KUALA LUMPUR: Tenaga Nasional Bhd posted net loss of RM282.9mil for the fourth quarter ended Aug 31 compared with net profit of RM168.4mil a year ago following higher coal prices and weaker ringgit compared with the US dollar and yen.
Announcing the results on Thursday, Tenaga said revenue rose to RM7.09bil compared with RM6.12bil. Loss per share was 6.53 sen compared with earnings per share of 3.89. It proposed dividend of 10 sen per share compared with 16.3 sen a year ago.
Tenaga said operating profit shrank to only RM259.4mil, sharply lower than RM1.2bil a year ago, weighed down by sharply higher operating expenses of RM6.98bil (from RM5.11bil a year ago).
It recorded foreign exchange translation loss of RM288.8mil compared with the higher RM549mil a year ago.
For the financial year ended Aug 31, net profit fell to RM2.59bil from RM4.06bil a year ago, despite that FY08 revenue rose to RM25.75bil from RM23.32bil. Its operating profit for FY08 declined to RM4.04bil compared with RM5.54bil in FY07.
Tenaga said operating expenses in FY08 rose by 22.5% (RM4.13bil), mainly due to higher capacity payments to independent power producers and higher energy costs including coal.
On the prospects for FY09, it said there were significant challenges with the commissioning of the 1,400MW Jimah power plant (thereby raising capacity payments and the reserve margin from the current 40.8% to 47%) and rising average coal prices.
“Moreover, a weakened ringgit will result in higher fuel cost, procurement cost of imported parts, equipment and services as well as increased cost on the US dollar and yen-denominated loans,” it said
By JOSEPH CHIN (the Star)
Announcing the results on Thursday, Tenaga said revenue rose to RM7.09bil compared with RM6.12bil. Loss per share was 6.53 sen compared with earnings per share of 3.89. It proposed dividend of 10 sen per share compared with 16.3 sen a year ago.
Tenaga said operating profit shrank to only RM259.4mil, sharply lower than RM1.2bil a year ago, weighed down by sharply higher operating expenses of RM6.98bil (from RM5.11bil a year ago).
It recorded foreign exchange translation loss of RM288.8mil compared with the higher RM549mil a year ago.
For the financial year ended Aug 31, net profit fell to RM2.59bil from RM4.06bil a year ago, despite that FY08 revenue rose to RM25.75bil from RM23.32bil. Its operating profit for FY08 declined to RM4.04bil compared with RM5.54bil in FY07.
Tenaga said operating expenses in FY08 rose by 22.5% (RM4.13bil), mainly due to higher capacity payments to independent power producers and higher energy costs including coal.
On the prospects for FY09, it said there were significant challenges with the commissioning of the 1,400MW Jimah power plant (thereby raising capacity payments and the reserve margin from the current 40.8% to 47%) and rising average coal prices.
“Moreover, a weakened ringgit will result in higher fuel cost, procurement cost of imported parts, equipment and services as well as increased cost on the US dollar and yen-denominated loans,” it said
By JOSEPH CHIN (the Star)
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