TransAlta Renewables Reports Second Quarter 2015 Results

CALGARY, ALBERTA--(Marketwired - July 31, 2015) - TransAlta Renewables Inc. ("TransAlta Renewables" or the "Company") (TSX:RNW) today reported second quarter comparable EBITDA⁽¹⁾ of $51.7 million and FFO⁽¹⁾ of $43.4 million. Comparable EBITDA and FFO both increased $16.5 million in the quarter compared to the same period last year, primarily due to the contribution from the Company's investment in TransAlta's Australian assets which closed on May 7th, 2015. Comparable net earnings for the second quarter were $22.2 million ($0.14 per share), an increase of $16.3 million compared to $5.9 million ($0.05 per share) in the same period last year.

In May, the Company completed the $1.78 billion investment in an economic interest of TransAlta's 425 MW Australian gas-fired generation assets which are operational and contracted under long-term contracts, the 150 MW South Hedland Power Station, currently under construction, and the recently commissioned 270 kilometre gas pipeline, as well as committing to fund the remaining project costs for the South Hedland project.

"TransAlta Renewables continued to deliver solid operational performance in the second quarter," said Brett Gellner, President. "We continue to deliver on our strategy of diversifying and increasing the scale of the Company and growing the dividend. With the closing of the Australian transaction, we were able to increase the annual dividend by 9% and are targeting another 6-7% increase in 2017 once the South Hedland project is completed."

The South Hedland Power Station is currently under construction and tracking to plan. The power station is fully contracted and is expected to be commissioned in mid-2017. Bulk earthworks and soil remediation work is complete and civil work is now underway. All long lead equipment has been ordered and manufacturing is underway with no reported delays in delivery. The remaining project costs are estimated at $491 million and will be funded by TransAlta Renewables through a combination of internally generated cash flow and borrowings under a credit facility.

(1) Comparable EBITDA refers to Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization and adjusted for certain other items. FFO refers to Funds from Operations. Cash available for distribution represents the amount the cash generated from operations, before changes in working capital and after sustaining and productivity capital, distributions to non-controlling interest and scheduled principal repayments of debts. Comparable EBITDA, funds from operations, cash available for distribution, comparable earnings, comparable earnings per share, funds from operations per share and cash available for distribution per share are not defined under International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS"). Presenting these measures from period to period provides management and investors with the ability to evaluate earnings and cash flow trends more readily in comparison with prior periods' results. Refer to the Non-IFRS Measures section of the Management's Discussion and Analysis ("MD&A") for the quarter for further discussion of these items.