Tata Power has announced its annual results for the financial year (FY) 2019-20. The company’s income statement said that in the FY 2020, its revenue declined by 3% and stood at ₹289.48 billion ($3.8 billion) as compared to ₹299.84 billion (~$3.9 billion) in the last financial year.

The company attributed the decline to lower power demand, delay in project execution in its solar engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) business on account of COVID 19, and lower coal prices.

The company’s consolidated earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) was up by 15% at ₹83.17 billion (~$1.1 billion) as compared to ₹72.35 billion (~$962.2 million) last year. This was attributed to lower losses in its Mundra project, new capacity addition in the renewables segment, and steady performance across all businesses.

Notably, Tata Power Solar, Fourth Partner Energy, and Azure Power emerged as the top solar rooftop installers in India in the calendar year (CY) 2019, according to Mercom’s India Solar Market Leaderboard 2020.

The consolidated profit after tax (PAT) before exceptional items reduced by 3% at ₹12.31 billion (~$163.7 million) as against ₹12.74 billion (~$169.4 million) in the previous year. The company’s PAT before exceptional items for the quarter was ₹3.66 billion (~$48.7 million), up 13% as against ₹3.23 billion (~$42.9 million) during the same period last year.

The net debt reduced by ₹13 billion (~$172.9 million) with further improvement expected from the sale of non-core assets and other initiatives.

For the quarter ended March 31, 2020, the company’s consolidated revenue reduced by 9% at ₹68.81 billion (~$915.1 million) as compared to ₹75.97 billion (~$1.01 billion) in the corresponding quarter last year. The decline was mainly due to delays in project execution in its solar EPC business.

The EBITDA for Q1 2020 was up by 6% at ₹20.13 billion (~$267.7 million) as compared to ₹19.01 billion (~$252.8 million) in Q4 FY 2019. The consolidated net profit was up 177% at ₹4.75 billion (~$63.2 million) as against ₹1.72 billion (~$22.9 million) during the corresponding period last year.

Commenting on the company’s performance, Praveer Sinha, CEO & MD, Tata Power, said, “All our businesses have performed exceptionally well. India is in a war-like situation in its fight against COVID-19. Taking stock of the situation, we mobilized our business continuity plan to provide uninterrupted power supply to ensure that citizens continue to comfortably work from home while medical staff, law enforcement agencies, and other essential services continue to serve the nation.”

“We are witnessing a drop in demand by almost 30% compared to 2019 in our distribution businesses. Though this impacts our top line, almost all our assets are under either regulated businesses or through fixed price long term contracts on a take or pay basis. So, in our business, the return profile covers our fixed costs and provides us assured returns,” he added.

The company continues to do well in the renewable energy business. As per the statement, Tata Power Renewable Energy (TPREL) now has nearly 700 MW of projects under implementation, and it has expended the rooftop solar link to 90 cities across India. The company added 318 MW of renewable energy capacity in FY 2020, and it has a solar EPC order book of ₹70 billion (~$930.9 million).

In February 2020, the company had announced a net profit of ₹2.46 billion (~$34.5 million) during the quarter, up nearly 12% from the same period last year.

Also, Tata Power International Pte Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Power Company Limited, recently acquired a 10% equity stake in Adjaristqali Netherlands BV (ABV) from International Finance Corporation (IFC), the financial arm of the World Bank Group.