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State-controlled Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) on Wednesday posted a 10 percent fall in Q1 2022 net profit after zakat and tax at 1.51 billion riyals ($1.73 billion) compared to a net income of 1.69 billion riyals reported in the same time last year.
The effort missed most expectations. Financial data provider Refinitiv had calculated a mean analysts’ estimate of 1.64 billion riyals.
In Tadawul bourse filing, the kingdom's electric transmission monopoly said the drop in net profit was due to lower recognition of balancing account during current quarter of 399 million riyals compared with 575 million riyals in the same period last year.
The fall in net profit was also due to rise in financing cost offset by lower provision for doubtful debts, it said. In addition, higher fuel, purchased power and operating & maintenance costs increased due to higher electricity demand.
Revenue edged up slightly to 13.53 billion riyals from 13.34 billion in the year-ago period on higher sales of electricity.
(Reporting by Brinda Darasha; editing by Seban Scaria)
