NTPC porfit up 7% at Rs 5,208.87 crore in Q3, other figures are not rosy

New Delhi: State-owned power giant NTPC on Monday reported over 7 per cent rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 5,208.87 crore for the December 2023 quarter, aided by energy sales through trading.

Its net profit stood at Rs 4,854.36 crore in the year-ago period, a BSE filing said.

The total income fell to Rs 43,574.65 crore in the quarter from Rs 44,989.21 crore in the same period a year ago.

The company's expenses rose to Rs 38,782.22 crore from Rs 37,007.51 a year ago.

"Revenue from operations for the quarter and nine months ended 31 December 2023 include Rs 2,117.12 crore and Rs 7,012.90 crore, respectively (Previous quarter and nine months Rs 1,984.92 crore and Rs 6,039.14 crore, respectively) on account of sale of energy through trading," the filing said.

The Board of Directors of the company has also approved a second interim dividend of 2.25 per share (face value of Rs 10 each) for the financial year 2023-24 in their meeting held on January 29, 2024. The date of payment/dispatch of the dividend shall be February 22, 2024.

The Board had declared the first interim dividend of 2.25 per share (face value of Rs 10 each) for the financial year 2023-24 in their meeting held on October 28, 2023, which was paid in November 2023.

The average tariff of the company was Rs 4.57 per unit during April-December this fiscal compared to Rs 4.96 per unit a year ago.

The gross electricity generation of NTPC increased to 89.467 billion units (BU) during the third quarter against 78.646 BU in the year-ago period.

Coal output increased to 8.09 MMT in the quarter from 5.35 MMT a year ago. Its production also increased during April-December this fiscal to 19.92 MMT from 13.75 MMT.

Plant load factor or capacity utilisation of coal-based thermal power plants improved to 75.95 per cent in the quarter from 68.85 per cent a year ago.

Domestic coal supply improved to 60.23 MMT in the October-December quarter over 52.45 MMT in the same period last fiscal.

Gas consumption improved to 2.26 MMSCMD from 1.13 MMSCMD.

Imported coal supply stood at 2.15 MMT in the quarter against 1.57 MMT a year ago.

NTPC Group's installed power generation capacity stood at 73,874 MW as of December 31, 2023.

Since the results were better than marekt expectations, the scrips opened at Rs.320.50 are trading at Rs 322.05 on NSE at 10.30 am, but Rs 2.05 or 0.74% down from yesterday's clsoing rate.