By IZWAN IDRIS (The Star Online)
KUALA LUMPUR: Tenaga Nasional Bhd’s net profit more than tripled in the third quarter versus a year earlier, boosted by foreign exchange (forex) gains and a recovery in domestic electricity demand.
For the quarter ended May 31, TNB made a net profit of RM1.023bil, or 23.6 sen per share, against RM298.8mil, or 6.9 sen per share, in the year-earlier period.
Turnover improved to RM7bil from RM6bil before.
Stripping out the forex gains of RM603mil, TNB’s net profit stood at RM419.9mil.
President and chief executive officer Datuk Seri Che Khalib Mohamad Noh expects the utility firm would probably incur forex translation losses in the final quarter, due to the weaker ringgit trend since June.
A large chunk of TNB’s foreign debt is denominated in US dollar and Japanese yen. The ringgit was stronger against the two currencies in the three months ended May 31, but has since weakened.
Electricity demand in the country had been rising since March. TNB’s press handouts showed a new peak demand level was achieved on June 17 at 14,029 megawatts.
The company’s weekly generation data also showed energy consumption pattern in June and July “to have exceeded the levels achieved last year.’’
“We expect electricity demand to continue to improve in the last quarter,’’ Che Khalib told reporters at the group’s results briefing yesterday.
However, full-year demand was expected to show a slight drop at less than 2% compared with the previous year, dragged down by the steep plunge in usage registered in the January/February period.
Domestic electricity charges were lowered effective March 1 this year.
TNB shares closed unchanged at RM8.40 yesterday, ahead of the results announcement and a Cabinet decision on electricity tariffs. The rates were kept at current levels.
The market had been anticipating a tariff hike, although none had expected an adjustment to happen within TNB’s current financial year ending Aug 31.
“We take it as it is,’’ Che Khalib said when asked to comment on the power tariff adjustment, reiterating the stand that TNB would adjust the rates charged on consumers only if there was a review of the price of gas used to generate electricity.
TNB used 2.9 million tonnes of coal to generate electricity in the third quarter, higher than two million tonnes used in the second quarter. The increased usage of the more expensive coal was due to what TNB termed “gas curtailment,” or disruption in gas supply to its power plants.
This contributed to the decline in TNB’s operating margins in the third quarter.
Che Khalib said TNB would probably miss its target to keep the average coal price at US$85 a tonne this year, as prices had risen in the last quarter. TNB paid an average US$79.90 a tonne for coal in the third quarter, down from US$85 in the second quarter and US$113 a tonne in the first.
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