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Tata Power Co Ltd, the country’s largest private power producer, reported a less-than-expected net profit of Rs 74.97 crore for the quarter ended September 30 on account of higher foreign exchange losses and rising finance costs.
A Bloomberg poll of 22 analysts had estimated the company’s net profit at Rs 128.2 crore.
The Tata Group company had reported a loss of Rs 83.8 crore in the last corresponding quarter, when it made an impairment provision of Rs 250 crore.
Profit from operations (earnings before interest and taxes ) stood at Rs 1,341.64 crore from all its units in Mundra and Maithon during the quarter, up 39 per cent from Rs 968 crore reported a year ago. Gross revenue rose 14 per cent to Rs 8,764.69 crore from Rs 7,700 crore.
“All our projects and subsidiaries have performed well. However, we continue to be pressurised by higher forex losses,” said Anil Sardana, Managing Director. Net forex loss was Rs 355 crore during the fiscal second quarter compared with Rs 32 crore a year earlier, while finance cost stood at Rs 803 crore against Rs 624 crore.
Revenue from the power business increased 16 per cent to Rs 6,393 crore. The coal business revenue saw a seven per cent rise at Rs 2105 crore.
Profit before interest and taxes from the power business was up 54 per cent at Rs 1,130 crore, while the coal business booked a Rs 3.74 crore loss, compared with a profit of Rs. 287 crore in the September 2012 quarter. This was due to lower price realisation and impact of exchange rate.
The Mundra plant in Gujarat incurred a net loss of Rs 297.46 crore against a loss of Rs 461.16 crore, the company said. Tata Power has long demanded the tariff of the power produced at the 4,000-MW Mundra plant be revised, saying it is suffering losses at the current prices as coal prices have gone up in overseas markets. At present, the tariff as per the power purchase agreement for the Mundra plant is Rs. 2.26 per unit.
“On the Mundra plant tariff revision front, we have continued to honour our commitment towards the nation’s energy security by providing reliable and competitive power supply through the project. This has put immense pressure on our bottom line and no company can afford to continue to incur such heavy losses. We are eagerly awaiting quicker resolution of this issue,” Sardana said.
Sales volume for the quarter stood at 3,762 million units (mu) and the overall generation was 3,404 mu. On Thursday, the Tata Power scrip closed 1.09 per cent higher at Rs 78.70 on the BSE.
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