KUALA LUMPUR (May 25): YTL Power International Bhd’s net profit declined 48.56% to RM519.64 million or 6.41 sen per share in the third quarter ended March 31, 2023 (2QFY2023), from RM1.01 billion or 12.47 sen in the previous year, on the absence of gain on the disposal of its Australian investment.

Nonetheless, the group declared a 2.5 sen interim dividend, to be paid on June 28.

YTL Power announced to Bursa Malaysia that its profit before tax (PBT) in the quarter under review dropped to RM610.4 million from RM1.04 billion a year earlier. Higher PBT in the previous year's corresponding quarter was due to a net gain of RM947.1 million following the disposal of its investment in Australia's Electranet Pty Ltd.

Adjusting from this net gain, its PBT in 3QFY2022 would have been RM89.9 million, YTL Power said.

“Hence, the group PBT of RM610.4 million as compared to the adjusted profit before taxation in the preceding year's corresponding quarter improved significantly by RM520.5 million, principally attributable to better performance by power generation segment,” the electric utility group said on Thursday (May 25).

Its quarterly revenue, in contrast, rose 15.28% to RM5.34 billion from RM4.65 billion, but this was offset by water sewage and telecommunication segments.

YTL Power’s filing showed that revenue from the investment holding activities surged 94.4% to RM132.51 million from RM67.98 million on higher interest income, while the power generation segment recorded a 19.3% rise in revenue to RM4.12 billion from RM3.45 billion due to higher retail prices.

For the cumulative nine months (9MFY2023), the group’s net profit fell 16.22% to RM891.74 million from RM1.06 billion despite revenue expanding by 11.58% to RM14.8 billion from RM13.27 billion.

Following the government’s announcement on the lifting of the export ban on renewable energy, the group said its wholly-owned unit YTL PowerSeraya is well positioned to participate in the green energy import market to meet rising demand in Singapore.

In addition, the group also intends to develop a large portion of the Kulai Young Estate in Johor into a large-scale solar power facility with a generation capacity of up to 500MW to power a green data centre park. ‘This is in line with the group’s shift towards investing in more sustainable energy renewable solutions moving forward,” it added.

At Thursday’s closing bell, YTL Power’s share price was down two sen or 1.71% at RM1.15. This gives the group a market capitalisation of RM9.38 billion.

The stock’s share price has risen over 59% year-to-date.