Profits at the Ascendant group dropped by more than a third in the first six months of this year, the firm has revealed.

The firm, which counts power firm Belco and Bermuda Gas among its operations, logged net earnings of $1.2 million to the end of June this year — down $640,688 (35.2 per cent) on the same period in 2013.

A company statement said that — although earnings at Bermuda Gas and AG Holdings were up, sales at Belco, excluding the cost of fuel, dropped by $1.1 million (1.6 per cent) compared to the first six months of last year.

Total kilowatt hour sales for the first six months of this year also fell, by 2.9 million kWh, or 1.1 per cent, when compared to the same period last year.

The firm added that a its graduated facilities charge — designed to reduce the cost of power for lower-usage residential customers, while slightly increasing the overall cost for the biggest consumers had meant revenue had stayed the same, while encouraging people to adopt energy efficiency measures.

The Belco statement on its figures said the overall decline in electricity sales is due directly to decreased residential kWh sale, which, year to date, are down $1.8 million, with a decline of 6.4 kWh, or 5.5 per cent as compared to those realised in the first six months of 2013.

“This is the fifth consecutive year that Belco has reported significantly reduced kWh consumption, which is attributed primarily to the continued weakness of the local economy, accompanied by lower residential unit occupancy, which is related to increased business closures and downsizing.

“At the same time, some residential customers have increased their use of energy efficient lighting and appliances, converted to renewable energy installations and taken steps to increase energy conservation overall, contributing to lower demand.”

But Belco said the residential decline in demand was partly offset by a $558,000 (2.4 per cent) improvement in demand sales at major projects like the new wing at the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital and increased consumption by other customers.

The report said: “Commercial sales are largely unchanged in 2014 as compared to the same period in 2013.”

But the firm reported that net income at Bermuda Gas had gone up by nearly a third (31 per cent) for the first half of this year compared to the same period in 2013.

It added: “This is encouraging in light of the pressures of persistent economic recession, increased competition and rising gas prices.

“Increased service and parts sales have been major contributors to bottom line strength, as Bermuda Gas continues to cultivate a culture of service excellence.”

Ascendant’s facilities management firm iFM, which is shares 60/40 with Bermuda-registered Black & McDonald, “generated results that are tracking on plan to same period in 2013 with no material difference.”

The firm’s Air Care air conditioning firm, which it took full ownership of this summer, showed increased sales of 22.3 per cent in 2014 ($1.7 million) on a gross sales basis when compared to 2013 sales over the same six month period.

But the report added: “Gross profit, however, declined 5.6 per cent due to unforeseen challenges on a major project, as well as cancellations of several maintenance agreements and underperformance of other maintenance agreements, likely the result of local economic conditions.”

The firm also reported reduced operating and administrative expenses over the first six months of 2014, down by more than $660,000 (0.65 per cent) due to cost control measures and reduced expenditure related to its pension plan compared to the same period the previous year.

But its six month statement added “significant expenses” had been incurred on consultancy fees related to new projects, including an integrated resources plan for Island energy infrastructure development, IT technology and health insurance.