India's CESC posts Q2 profit rise on higher power demand

CESC

08/11/2023 10:01

Indian power generation and distribution company CESC  CESC.NS  posted a 14.1% rise in second-quarter profit on Wednesday,
helped by high electricity demand.    
    Consolidated net profit for the three months ended Sept. 30 increased to 3.48 billion rupees ($41.80 million) from 3.05
billion rupees a year earlier, the RP - Sanjiv Goenka Group flagship company said in an exchange filing.
    Revenue from operations rose 11.2% to 43.52 billion rupees.
    For further results highlights, click  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nFWN3C9058
        
  
        WHY IT MATTERS
    The September quarter marked the West Bengal-based company's third straight quarter of reporting a rise in profit. 
    India's power demand, which typically peaks during May due to severe heat, remained high during the July-September
quarter due to unusually dry weather, a plunge in hydroelectric output and higher economic activity.
    According to brokerage Elara Capital, power demand in India soared to a record high of 241GW in September, surpassing the
Central Electricity Authority's target of 230GW for FY24.
    State-run peers Power Grid Corporation of India  PGRD.NS  and NTPC  NTPC.NS  posted a 3.6% and 38.2% rise in quarterly
profit respectively, helped by higher sales and lower expenses. Tata Power Company  TTPW.NS  is expected to report later in
the day. 
    
    PEER COMPARISON
                                  Valuation (next 12  Estimates (next 12 months)         Analysts' sentiment         
                                       months)                                                                       
                       RIC        PE      EV/EBITDA   Revenue growth   Profit     Mean      # of      Stock to       Div
                                                                       growth     rating*   analysts  price          yield
                                                                                                      target**       (%)
 CESC Ltd               CESC.NS     7.44        6.69       7.70          11.48    Buy              7      0.87           7.80
 Tata Power Company     TTPW.NS   NULL         11.77       10.05         70.26    Hold            17      1.05           0.82
 Ltd                                                                                                                 
 NTPC Ltd               NTPC.NS    11.11        8.25       5.13          15.54    Strong          15      0.88           2.84
                                                                                  Buy                                
 Power Grid             PGRD.NS    12.28        7.60       1.74          1.94     Buy              9      0.99           5.41
 Corporation of India                                                                                                
 Ltd                                                                                                                 
    
 * 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
    
    JULY-SEPT STOCK PERFORMANCE
  
 
    -- All data from LSEG
    -- $1 = 83.2455 rupees


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CESC JULY-SEPT    https://tmsnrt.rs/460KU2i
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 (Reporting by Anuran Sadhu in Bengaluru; Editing by Sohini Goswami)
 ((Anuran.Sadhu@thomsonreuters.com; +91 8697274436;))