NTPC Ltd made good on its promise of reducing revenue loss due to fuel constraints. In the fourth quarter, revenue loss was reduced to ₹800 crore from ₹1,100 crore in the December quarter, implying a notable improvement. “Management delivered on its lower under-recovery target for FY19 of ₹800 crore. We had expected this to remain high, at ₹1,300 crore, with improvement built in only from FY20E,” Jefferies India Pvt. Ltd said in a note.
The improvement triggered gains in the stock, which rose 3.14% on Monday. Expansion in its base capacity notwithstanding, the stock trailed the broader markets in the past year. Reported profit in the first nine months of FY19 largely remained flat, even as the stand-alone capacity base increased by 323 megawatts (MW). As cost recovery improved in the March quarter, profit jumped 48.7%.
