Assalamualaikum and good day, everyone. Thank you for joining today's session. Welcome to PETRONAS Gas Berhad's analyst briefing for quarter ended 31 March 2024. We are organizing this session through the Microsoft Teams platform. My name is Suri, Head of Investor Relations, PETRONAS Gas Berhad, and together with me, we have Encik Abdul Aziz Othman, Managing Director and CEO; Encik Shahrul Azham Sukaiman, Chief Financial Officer; and Encik Hisham Ma'il, Head of Business Development and Commercial. PETRONAS Gas Berhad's analyst briefing for quarter ended 31 March 2024 is divided into four segments. Firstly, Encik Aziz will present the key highlights for PETRONAS Gas Berhad for the quarter. Secondly, the business updates and financial performance will be shared by Encik Shahrul Azham. Next, Encik Aziz will return to share PGB's move focus moving forward, and finally, we will open the session for question and answer.
All participants are reminded to obey the session's rule, where everyone should be on mute throughout the presentation. The presentation was also shared with you prior to the session through this Microsoft Teams channel for your reference. You are allowed to ask questions during Q&A. Please be reminded to press the Raise Hand button, and we will open the microphone for the selected participant. You may also post your question in the chat box, and we will select any question to be answered. For reference, our financial results is now available at both Bursa Malaysia and the PGB website. Without further ado, I will hand over to Encik Aziz for the key highlights. Aziz?
Thank you, Suri. Assalamualaikum, and good day, everyone. Thank you for joining us. I'm pleased to share with you our Q1 2024 performance results. First, let's take a look at some of the key developments impacting PGB's PETRONAS PGB's business operating environment in the first quarter. As has been highlighted to you in previous few analyst briefing, continuing from the second half of 2022, the key external development that may have impacted our business operating environment comprised of, first, still not much change, is the continued ongoing geopolitical tension in Middle East. As mentioned previously, the risk of supply chain and cost escalation for projects delivery and operation remain. For example, a longer alternative shipping route and increase in insurance premium.
As you're aware, we did a FID project for the new compressor station, as highlighted in the last analyst briefing. We have also previously assessed the impact on Brent oil price. In quarter one, 2024, Brent averaged about $81.8 per barrel, as compared to average of $82.9 per barrel in quarter three, 2023. And in April 2024, it rose to more than $90 per barrel, and of course, this attributable to tighter supply from OPEC, OPEC itself, and this coupled with the ongoing Middle East tension, and the Russia-Ukraine war. So for 2024, we expect Brent crude to remain elevated.
The other development, external development, is on the Forex, or rather, more specific, what really impacted us is on the prolonged volatility of Malaysian ringgit against U.S. dollar, where it is expected to remain in the range of 4.7-4.8. So potential impact on us, first, as you all are very much aware of, is on the cost escalation, especially for project execution of projects with high exposure to USD. And for all this project, we are closely monitoring it, and we do have mitigation plan in place, such as hedging and whatnot, and when necessary, we will implement this mitigation. So with this key external development, PGB is impacted by the continuing high-cost business environment.
The average Malaysia Reference Price or the gas price in quarter one was at MYR 41.5 per MMBTU. This is based on the lagging factor, and with this, we see potential increase of MRP in quarter two, 2024, and will remain high throughout the year. The service producer price index will also continue to be on the rise, in line with its year-on-year increase. Cost of energy for Peninsular Malaysia remains high. ICPT, which is regulated through Suruhanjaya Tenaga, was published at MYR 0.17 per kWh for quarter one, 2024. The dynamics of both MRP and ICPT will impact our revenue and margin in the utility segment as we lead to the electricity that we supply to the customers, which, which is pegged to the TNB tariff.
With these external developments, the overall cost of doing business was higher during the period, and it is expected to remain high this year. Nevertheless, we will continue to monitor the situation closely and implement the relevant mitigation action wherever and whenever necessary. Ladies and gentlemen, despite the challenges that I've explained in the previous slide, I'm pleased to share that during quarter one, 2024, PGB has delivered a commendable performance and successfully maintaining a sustainable dividend to our shareholders. Our achievement was a result of our continued and consistent world-class operational excellence, which is close to 100%. On the business highlight for the quarter, as I mentioned just now, we had announced in March final investment decision for a new compressor station installation in Jeram, Selangor, which is near the border of Perak, to improve the PGU 3 capacity.
