BackCESC Q3 net profit remains flat at Rs112 crore
Compared with net profit of Rs111 crore in third quarter of last fiscal, CESC net profit remained stagnant at Rs112 crore during the quarter under review
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Kolkata: CESC Ltd, an RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group company, reported a flat quarterly net profit in the three months ended December 2015, due to an increase in the cost of electrical energy purchased.
Compared with a standalone net profit of ₹ 111 crore in the October-December quarter of the last fiscal, the private utility provider’s net profit remained stagnant at ₹ 112 crore during the quarter under review.
Revenue during the quarter increased 23.13% to ₹ 1,538 crore, compared with ₹ 1,249 crore in the year-ago period.
Its other expenses, which include cost of energy, almost doubled during the quarter to ₹ 703 crore, compared with ₹ 376 crore in the corresponding period last fiscal. Total expenses during the period increased by 28.9% to ₹ 1,329 crore. However, its cost of fuel dropped by 16.7% to ₹ 348 crore during the period under review compared with ₹ 418 crore during the same period last year.
Group chairman Sanjiv Goenka said costs have gone up due to higher energy purchases from outside agencies, though there hasn’t been any tariff increase. Cost of electrical energy purchased during the period increased by 167% to ₹ 540 crore, compared with ₹ 202 crore in the year-ago period.
Last month, Goenka said the Standing Linkage Committee finally approved all issues related to ownership change at its 600 megawatt (MW) plant at Chandrapur in Maharashtra. It now hopes to sign fuel supply agreements (FSAs) with Coal India shortly.
Kolkata-headquartered CESC currently has two power purchase agreements (PPAs) for its one unit of 300 MW. Goenka also said for these two PPAs, the linkage from Coal India is likely to come through immediately.
In 2009, CESC acquired a majority stake in Dhariwal Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd, which was setting up a 600 MW thermal power plant at Chandrapur. However, despite commissioning of both units, the plant was denied coal supply on the ground that ownership change was not disclosed to the coal ministry.
Goenka said there has been a significant loss due to the idling of the Chandrapur plant, but added that this clearance will have a positive impact on the bottom line going ahead.
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