Endesa Chile H1 profit doubles to US$266mn

Chilean generator Endesa Chile doubled its January-June net profit to 135bn pesos (US$266mn) compared to the 67.7bn pesos posted in 1H07, the company said in a statement.

The increase was attributed to a 3.6% rise in operating profits and a 56.3% increase in non-operating results because of improvements related to the company's activities in Brazil and GasAtacama holdings in Chile.

Revenues rose 25% to 1.08tn pesos compared to the 860bn pesos posted in 1H07. The increase was attributed to increased revenues from power sales in Chile, Colombia and Argentina. While physical power sales rose in Peru, revenues were negatively affected by lower average prices.

Ebitda for the first six months of the year rose 3.5% to 420bn pesos. Some 51% of company Ebitda for the period resulted from its activities in Chile and 30.7% from operations in Colombia. Peru accounted for 10% and Argentina followed with 8.3%.

Endesa Chile sold a total of 27.0TWh in the first half of the year, down 0.7% from the same period of 2007. The decrease was attributed to a to a conservation campaign launched in Chile, according to the statement.

Physical power sales in Argentina dropped 10% because of increased hydrology but increased 9% in Colombia and 6% in Peru.

Endesa generated 24.7TWh in the period, down 2.2% from 25.2TWh in 1H07. The decrease resulted from drier hydro conditions across the region compared to the same half of 2008.

Endesa Chile is controlled by Spain's Endesa through its Enersis subsidiary.

Publication: Business News Americas - English News
Provider: Business News Americas
Date: July 31, 2008

Chile's vegetarian market expands

The myth that eating vegetables is boring no longer seems true in Chile. It seems that each month there are more vegetarian food products, stores, and restaurants, all featuring new options that may even attract the typical meat-eater. Photo by Roberto Silva, Santiago Times

“There were very few vegetarian food stores five years ago,” said César Sanchez, owner of the Diprovena vegetarian food store. “People had to look everywhere to find good products.”

Four years ago Sanchez created a vegetarian mail-order and delivery service. After his sales doubled within the first year, he realized the demand for the products was large and decided to try his luck opening a store of his own, which today has turned into the successful Diprovena.

“We can guarantee to serve different dishes than the rest of the restaurants of Santiago,” said Pilar Alamparte, owner of the vegetarian restaurant Unicornio. “We base our cooking on tofu and wheat without starch”.

Chilean vegans can find what they want , too, things like soy hot-dog meat, mayonnaise, salami, and cheese, all made from a vegetable base.


Chilean small and medium sized companies, who specialize in vegetable protein food products are expanding extremely rapidly. Effourt company was initially created for the production of vegan mayonnaise. The firm has now diversified into soy burgers and soy milk. These alternative food companies are developing new tasty products including mushroom, olive and red-pepper paté, chocolate soy milk and vegetable-based steaks.

Chile’s booming organic food market could well contribute to the growing vegetarian trend (ST July, 8).

Publication: Santiago Times
Provider: Chip News
Date: July 18, 2008

Cencosud projects 70 percent rise in internet sales

Retail giant Cencosud is expecting online sales to reach US$50 million by the end of this year, company officials said this week. Outlets such as Paris, Jumbo and Easy have improved websites, and were recently praised by the Chilean Internet security company Netprovider as some of the best retail stores online. The company's Internet sales growth is a result of the focus placed on improving the online sales process and improvements made to each of the stores’ websites, Cencosud sales manager Andrés Silva said.

Further indications of the company's expansion on the Internet can be seen in the growth of its online management department, which had fewer than 100 people in 2006 and now employs over 300.

Paris, Cencosud's first retail outlet to open up shop online, now accounts for more than half of the group's annual Internet sales. Their website, Paris.cl, launched in September 1999 and is expected to sell more than US$30 million this year. According to Silva, within four years the website will have the most sales of the entire Paris chain.

Jumbo is Cencosud’s chain of supermarkets that offers food and beverage products and is also a chain of restaurants. Its Internet sales are expected to triple this year compared to 2007, when it made close to US$20 million.

Easy, Concosud's chain of home appliance centers, is the youngest of the group's Internet players, having only been online since January of this year. "We didn't really know what would happen [with Easy] but it's been running for more than five months now and is growing at a rate of 50 percent each month," Silva said.

Publication: Santiago Times
Provider: Chip News
Date: July 9, 2008

AES Gener ups Angamos power supply deal with miner

Chilean generator AES Gener's EEA subsidiary, which is developing the 460MW Angamos coal-fired thermo plant, has modified its power supply deal with copper miner Minera Escondida, AES Gener told financial regulator SVS.

AES Gener has contracted 430MW of capacity from the plant to Minera Escondida and subsidiaries of the miner's operator BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP), according to the statement.

The Angamos plant now will supply 340MW of capacity to Escondida, up from the 220MW contracted in March 2008.

In addition, AES Gener's Norgener subsidiary could transfer a 62MW power supply contract with Escondida to EEA, the generator said.

Publication: Business News Americas - English News
Provider: Business News Americas
Date: July 7, 2008