Bord Gais has reported pre-tax profits of €118m for last year, up 15% on 2003, as turnover grew by 8% to €755m. The company will pay a dividend of €10m to the Exchequer.
The company added 39,000 residential customers, bringing the total to more than 500,000. These customers will be able to choose their gas supplier when the market is fully opened to competition. This move is expected in October this year. 86% of the market is currently open.
Bord Gais also holds a 7% share of the electricity market in the Republic and has secured licences to bring gas to ten towns in the North.
The company is investing €1 billion in the gas network over the four-year period to 2008, a quarter of this in Northern Ireland.
The volume of gas used in Ireland rose by 1% in 2004. High oil prices pushed international wholesale gas prices up by 20%. Bord Gais says this will continue to affect prices to customers in Ireland.
CEO Gerry Walsh said a South-North pipeline from Gormanston, Co Meath to Belfast would be built in 2006, resulting in a fully integrated all-island gas network.
Mr Walsh said the company was looking at options in the electricity market, as it saw 'considerable development opportunity' over the coming years.
