Beefed-up Prime seeks additional power projects

Prime Road Power Plc is gearing up for renewable power projects across Asia after increasing registered capital to 17.02 billion baht from 2.14 billion baht.

The capital injection came Tuesday from 14.88 additional listed shares bought by PRG Development Co to become the majority shareholder with 87.45% of Prime.

With the new capital, Prime is qualified to move the shares from the Market for Alternative Investment (MAI) to the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET).

Chairman Somprasong Panjalak said Prime is keen to develop renewable projects in Thailand through the government’s community-owned power scheme, known as Energy for All.

The government aims to have power generation of 300-400 megawatts in remote areas by 2022 under the scheme.

Prime has a decade of experience in renewable power both domestically and abroad, Mr Somprasong said.

“Prime will capitalise on its strength and expertise in renewable power projects with international acceptance,” he said. “After listing on the SET, Prime will focus on large-scale power projects and high-potential countries with strong demand for renewable power such as Taiwan, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.”

Prime won the latest bid for a solar farm generating 78MW in Kampong Chhnang province, Cambodia. Of the total power generation, 60MW is under a purchase agreement.

Mr Somprasong said Cambodia is a fast-growing economy with high demand for additional power.

Prime has total power generation of 287MW from solar farms. Of the total capacity, 179MW is in operation and 108MW is under development.

Prime has solar farms of 132.3MW in Thailand, 68.2MW in Japan, 8.5MW in Taiwan and 78MW in Cambodia.

The company expects to increase power generation from renewables to 500MW by 2022.

“The solar farm in Cambodia is planned to expand in the second phase by 40MW,” Mr Somprasong said.

In 2018, Prime made a back-door listing on the MAI through Food Capital Plc. The reverse takeover afforded a faster process than raising funds from an initial public offering.

Prime reported revenue of 336 million baht in the first six months of 2019, up 30% year-on-year, and a net profit in the period of 166 million baht, up 44%.

As of June, Prime had a net profit margin of 49% and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04.

In 2018, Prime posted revenue of 509 million baht and a net profit of 185 million baht.