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Informist, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024

 

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--Torrent Power Jul-Sept consol PAT INR 4.81 bln vs INR 5.26 bln year ago 
--Torrent Power Jul-Sept consol revenue INR 71.76 bln vs INR 69.61 bln yr ago 
--Torrent Power Apr-Sept consol PAT INR 14.53 bln vs INR 10.43 bln year ago 
--Torrent Power Apr-Sept consol revenue INR 162.10 bln vs INR 142.89 bln 
--Torrent Power Jul-Sept consol generation sales INR 18.3 bln vs INR 19.6 bln 
--Torrent Power Jul-Sept consol T&D revenue INR 65.97 bln vs INR 63.52 bln 
--Torrent Power Jul-Sept consol renewables sales INR 2.91 bln vs INR 3.67 bln 
--Torrent Power Jul-Sept power purchase cost INR 51.13 bln vs INR 49.72 bln 
--Torrent Power: Jul-Sept PAT dn on lower contribution from renewable ops 
--Torrent Power: Jul-Sept PAT down on lower contribution from thermal ops 
--Torrent Power: Incurred consolidated capex of INR 14 bln in Apr-Sept 
--CONTEXT: Torrent Power management comments in post-earnings analyst call 
--Torrent Power: Incurred INR 6.50 bln consol capex for renewables Apr-Sept 
--Torrent Power: Pump storage project will be commissioned in 48 months
 

 

By Arya S. Biju and Ketan Barot

 

MUMBAI – Torrent Power Ltd. reported an 8.5% on-year fall in its net profit for the September quarter due to lower contribution from its thermal and renewable businesses, offsetting an increase in contribution from its licenced distribution businesses. The power generation company reported a consolidated net profit of INR 4.81 billion for the September quarter, down from INR 5.26 billion a year ago.

 

The consolidated revenue for the quarter was INR 71.76 billion, up 3.1% on year. The company clocked an on-year growth in revenue for the third consecutive quarter during Jul-Sept. Sequentially, the company's consolidated net profit fell 51% and its consolidated revenue was down 21%. Other income of the company for the quarter was INR 1.25 billion, up 15.25% on year.

 

The net profit was also dragged down by an increase in finance and depreciation costs on account of capital expenditure and commissioning of additional renewable generation capacity, Torrent Power said. The finance cost of the company was INR 2.72 billion, up 10.2% on year, and the depreciation and amortisation expense was INR 3.71 billion, up 8.6% on year.

 

Torrent Power's power purchase cost for the quarter rose 2.8% on year to INR 51.13 billion. Of this, the cost of purchasing electricity was INR 37.56 billion, up 7.4% on year. Fuel cost fell 8% on year to INR 13.57 billion. Other expenses of the company rose 14.2% on year to INR 4.11 billion. Total expenditure for the quarter rose to INR 66.12 billion, up 4.5% on year.

 

For the six months to September, the company reported a net profit of INR 14.53 billion, up 39% on year. Revenue for Apr-Sept was INR 162.10 billion, up 13% on year.

 

Torrent Power posted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation of INR 13.32 billion, largely flat on year. For Apr-Sept, the EBITDA was INR 32.66 billion, up 25.6% on year.

 

The consolidated revenue from the power generation segment fell 6.6% on year to INR 18.34 billion while revenue from the renewables segment fell 20.6% on year to INR 2.91 billion. Revenue from the transmission and distribution segment for the quarter was INR 65.97 billion, up 3.8% from a year ago. 

 

The plant load factor of the company's SUGEN plant increased to 51% in the September quarter from 40% a year ago, while the UNOSUGEN plant's load factor fell sharply to 8% from 49% a year ago. The plant load factor of the DGEN plant rose to 7% from 3% a year ago, while that of the AMGEN plant declined to 83% from 96% a year ago. The plant load factor of the company's gas plant was unchanged at 25% on year. The plant load factor of the thermal plant fell to 32% from 33% a year ago. Plant load factor is a metric that measures the performance of a power plant by comparing the actual energy it generates to the maximum energy it can generate.

 

In the renewable power segment, the plant load factor of the company's wind segment for the quarter fell to 32.3% from 36.7% a year ago. The solar business' plant load factor for the quarter fell to 13.4% from 14.8% a year ago.

 

The contribution from the renewables business for the quarter was down due to lower plant load factor on account of cold weather conditions and partial commissioning of the solar project under the stabilisation period, Torrent Power said in an investor presentation. Similarly, the lower contribution from its thermal business was on account of reduced merchant power sales due to weak electricity demand due to extended and heavy monsoon in the September quarter, Torrent Power said. 

 

The transportation and distribution loss for the licenced distribution business from the Ahmedabad plant for Apr-Sept decreased to 4.5% from 6.3% a year ago. In Surat, the loss increased to 3.3% in the September quarter from 2.4% a year ago.

 

CONFERENCE CALL

In the post-earnings conference call, the company's management said that the company incurred a total consolidated capital expenditure of INR 14 billion in Apr-Sept. Of this, INR 6.5 billion was for the renewable energy segment and INR 7 billion was for licences and franchises. In the September quarter, the company said it had a foreign exchange loss of INR 240 million due to fluctuations in the euro.

 

Earlier this year, the government awarded Torrent Power 18,000 tonnes per annum capacity of green hydrogen under its production-linked incentive scheme. In October, the company said that it expects to start producing green hydrogen from 2025-26 (Apr-Mar). In the conference call, the company's management said that it has not committed any capital towards this project and is currently trying to find a commercial use case for green hydrogen, and a price at which it could be sold. The company said it expects the pumped storage hydropower plant to be commissioned in 48 months.

 

On Wednesday, shares of the company closed at INR 1,645.10 on the National Stock Exchange, down 0.8%. The company announced its earnings for the September quarter after market hours.  End

 

Edited by Ashish Shirke

 

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