Spark Energy has its ‘best year’
Natural gas prices hit a near 20-year low in 2016, a plunge that allowed the retail electric company, which buys electricity contracts, to buy cheap energy and keep supply costs low.
CEO Nathan Kroeker said last year “was the best year we ever had. When commodity prices are low, that’s our opportunity to grow.”
The 18-year-old company went public in 2014, when it posted a loss of around $4.3 million. But since then, the company has completed 10 acquisitions to help manage its debt. By 2015, it reported a profit of nearly $26 million; in 2016, its net income was nearly $65.7 million. Spark is eighth on the Houston Chronicle’s 2017 list of top-performing Houston companies. Its earnings per share more than doubled and overall. Spark’s revenue grew by nearly 53 percent. Kroeker expects the company’s revenue to grow by a similar magnitude in 2017, driven by at least three more acquisitions.