Reliance Power Q1 net up 22% to Rs 239.5cr but margins fall

Consolidated net sales jumped 109.6% to Rs 1,136 crore from Rs 542 crore during the same period, which too was better than forecast of Rs 1,005 crore due to jump in power production at its Rosa plant.

However, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) margin fell by 200 basis points YoY to 32.1% in the first quarter of FY13 as against analysts' expectations of 36.1%.

Power and fuel cost increased significantly to Rs 725.84 crore from Rs 307.01 crore and depreciation cost jumped to Rs 68.61 crore from Rs 28.58 crore during the same period.

Finance cost too shot up quite sharply to Rs 128.85 crore in the first quarter of FY13 as against Rs 76.09 crore in a year ago period and tax expenses went up to Rs 43.70 crore from Rs 31.55 crore year-on-year.

Other income declined during the first quarter to Rs 116 crore from Rs 147.43 crore YoY.
 
Reliance Power has successfully synchronised its first 300 MW unit of 600 MW Butibori project in Maharasthra during the quarter. The company said it would commission full 600 MW Butibori power project by 2012-end.

In a press release sent to exchanges, the company said construction activities at 3,960 MW Sasan Ultra Mega Power Project in Madhya Pradesh has been progressing rapidly. It expects first supercritical unit to be commissioned ahead of schedule by end of this year.

"Work at the Sasan UMPP in MP and the associated coal mines is in full swing. Coal production is set to begin before the commissioning of the first unit of the Sasan UMPP," JP Chalasani, CEO of Reliance Power said.

The state council of Government of China has approved loans of USD 1.1 billion (Rs 6,200 crore) from Bank of China, China Development Bank and the Export Import Bank of China for the Sasan project. The project also secured loans of USD 800 million from US-Exim Bank and Standard Chartered Bank.

He said, "The 1,200 MW Rosa plant in Uttar Pradesh has been operating at a high operational efficiency and the plant generated over 2 billion units of electricity this quarter." The plant had generated 1.190 billion units in the previous quarter. Operating revenues almost doubled to Rs 988 crore from Rs 542 crore YoY.

The 40 MW solar photovoltaic plant in Rajasthan has been operational in record time of only 129 days, which contributed Rs 24 crore to total revenues.

The company has been utilised upto Rs 11,332.94 crore out of total IPO proceeds of Rs 11,563.20 crore, for its various power projects.

The share price rose 1.25% to Rs 93.45 on the National Stock Exchange.