Petronas Gas Profit After Tax up by 5% to rm2.08bn
Highest Revenue at RM5.59 billion and Profit After Tax at RM2.08 billion
KUALA LUMPUR, 22 February 2021 – PETRONAS Gas Bhd Group of Companies (PGB) posted its strongest financial performance in FY2020, backed by stable revenue streams and lower costs.
Group Revenue was RM5.59 billion, higher than RM5.46 billion recorded in 2019. The higher revenue was mainly from the regulated Regasification and Gas Transportation segments, due to higher tariffs with the inclusion of pass-through Internal Gas Consumption (IGC) cost. This was slightly offset by lower revenue from the Utilities segment which saw lower sales of excess electricity into the grid.
Gross profit for the year rose 11% to RM2.66 billion from RM2.39 billion on lower operating costs. This is in line with level of activities and cost optimisation efforts. Profit After Tax (PAT) also improved by 5% to RM2.08 billion from RM1.98 billion, slightly affected by lower other income, unfavourable foreign exchange movement and lower investment income.
PGB’s Q4 2020 revenue of RM1.39 billion was comparable to RM1.37 billion recorded in Q4 2019 following a higher contribution from Gas Transportation and Regasification segments, which offset lower revenue from the Utilities segment. Gross profit improved by 11% to RM636 million from RM574 million, largely driven by lower depreciation and operating costs. PAT increased by 6% to RM521 million from RM493 million, as a higher share of profit from joint ventures added on to the gross profit.
Q4 2020 revenue also remained steady against the revenue in preceding Q3 2020 of RM1.41 billion. Gross profit, however, was lower by 14% at RM636 million against RM736 million, largely due to higher operating, repair and maintenance costs at Gas Transportation and Regasification segments as activities picked up with the easing of the Movement Control Order (MCO) restrictions. PAT of RM521 million was also correspondingly lower against RM640 million, on the back of lower gross profit and unfavourable foreign exchange movement.
PGB declared an interim dividend of 22 sen and a special dividend of 5 sen in the fourth quarter, resulting in a total of RM1.27 per share for the year. The Group previously announced a quarterly dividend payment of 16 sen (Q1), 16 sen (Q2), 18 sen (Q3) and a special dividend of 50 sen in the second quarter. In FY2019, the Group paid a dividend of 82 sen, including a special dividend of 10 sen in Q4 2019.
Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer Abdul Aziz Othman says, “We have proven ourselves to be resilient in a year with uncertain economic conditions, responding swiftly to the pandemic outbreak to ensure no interruption to our operations while realising opportunities for cost optimisation. Moving forward, we will aim to sustain the performance into 2021 while pursuing growth opportunities”.
Related to this, Aziz adds, “We are pleased to announce that we have reached the Final Investment Decision (FID) for the construction of a new 42km lateral gas pipeline project from Puchong to Pulau Indah, Selangor.
The RM541 million project which will be undertaken by PGB’s Gas Transportation business is part of the lateral expansion of the Peninsular Gas Utilisation (PGU) which is regulated under the Incentive-Based Regulation (“IBR”) framework.