KUALA LUMPUR, May 30 — Tenaga Nasional Bhd’s (TNB) net profit for the first quarter ended March 31, 2022 (Q1 2022) eased to RM893.10 million from RM958.70 million in Q1 2021. However, its revenue had increased 36.4 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM15.65 billion from RM11.47 billion previously, mainly due to the under-recovery position of Imbalance Cost Pass-Through (ICPT) of RM3.50 billion in Q1 2022 compared with the ICPT of RM327.3 million in Q1 2021.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia, it said operating expenses rose by 46.9 per cent y-o-y to RM13.43 billion from RM9.14 billion previously, mainly due to higher fuel prices. Nonetheless, its operating profit recorded a slight increase of RM41.8 million, or 1.8 per cent y-o-y to RM2.67 billion due to a lower net loss on impairment of financial instruments.

The group reported a resilient performance during the quarter under review, underpinned by electricity demand growth of four per cent, consistent with the overall improvement of Malaysia’s gross domestic product (GDP) of five per cent year-on-year. TNB said it foresees a reasonable performance this year with the implementation of Regulatory Period 3 (RP3) effective February 1, 2022. However, the group remains cautious on the prolonged increase in coal price and impact from increase customer’s credit risk outlook.

"On-going risks to growth remained, particularly the expectation of higher core inflation arising from global commodity price surge.

"The heightened geopolitical conflicts and the on-going Russia-Ukraine conflict could have an impact on the growth, thus the group will continue to take prudent measures in terms of its operational and financial requirements to ensure it remains resilient,” it said. — Bernama