JSW Energy Q2 PAT up 37 per cent YoY at Rs 297 crore

Company gets Rs 600 crore loan for roof-top solar power project

Sajjan Jindal-led JSW Energy on Wednesday posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 297 crore for the September quarter, up 37 per cent from the corresponding period last year due to increased revenues.

Drop in finance cost also lent support to the bottom line in the period under review.

The company's top line stood at Rs 2,219 crore in the period under review, up 6 per cent, largely due to better merchant realisations and increase in other income.

The company’s net power generation was 6,117 million units in the second quarter of FY 2017-18 compared to 6,276 million units a year ago. The merchant sales during the quarter were 1,182 million units. It said that the fuel cost for the quarter increased by 8 per cent year-on-year to Rs 936 crore, primarily due to increase in international prices of coal.

The EBIDTA before exceptional items for the quarter was Rs 1,053 crore as against Rs 1,014 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year, an increase of 4%, primarily due to better merchant realisations, higher other income and savings in operation and maintenance costs, partly offset by higher fuel costs, it said.

The finance costs have declined to Rs 391 crore from Rs 436 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year primarily due to interest rate reductions achieved through refinancing arrangements as well as prepayment/repayment of borrowings.

The consolidated net worth and consolidated net debt as on 30 September 2017 were Rs 11,259 crore and Rs 12,679 crore, respectively, resulting in a low net debt to equity ratio of 1.13 times, it added.

On the electric vehicle venture, the company has signed a memorandum of understanding with Gujarat for setting up facilities for the manufacture of electric car and storage battery.

The board has approved capex budget for setting up new thermal generation capacity of 36MW for JSW Cement under long-term PPA. The company is working towards developing capability in the renewable energy space and plans to set up 7MW solar power units consisting of 6MW capacity for JSW Cement under long-term PPA and 1MW capacity for JSW Energy’s captive consumption.

The company also announced about securing a Rs 600 crore line of credit at an attractive interest rate from State Bank of India in partnership with World Bank for funding rooftop solar power projects.