(Reuters) -Power Grid Corporation of India posted a marginal fall in fourth-quarter profit on Monday amid sector-wide delays in energy transmission projects.
The state-run energy transmission company’s consolidated net profit fell 0.5% from a year ago to 41.43 billion rupees ($485 million) in the quarter ended March 31.
Revenue from operations rose 2.5% to 122.75 billion rupees.
The company also said it has sold its entire stake in two joint ventures (JVs) — Torrent Power Grid, a JV with Torrent Power, and Sikkim Power Transmission, a JV with Sikkim Urja.
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KEY CONTEXT
India’s clean energy sector is facing setbacks due to delays in transmission projects, especially interstate ones.
These hold-ups are leading to weak demand for tenders, delays in signing power agreements and project cancellations — all of which are hurting the country’s efforts to meet rising energy needs, the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis had said in March.
The state-run power transmission giant’s revenue from transmission business, which accounts for most of total revenue, fell 0.5% in the quarter.
PEER COMPARISON
Valuation (next 12 Estimates (next 12 Analysts’ sentiment
months) months)
RIC PE EV/EBITDA Revenue Profit growth Mean No. of Stock to Div
growth (%) (%) rating* analyst price yield
s target** (%)
Power Grid 16.52 9.05 4.89 6.76 Buy 18 0.92 3.50
Corporation of
India
Tata Power Company NULL 12.48 11.65 23.50 Hold 21 0.96 0.55
Torrent Power 27.74 12.42 9.67 -5.06 Hold 9 1.07 1.25
NTPC 14.57 9.18 8.10 9.31 Buy 17 0.82
* Mean of analysts’ ratings standardised to a scale of Strong Buy, Buy, Hold, Sell, and Strong Sell
** Ratio of the stock’s last close to analysts’ mean price target; a ratio above 1 means the stock is trading above the PT
JANUARY-MARCH STOCK PERFORMANCE
— All data from LSEG
— $1 = 85.4170 Indian rupees
(Reporting by Yagnoseni Das in Bengaluru; Editing by Sahal Muhammed)
