Spain's Agbar H1 net up 47 pct on one-off gains
MADRID, July 30 (Reuters) - Spanish water utility Aguas de Barcelona (AGS.MC: Quote, Profile, Research) posted a 47 percent rise in first-half net profit on Wednesday, boosted by one-off gains.
Net profit rose to 147.7 million euros in the first half compared with 100.7 million 12 months earlier, as in the second quarter it booked 81.2 million euros of capital gains from the sale of 0.16 percent of France's Suez, now part of GDF Suez (GSZ.PA: Quote, Profile, Research), which was controlled by its fully-owned arm Agbarex SLU.
GDF Suez and La Caixa's industrial holding Criteria (CRIT.MC: Quote, Profile, Research) jointly hold 90 percent of Agbar shares.
EBITDA rose 6.6 percent to 296.2 million euros, while revenues grew 9.7 percent to 1.53 billion euros.
Net debt stood at 434.1 million euros at end-June compared with 532.8 million at end-December.
(Reporting by Judy MacInnes; editing by David Cowell)
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