of the year, the operating environment stabilized.

"Due to the stabilization of the market environment and additional efforts to mitigate the depressed operating results from the first half of the year, the Group's distribution as well as the sales trading segment managed to improve the financial performance and reach a positive full-year result." Latvijas Gaze management said.

In 2019, Latvijas Gaze in total sold 14,654 GWh of natural gas to almost 400,000 customers.

According to the company's statement, its distribution segment made EUR 50.5 million in 2019 profit, down 1 percent on year. The segment's assets were worth EUR 333.7 million at the end of the year, accounting for 72 percent of the group's total value.

The sales and trading segment saw turnover drop 10 percent on year to EUR 263.8 million in 2019. The segment's assets - mainly natural gas and cash reserve - were worth EUR 131 million at the end of the year.

In 2018, Latvijas Gaze turned over EUR 253.305 million and generated EUR 25.185 million in profit.

Latvijas Gaze is listed on the Nasdaq Riga Secondary List.

© Pakistan Press International, source Asianet-Pakistan