GWR Global Water Resources’ Q4 earnings slides onlower revenue
GWR Global Water Resources (TSE:GWR), a water utility operator, said Thursday its fourth quarter profit dropped on lower revenue and said the struggling economy will continue to weigh on its utility business.
For the quarter ended December 31, the company reported a net income of $0.37 million, compared with $4.1 million for the year-ago period.
Revenues were $9.2 million, down from $17.9 million. The large drop was mainly because the fourth quarter in the year-ago period included about $12.9 million of non-recurring revenue.
Analyst estimates are not available for the Phoenix-based company.
Revenues from the company's regulated water utility business increased 23% year-over-year to $6.1 million, driven by rate increases mandated by regulators. The segment also benefited from increased service connections, which rose to 42,678 at the end of the quarter from 42,279 for the same period a year ago.
Despite the recent growth in the segment, looking ahead, the company said it expects its water utility business to continue to be affected by a struggling economy and residential housing market.
"Foreclosure rates in our service territories remain relatively high, and active service connection growth has slowed compared to our historical levels of 2004-2008," said GWR's CEO, Trevor Hill.
In the near term, Hill said, the growth of the water utility business will mainly be driven by the recent rate increases.
In its non-regulated services for other utility companies, revenues for the quarter were $3 million, up from $0.2 million.
At quarter end, the company had $14 million of current assets, of which $10 million is in cash, and $117.4 million in long term debt.
The company's shares are unchanged at $7 as of 11:52 am EST.
Related news
- Mariana Resources kicks off drilling programme at Las Calandrias gold-silver project
- Orogen Gold begins Phase 1 drilling programme at Deli Jovan
- Magnolia Petroleum on track to hit 100 wells target by end-2012
- Mwana Africa sells 15pct stake in Freda Rebecca gold mine for $405k - UPDATE
- Genel Energy on track as production increases
- Rambler Metals & Mining raises further C$4.13 million from Tinma International
- Wasabi Energy completes purchase of minority stake to own Global Geothermal
