TransAlta Corp. booked C$275 million in fourth-quarter 2017 comparable EBITDA, a decrease from C$374 million in the fourth quarter of 2016.
Despite the year-over-year drop, the result beats the S&P Capital IQ consensus estimate for fourth-quarter 2017 comparable EBITDA of C$263.6 million.
Free cash flow was C$101 million, or 35 cents per share, in the fourth quarter of 2017, compared with C$62 million, or 22 cents per share, a year earlier. The company generated C$638 million in fourth-quarter revenues, a decrease from C$717 million in the prior-year period.
TransAlta posted a fourth-quarter net loss attributable to common shareholders of C$145 million, or a loss of 50 cents per share, compared with net earnings of C$61 million, or 21 cents per share, in the 2016 fourth quarter.
On a full-year basis, TransAlta reported comparable EBITDA for 2017 of C$1.06 billion, beating the S&P Capital IQ consensus estimate of $1.03 billion. The company booked C$1.14 billion in comparable EBITDA for 2016.
Free cash flow was up to C$328 million, or C$1.14 per share, in 2017, from C$257 million, or 89 cents per share, in 2016. Revenues for the full year were C$2.31 billion, compared with C$2.40 billion in 2016.
The company recorded a net loss attributable to common shareholders of C$190 million, or 66 cents per share, in 2017, compared with net earnings of C$117 million, or 41 cents per share, in 2016.
TransAlta continues to target full-year 2018 comparable EBITDA of C$950 million to C$1.05 billion and free cash flow of C$275 million to C$350 million.
The power generator plans to seek the Toronto Stock Exchange acceptance of a normal course issuer bid. It has received approval from its board to repurchase up to 14 million of its common shares.
