Tirana's ghost incinerator's profits rose by 36 percent last year, as the company's state administration has begun to expose the concessionaire's financial abuses. The official balance sheet filed with the National Business Center shows that for 2024, Integrated Energy recorded a pre-tax profit of 10.3 million euros (1 euro = 97 lekë), up from 7.6 million euros the year before.
According to the management report, the Sharra landfill's revenues increased by 8.4 percent, reaching 17.4 million euros, which means that the company has a profit rate of 60 percent on turnover.
This clearly shows how profitable the Sharra waste business is and how expensive Albanian citizens are paying the 29 euro fee for landfilling waste, without receiving any investment in return.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the balance sheet, the company's operating expenses decreased by 17 percent, falling to 6.8 million euros last year.
Integrated Energy has managed to collect some of its outstanding debts from customers, as accounts receivable decreased from 15.1 million euros to 11.9 million euros. This means that last year, Integrated Energy was able to collect more than 3 million euros in unpaid debts owed to it by various customers.
Repayment of debts inherited from the private sector
The better financial result has enabled the company to repay part of the debts inherited before its seizure by SPAK and its placement under state administration. According to the activity progress report for 2024, accounts payable to suppliers decreased by over 400 thousand euros, falling to 6.2 million euros.
The company repaid over 1.4 million euros in inherited loans. However, Integrated Energy still has 7.7 million euros in loans to repay, which were taken out at second-tier banks during the time when the company was managed by the Zoto-Mërtiri duo.
In addition to repaying the loans, the company also paid 3.5 million euros in arrears to the Tax Authorities last year. These obligations were also inherited from the private sector. Meanwhile, according to documents, Integrated Energy still has 2.2 million euros in arrears due to non-payment of taxes during the administration by the private concessionaire.
In short, the citizens of Tirana are already paying the debts left behind by the private administration of the Sharra landfill and will still have to pay another 10 million euros to fully settle the arrears.
Since August 2023, the concessionaire Integrated Energy has been under state administration, after being seized by the Court for corruption. The fate of the company remains undecided, while the state administrator only administers the company, repays debts and allocates profits to the retained earnings account.
Editorial
