Bernama

MALAYSIAN NEWS : BUSINESS

October 31 , 2000 23:58PM

Tenaga's pre-tax profit jumps to RM1.523 bln

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 31 (Bernama) -- Tenaga Nasional Bhd has recorded an impressive group pre-tax protif of RM1.523 billion for the year ended Aug 31 2000, up by 55.8 percent from the previous year.

This was achieved on a turnover of RM13.7 billion, a 13.3 percent rise from a turnover of RM12.1 billion in the financial year of 1999.

In announcing the results at a press conference here Tuesday, Tenaga's chairman Datuk Dr Jamaludin Mohd Jarjis attributed the improved results to the rapid recovery in the Malaysian economy and a high growth in the consumption of electricity.

Sales of electricity of the group for the financial year increased by RM1.504 billion or 12.8 percent compared with the preceding year, while unit consumption increased by 13 percent compared with a mere 0.74 percent rise in the previous year, he said.

Jamaludin said Tenaga had also made a special provision of RM328 million with respect to its investment in Pakistan's power project known as Liberty Power.

He said the completion of the power plant had been delayed considerably, resulting in significantly large cost overun.

"Even though the commercial operations date is expected to be reached within the next few months, December of January, and that the projected net cash flow over the project life exceeds the estimated project cost, we have decided to reflect a more realistic value of the asset by making the provision," he added.

He said Tenaga will continue to review the situation until the project in Pakistan is completed and fully commercialised before deciding on it.

At the press conference he also announced a tax exempted final dividend of seven sen per share for Tenaga. -- BERNAMA