Thermal power plants record Q4 profit drop on higher costs

Profits among leading thermal power plants in Vietnam plunged sharply in the fourth quarter of 2022 due to high input costs.

Quang Ninh Thermal Power JSC reported net revenue of VND2,262 billion ($96.46 million) in Q4/2022, a 3% drop year-on-year, while after-tax profit was around VND25 billion ($1.07 million), down 86%.

The company said the decline in profit was due to increased coal prices and its using different types of coal due to supply restrictions, causing the heat loss rate to rise.

In 2022, the company achieved net revenue of VND10,417 billion ($444.23 million), up 21.5% year-on-year, and after-tax profit of VND770 billion ($32.84 million), up 33%.

Meanwhile, PetroVietnam Power Nhon Trach 2 JSC gained net revenue of VND1,923 billion ($82 million) in Q4, up 17.7% year-on-year. The company's after-tax profit was nearly VND5.8 billion ($247,340) in the quarter, down 95%.

According to the company (PVPower NT2), the profit declined because of higher administrative expenses, mainly due to the provision expense for bad debts of VND239.6 billion ($10.22 million).

In 2022, PVPower NT2 reached net revenue of VND8,786 trillion ($374.68 million), up 43% year-on-year, and after-tax profit of VND729 billion ($31.09 million), up 36.6%.

Another case, Power Engineering Consulting JSC 2 reported after-tax profit of VND35 billion ($1.49 million) in Q4, down two times year-on-year and net revenue of VND288.8 billion ($12.32 million), down 6%.

In 2022, the company (PECC2) gained a net revenue of VND1,322 billion ($56.38 million) and after-tax profit of VND76.6 billion ($3.27 million), down 2.7 times and 3.5 times year-on-year, respectively.

The company said that in 2022, the national power development plan VIII (PDP VIII) is waiting for government approval, so many investors had put a hold on new factories, leading to a decrease in company revenue compared to the previous year.

In addition, input costs like transportation, raw materials, and interest expenses all increased.

On the contrary, Pha Lai Thermal Power JSC reported a net revenue of VND1,575 billion ($67.16 million) in Q4, three times year-on-year.

Its after-tax profit was VND68.9 billion ($2.94 million), while the figure for the same period in 2021 was negative VND7.1 billion.

In 2022, the company posted a net revenue of VND5,115 billion ($218.13 million) and after-tax profit of VND372.6 billion ($15.89 million), up 32% and 72% year-on-year, respectively.

According to a recent report by leading broker VNDirect, from 2023-2024, the continued high price of imported coal will be the main obstacle to the growth of the coal power segment.

"We expect gas power to continue to grow in 2023-2024, underpinned by rising load demand and a forecast drop in gas prices. We believe that PV Power (POW) and PVPower NT2 (NT2) will benefit from this factor," VNDirect said.

Petrovietnam subsidiary PV Power posted pre-tax profit of VND2,071 billion ($88.3 million) in 2022, exceeding its target by 140%.

The company's revenue reached VND28,527 billion ($1.22 billion), 18% higher than planned.