KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 28): Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) closed its financial year ended Dec 31, 2018 (FY18) on a lower note after posting a net loss of RM134.3 million in its fourth quarter (4QFY18) -- its first quarterly net loss since 2012.

Its 4QFY18 revenue came in at RM12.55 billion. No comparative figures for the quarter were available due to a change in its financial year end from Aug 31 to Dec 31.

When compared with the preceding quarter, TNB said its operating profit came in RM777.5 million lower in 4QFY18 at RM697 million, versus RM1.47 billion in 3QFY18, due to lower revenue and more impairment of financial instruments. 

This sends profit attributable to owners of the company lower by RM635.3 million, resulting in a loss of RM134.3 million in 4Q, as compared with a profit of RM501 million recorded in the preceding quarter, it said.

The weaker quarterly results pushed its net profit for FY18 down to RM3.72 billion, on a revenue of RM50.39 billion.

In a statement, it said its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell to RM13.37 billion due to the lower allowable return of 7.3% under the Incentive Based Regulation (IBR) RP2 (2018 – 2020), compared to 7.5% in RP1 (2014-2017). 

"Under RP2, the regulator introduced a revenue cap for the distribution network business and TNB has returned RM639 million back to the consumers for 2018. One-off cost of impairments to the group’s investments, in addition to substantial foreign exchange (FOREX) translation losses of RM0.39 billion due to the weakening of ringgit, contributed to higher operating expenses, resulting in a lower group profit after tax (PAT) of RM3.75 billion," it said. 

"In the interest of maximising our shareholders through dividend, the board of directors has approved 56% dividend payout ratio from the Group’s Adjusted PATAMI of RM5.42 billion. This translates to a total of 53.27 sen per share for FY2018, of which 23 sen per share will be distributed as the final single tier dividend,” said TNB chairman Tan Sri Leo Moggie.

Moving ahead, TNB president and chief executive officer Datuk Seri Azman Mohd said the group intends to forge ahead with its strategic plan that is aligned towards creating value for customers while supporting the government’s push towards Malaysia Energy Supply Industry 2.0 initiative. 

"This plan will enhance TNB’s business strategy of Reimagining TNB, started in 2015, towards sustainable development across the value chain, from generation to transmission and distribution as well as customer service,”  he said.