Profit Drops 17.7% Sequentially, Misses Estimates

JSW Energy Ltd.’s second-quarter net profit dropped sequentially on lower sales, missing analysts’ estimates.

The Sajjan Jindal-led power firm’s consolidated net profit fell 17.7% sequentially to Rs 456.7 crore in the July-September quarter, according to its exchange filing. Analysts polled by Bloomberg estimated a Rs 670 crore net profit.

JSW Energy Q2 FY23 Highlights (QoQ)

• Revenue from operations fell 21% to Rs 2,387.5 crore, against the estimated Rs 2,711.8-crore on lower generation of power.

• Ebitda fell 13% to Rs 889.7 crore, compared with the Rs 1,211.6-crore forecast.

• Ebitda margin stood at 37.3%, against 33.8% as of June.

Total power generated during the second quarter dropped by 2% year-on-year to 6,675 million units (667.5 crore) units on lower long-term as well as merchant sales, the company said.

Merchant sales in Q2 FY23 dropped to 194 million (19.4 crore) units compared with 236 million (23.6 crore) units a year earlier, largely on weak merchant demand, JSW Energy said.

The plant load factor or the utilisation level dropped across most of the power plants on a yearly basis.

The Ratnagiri power plant’s PLF stood at 54%, against 62% a year earlier, on plant shutdown. The Barmer plant operated at 77% PLF compared with 78% a year earlier, the company said.

The Vijayanagar power plant in Karnataka operated at higher PLF of 42%, compared with 37% a year earlier, on higher long-term sales. However, this is comparatively lower to the national average of over 60%.

Shares of JSW Energy closed 1.08% up before the results were announced, compared with a 0.34% gain in the benchmark BSE Sensex.