The international credit rating agency S&P Global Ratings (S&P) has raised the outlook on the long-term credit rating BBB+ assigned to the Latvian transmission system operator JSC Augstsprieguma tīkls (AST) from stable to positive. One of the factors influencing the increase in the growth outlook was the fact that at the beginning of August S&P improved Latvia's country risk assessment, which reflects S & P's opinion on the improvement of the business environment.

"The review of AST's credit rating, raising its growth potential from stable to positive, proves that AST's financial policy since February this year, when S&P first approved AST's credit rating, has been correct and has a positive impact on the company. Of course, the overall risk assessment of the Latvian state must also be taken into consideration", says Gunta Jēkabsone, Chairman of the Board of AST.

Last year AST took over the assets of the transmission network and the liabilities assumed by the previous asset owner in the amount of 202 million EUR, with short repayment terms, which is a significant burden of liabilities. According to the developed liability refinancing plan, the loan amounted to 116 million EUR is planned to be refinanced by issuing bonds.

The rating agency is a long-term cooperation partner that monitors the company's main events, development and annually evaluates financial stability. AST chose S&P as its partner for credit rating and follow-up as a result of the procurement. S&P is one of the leading international credit rating agencies, which also determines the credit rating of Latvia at the international level.

A credit rating is an assessment of the creditworthiness of a company, region or country. The credit rating is based on the past and current financial history of market participants, as well as on the assessment of their assets and financial liabilities. The report on the credit rating assigned to AST is available on the AST website at https://www.ast.lv/en/content/rating