KUALA LUMPUR (May 23): YTL Power International Bhd (KL:YTLPOWR) posted a 34.5% year-on-year increase in net profit for its third financial quarter ended March 31, 2024 (3QFY2024), mainly driven by its power generation and investment holding segment, which houses its data centre development operation.
YTL Power operates a power business in Singapore, and has stakes in power plants in Jordan and Indonesia, categorised under investment holdings. It also owns water utility assets in the UK, as well as a controlling stake in the YES 5G mobile network services.
Net profit for 3QFY2024 rose to RM698.69 million from RM519.64 million in the previous year, despite revenue coming in slightly lower by 3.7% at RM5.16 billion compared with RM5.36 billion previously, its bourse filing on Thursday showed.
The company declared an interim dividend of three sen per share with an ex-date on June 11 and payable on June 28. This was a half sen increase from the dividend declared in the previous corresponding quarter of 2.5 sen per share.
YTL Power said the power generation segment reported an increase in profit mainly due to lower interest expenses following loan repayments and strengthening of Singapore dollar against the ringgit.
Meanwhile, the improvement in profit for its investment holding activities was attributed to higher interest income, higher share of profits from the joint venture entities related to the Jordan project and higher foreign exchange gain.
Note that sequentially, YTL Power’s earnings performances have declined for the third consecutive quarter, down from net profit of RM845.12 million and revenue of RM5.37 billion in 2QFY2024.
For the nine-month period (9MFY2024), net profit more than doubled to RM2.39 billion from RM891.74 million in the same period in the previous year, as revenue rose 7.9% to RM15.98 billion from RM14.8 billion.
Moving forward, YTL Power said its power generation segment will continue to focus on customer service, operational efficiency, and exploring diversification beyond the core business into integrated multi-utilities supply.
"As power generation is an essential service, electricity demand is expected to remain stable," it said.
In addition, the lifting of the export ban by the Malaysian government on renewable energy is said to bode well for its wholly owned Singapore-based subsidiary YTL PowerSeraya Pte Ltd, which is well-positioned to participate in the green energy import market to meet rising demand in Singapore.
Further, the group said it will be developing a large portion of the Kulai Young Estate into a large scale solar power facility with a generation capacity of up to 500MW to co-power a 500MW green data centre park.
"This is in line with the group's shift towards investing in more sustainable renewable energy solutions moving forward," it added.
Shares of YTL Power closed unchanged on Thursday at RM5.38 with a market capitalisation of RM44.02 billion.