Tenaga Posts 1st-Quarter Profit on Higher Power SalesPrint this page
Date: 27 January 2005
Jan. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Tenaga Nasional Bhd., Malaysia's biggest power producer, posted a profit in the fiscal first quarter after a year-earlier loss as higher electricity sales countered rising costs of its foreign currency loans. Tenaga had net income of 8.5 million ringgit ($2.2 million),or 0.27 sen a share, in the three months ended Nov. 30, compared with a loss of 26.4 million ringgit, or 0.85 sen, a year earlier,the Kuala Lumpur-based company said in a statement today. Sales rose 7.1 percent to 4.5 billion ringgit. The company had a translation loss of 438.8 million ringgit in the first quarter because the Malaysian currency weakened against the yen, the U.K. pound and the euro, it said. Tenaga, the biggest borrower of foreign loans among Malaysian publicly traded companies, is seeking to present a plan in the second quarter to reduce debt which has been a drag on earnings, negating the benefits of rising economic growth. Malaysia's economy probably grew 7 percent in 2004, the fastest since 2000, according to government forecasts. The announcement was made after the market closed. Tenaga shares were unchanged at 10.80 ringgit. They have fallen 1.8 percent in the past three months, compared with a 8.4 percent gain in the benchmark Composite Index.