PACRA Maintains Entity Ratings of Halmore Power Generation Company Limited - Press Release issued by The Pakistan Credit Rating Agency Limited.

Lahore -- October 11, 2019 (PPI-OT)

Following is the text of press release issued by The Pakistan Credit Rating Agency Limited (PACRA)

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Halmore Power Generation Company Limited (Halmore Power) runs a 225MW power plant. The company operates in the regulated power sector. It enjoys sovereign guarantee against receivables from power purchaser - CPPA-G - given adherence to agreed performance benchmarks. The Company's operations and maintenance operator, General Electric International (GE), is a key source of comfort in managing the plant's operations. The company's financial risk profile is largely dependent on repayment behaviour of the power purchaser.

In recent period, availability of primary fuel was adequate on account of better energy mix; hence operational performance remained intact. Additionally, because of the mounting receivables and consequent funding thereof from banking lines, remaining cushion in the available working capital facilities is limited, warranting further space to be created. As of Mar-19, short term lines utilization stood at 88%. Current borrowings mainly short-term reflects the need to bridge the working capital requirements and maintenance of projects.

Because of the mounting receivables and consequent funding thereof from banking lines, there is minimal cushion in the available working capital facilities as it has been highly utilized as...