Posco earns $7.3 mln profit from $2.1-bln coal-fired power plant in northern Vietnam

South Korea’s Posco Holdings Inc. recorded a profit of KRW10.1 million ($7.3 million) in the first quarter of 2024 from AES Mong Duong Power Company Limited, the operator of the $2.1-bln Mong Duong II coal-fired power plant in northern Vietnam.

The figure fell 3.4% year-on-year, according to the company's quarterly report. The South Korean materials and steel conglomerate holds a 30% stake in AES Mong Duong.

Posco’s report also showed that AES Mong Duong earned a net income of KRW33,736 million ($24.4 million) on a sales revenue of KRW124,068 million ($89.8 million) in Q1/2024.

According to the report, AES Mong Duong had total assets of KRW1,739.5 billion ($1.26 billion) as of end-Q1/2024, while its liabilities and equity were KRW946.5 billion and KRW793 billion, respectively.

Mong Duong II in the northern province of Quang Ninh is a wholly foreign-invested project under the build-operate-transfer (BOT) format. The thermal power plant has two turbines of 621 MW each, or 1,242 MW in total.

In November 2023, the U.S.-based AES Corporation, with a 51% stake in the power plant, announced that it would sell all of its stake in the facility to the Czech Republic-based Se.ven Global Investments.

The move remains subject to approval by Vietnamese authorities, and is expected to close in mid-2025. It is also in line with AES's intent to exit the majority of its coal assets by the end of 2025.