JSW Energy has reported a net profit of Rs 254 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, 2012 as against a net loss of Rs 109 crore in the same period last year.
Pure earnings or EBITDA was up by a whopping 231%, at Rs 622 crore in the given quarter. Net sales, too, at Rs 2,039.43 crore, more than doubled when compared against the September quarter last year’s figure of Rs 965.56 crore. NK Jain, vice chairman, JSW Energy said, “The coal prices went down in the second quarter coupled with higher plant load factor (PLF) which helped us post this profit.”
However, the fuel cost for the company in the quarter stood at Rs 1,100 crore, up by 44% over the same period last year because of the increase in quantum of power generation, the company said.
The company said, “The issues on competitive tariff based bidding guidelines as also the issues on fuel availability and pass through of fuel costs still remain to be addressed among the key issues impacting the growth of the sector. While the tariffs are expected to remain stable with negative bias, the weakness in the international coal prices is expected to provide relief with lower fuel costs.”
The PLF stood at 87.79% as against 63.58% in the corresponding quarter last year. Vijayanagar plant achieved 100% PLF as against 72% last year, Ratnagiri and Barmer plants operated at 90% and 64% PLFs respectively.
The total debt on JSW Energy’s books at the end of the second quarter was Rs 10,145 crore and the debt gearing was 1.7 times.
Apart from completing the Barmer plant, the company is not undertaking any expansion plans currently and therefore has no major capital expenditure plans for the remaining year.
Given the volatile nature of the power tariffs, JSW Energy has changed its strategy and is looking to sign more long term power sale agreements than merchant sale agreements. Almost half of its contracts now are long term.