JSW Energy down 4% after Dec quarter profit tanks to Rs 180 crore, HDFC Sec retains 'sell'

Shares of JSW Energy shed over 4 percent intraday on January 23 after the company declared its third quarter earnings.

JSW Energy on January 20 reported a 45 percent decline in its consolidated net profit to Rs 180 crore for the December 2022 quarter. Its consolidated profit after tax (PAT or net profit) stood at Rs 180 crore (in the quarter ended on December 31), which was lower compared to Rs 324-crore net recorded a year back, according to a statement from the company.

JSW Energy stated that during the October-December 2022 quarter, its total revenue increased 18 percent to Rs 2,350 crore from Rs 1,984 crore a year ago due to higher realisation as higher fuel costs are passed through in nature for long term power purchase agreements (LT PPA).

Catch all the market action on our live blog

The EBITDA for the quarter was 18 percent lower at Rs 727 crore vis-à-vis Rs 882 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year.

Finance costs during the quarter increased by 9 percent to Rs 214 crore due to additional borrowings (for ongoing growth capex) and an increase in weighted average cost of debt to 8.29 percent with the rising rates cycle.

At 10:36am, JSW Energy was quoting at Rs 249.90, down Rs 12.30, or 4.69 percent, on the BSE. It has touched an intraday high of Rs 256.00 and an intraday low of Rs 246.

According to HDFC Securities, JSW Energy's Q3 FY23 sales were 10 percent above the consensus estimate at Rs 22.5 billion (+18.7 percent YoY), driven by higher blended realisation, which was up 30.3 percent YoY to Rs 5.5 per unit. Net generation, however, declined 4.8 percent YoY to 4.3 billion due to a relatively weaker merchant market as coal prices increased by 37 percent YoY to $227 per tonne during the quarter.

"Acquisition of Mytrah Energy is expected to be completed in Q4 FY23 (delayed by a quarter), which along with the phase-wise commissioning of SECI IX-810MW and X-450 MW will take the total operational capacity to 9.1GW by FY24. Further, JSW Energy completed the acquisition of the Utkal Ind-Bharath project having 700MW capacity pursuant to NCLT under IBC whose project revival plan is in progress and commissioning is expected in the next 24 months.

"JSW Energy is generating Rs 24-25 billion per annum in cash profit, which is sufficient to fund its pipeline projects and aims to maintain the debt/EBITDA level below 4-5x. However, the valuation looks expensive at Rs 262 (RoE - ~8.9 percent, FY25 P/E – 23.6x, P/BV - 2.0x). Thus, we maintain sell with a stop loss target price of Rs 186," he said.