Earnings per share for the quarter were 1.11 rupees compared with 0.87 rupees a year ago.

“The performance of the current quarter has been extremely satisfactory for both thermal and hydro segments of the company,” managing director Kishan Nanayakkara said in a statement accompanying the accounts.

“We expect that the forthcoming quarter also to be reasonably good, although our two hydropower plants will gradually be moving in towards dry-season operations.”

The company’s first hydropower plant, Giddawa Hydro Power, did well to make a net profit of 30.3 million rupees for the quarter under review, Nanayakkara said.

“As expected, Giddawa reached peak performances during inter-monsoonal and North-East monsoonal periods, sustaining around 80-90 percent plant utilization level between November and December.”

The firm last year had an initial public offer to cash to increase renewable energy generation.

In December 2009, the company bought Senok Mark Hydro, an operational 2.6 Mega Watt hydropower plant for 196.0 million rupees.

“Our early reading of the plant's performance has been very satisfactory and we expect that the plant will enhance the economic value to the shareholders in the future,” Nanayakkara said.

Hemas has also got the energy permit to build another plant, the 2.4MW capacity Magalganga hydropower project.

Hemas Power profits in the nine months to December 31, 2009 went up four percent to 146 million rupees while sales fell 47 percent to 2.1 billion.

The accounts also showed a sharp fall in the firm’s finance costs as interest rates fell.

Nanayakkara said revenue fell because of sharply lower fuel costs at its Heladhanavi thermal power plant as oil prices fell.

“The cost of fuel is a pass-through-cost hence; it does not impact the company’s profitability.”

The bulk of Heladhanavi’s variable operations and maintenance costs was charged during the first half of the year depressing the financial performances of the first half, Nanayakkara said.

“In spite of this, the significant reduction in furnace oil price and interest rates in general between the comparative periods helped Heladhanavi to lower its finance cost considerably.”