Malakoff net profit up 13% to Rm94.49mil in third quarter

PETALING JAYA: Malakoff Corp Bhd registered a net profit of Rm94.49mil for the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2019, a 13.17% increase from the Rm83.49mil achieved in the same period a year ago.

The independent power producer said this came after improved contribution from its Tanjung Bin Energy Sdn Bhd (TBE) coal plant and gain on remeasurement of existing investment in Shuaibah water and power assets following completion of the acquisition of Khazanah Nasional Bhd’s equity interest in Desaru Investment Ltd.

However, the company told Bursa Malaysia that it recorded lower pre-tax profit of Rm139mil compared with Rm165.4mil in same quarter a year ago. This was primarily attributed to higher operations and maintenance costs and absence of gain from the disposal of 20% equity interest in Lekir Bulk Terminal Sdn Bhd (LBTSB).

Revenue came in lower at Rm1.86bil – a decrease of 2.8% from Rm1.91bil posted in the same period previously – due to lower energy payment recorded from the Tanjung Bin Power Sdn Bhd (TBP) coal plant, given the lower dispatch factor following the plant’s scheduled maintenance outage performed between August 24-Oct 21 this year.

For the nine-month period, the group recorded Rm5.68bil in revenue or an increase of 4% from the same period before, primarily due to higher energy payment recorded from TBP and TBE coal plants. This came on the back of higher applicable coal price as well as from Segari Energy Ventures Sdn Bhd given the higher dispatch factor.

Conversely, it recorded a 2.4% drop in pre-tax profit to Rm393.2mil due to higher operations and maintenance costs, improved depreciation charges and absence of gain from the disposal of investment in LBTSB.

Malakoff said it would continue to focus on enhancing the efficiency and reliability of its assets.

“To this end, our Tanjung Bin Energy Plant had undertaken a 73-day scheduled outage in the first half of 2019 and its unscheduled outage rate has now reduced to below 6%,” the company said.

On the government’s aspiration to migrate from the present power purchase agreement mechanism to an open market system under the recently announced power sector reforms, Malakoff said it would “monitor developments with a view to capitalising on the opportunities presented by the reform, especially in the area of renewable energy.”