Korea Electric Power estimate of profit short of expectations

Korea Electric Power Corporation, the state-run electricity distributor, posted a quarterly profit that missed analyst estimates on higher costs from nuclear reactor shutdowns and foreign-exchange losses from a weaker won.

Net income based on controlling interests was 133.3 billion won ($121 million) in the three months ended March 31, compared with a 538.1 billion won loss a year ago, the Seoul-based company said in a filing today. The average of 11 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg was a profit of 531.3 billion won. The shutdown of some nuclear reactors because of scheduled maintenance and technical issues forced a switch to coal and gas-fired plants to meet power demand, the company said. The cost of nuclear-power generation is 3 won per kilowatt, compared with 22 won at coal-fired plants and 89 won for gas, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

Bloomberg