India's Azure Power cuts fiscal Q2 loss after revenues rise

Indian solar power producer Azure Power Global Ltd (NYSE:AZRE) narrowed to INR 366 million (USD 4.9m/EUR 4.2m) its net attributable loss in the quarter to end-September as revenues grew.

The company said on Tuesday that the bottom line result for its second fiscal quarter improved from a loss of INR 737 million a year earlier, in spite of the higher cost of operations and general and administrative expenses.

Quarterly revenues from power sales came at INR 3.5 billion, rising from INR 2.85 billion a year back as new capacity was switched on. This total includes INR 162 million in revenues brought by the recovery of safeguard duties and goods and provisions for power purchase agreements (PPAs).

The cost of operations, meanwhile, increased by 22% to INR 309 million mainly because of higher plant maintenance costs.

As revenues improved, adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose to INR 2.3 billion from INR 2.1 billion.

Power output in the three months increased by 26% in annual terms to 769.2 million kWh. The rise was fuelled by the contribution of recently commissioned plants. During the three months, 25 MW of solar parks were brought online.

At the end of September, Azure Power had 1,834 MW of capacity in operation, or 2% more than at end-September 2019. It noted that the virus crisis has disrupted the commissioning deadlines of its projects under construction but most of this capacity will go live ahead of the revised schedules. Construction activity is gradually returning to normal levels, it added.

The Indian firm closed the fiscal quarter with INR 7.83 billion in cash, cash equivalents and current investments. For fiscal 2020/21, Azure Power expects to have between 2,300 MW and 2,500 MW of capacity in operation. Revenues are seen at INR 15.3 billion-15.8 billion, with INR 3.6 billion-3.8 billion to be recorded in its third quarter through December.

(INR 10 = USD 0.134/EUR 0.114)

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