OPG sees profits double

OPG, the developer and operator of power plants in India, saw profits before tax double in the year to 31 March 2011.The firm recorded profits before tax of £11.16m - an increase of 105% on the previous year.Revenues also sky-rocketed, up 188% to £33.15m, driven partly by the opening of its coal-fired plant Chennai 1, which is operated and managed by the Tata Power Company. M.C.Gupta, chairman of OPG, said the firm continued to benefit from a shortage of reliable power supplies in India. "With the planned additional supply likely to fall acutely short of the 300-315 GW required in the next five years, we believe this dynamic will prevail and prices will remain firm," he said.Adam Forsyth at Matrix Group said the full-year results were a little behind expectations but did not justify the 40% fall in the comapny's shares since the peak in late January."We think there is nothing here to justify the sell-off in the shares and wethink is largely technical with buyer appetite sated by [a] placing in February," he said. "If the company can make visible progress on its development pipeline there is scope for a substantial rebound," he said.