This is the northern sector of our pipeline to meet future gas demand increase that has been forecasted for northern sector from 2026 onward. Project is underway, and it is progressing accordingly. We have also announced on May 3, 2024, through Bursa Malaysia, that the government, through Suruhanjaya Tenaga, has approved the adjusted IBR tariffs for financial year 2024, under the RP2 for the three regulated segment that we have: the PGU, the Regasification Terminal Sungai Udang, and the Regasification Terminal of Pengerang. The IBR tariff adjustment is an annual process under the IBR framework to account for changes in relation to reserve capacity, firm capacity, and the internal gas consumption as allowed by ST.
With upward tariff adjustment for gas transportation and regasification, we expect the overall business to continue to contribute positively to the group revenue in 2024 under the revenue cap mechanism of IBR. As updated to you also during the previous analyst briefing session, the third term gas processing agreement has been executed starting January 2024. With a better incentive system, we could be motivated to focus more on efficiency, especially on the internal gas consumption. Finally, the current competitive system marginal price in the grid, the electricity grid, we have also increased our power export to the grid during the quarter through the arrangement that we have under the NEDA system, the new enhanced dispatch arrangement.
With all that leading on our financial performance, group revenue stood at MYR 1.618 billion, decreased by 3.4% or MYR 56.1 million. Again, this is due to lower revenue from utilities segment, because with a lower product price. However, that was offset by a higher revenue from the gas processing and gas transportation segment, both from the new agreement that we have in place, also with the adjusted tariff. Nonetheless, the group profit was higher by 9.9% at MYR 601 million, on the back of through the efficiency just now, lower internal gas consumption, as well as against the lower fuel gas price compared to the year before.
Correspondingly, PGB PAT is at MYR 472 million, higher by 5.4% compared to the same period last year, and this is in line with the higher gross profit, but partially negated by the foreign exchange movement that I had mentioned just now, and slightly also due to the lower contribution from the joint venture companies. Similarly, EBITDA was also higher by 8%, at MYR 849 million, and this is in tandem with the higher PBT. Earnings per share, higher by 7.6%. This has reflected higher profit attributable to the shareholders of the company. With that, board has approved a dividend per share for the quarter at 16 sen, similar to the corresponding quarter last year.
And again, I'd like to highlight that this demonstrates a group commitment, despite the challenges that I've highlighted, to ensure a sustained level of return to the shareholders. So ladies and gentlemen, this is something new that we would like to highlight, on the sustainability journey. And again, I would like to highlight that we will continue with the efforts to reduce our CO2 emissions, and happy to report that we have made good progress so far. In terms of CO2 abatement through our operational excellence, focusing on operation control initiative, fuel switching, and CO2 monetization efforts, we were able to reduce significant amount of CO2 equivalent, a reduction of almost 10% against our baseline emissions, in 2019. We benchmark ourselves in terms of sustainability and in terms of to see for good sustainability rating.
We're happy to report that we achieved a score of 4.1 out of 5, where we received the highest score for our ESG practices, surpassing not only our own target, but also surpassing our peers within and outside of Malaysia. This achievement surely will motivate us to do better in 2024. So do follow us for more updates on our sustainability journey. Now, we come to the details of our business and financial performance, and as always, this section will be presented by Shahrul. Over to you, Shahrul.
Thank you, Encik Aziz. Good day, everyone. I shall take you through the business performance for quarter one, 2024. Starting with gas processing segment, as mentioned by Encik Aziz earlier, this year is the effective date of the new third term GPA, which has been executed, and with the new reservation charge tariff and performance-based structure, which motivate us to focus on efficiency while sustaining PGB's world-class performance. As you can see, the segment continued to fulfill its commitment to customers by sustaining the world-class operational performance, achieving reliability close to 100% for all products. It lower plant shutdown and zero interruption to customers. Therefore, enable us to secure 100% reservation charge and tariff with maximum PBS incentive achieved during the quarter.
For gas transportation segment, our pipeline network performance registered close to 100% reliability during the quarter. The average sales gas delivered was more than 2.3 million standard cubic feet per day. As mentioned earlier, Suruhanjaya Tenaga has approved the adjusted incentive-based regulation tariff for financial year 2024 under the Regulatory Period 2 for our three assets, namely PGU, Regasification Terminal Sungai Udang, and Regasification Terminal Pengerang. The upward tariff adjustment will have impact on gas transportation and regasification business revenue. We expect the businesses will continue to contribute positively to the group revenue under this IBR arrangement. On project updates, as mentioned by Encik Aziz earlier, the new compressor station installation at Jeram is progressing as planned to date. Moving on to the regasification business segment.
Both our regas segment in Sungai Udang and Pengerang sustained strong reliability and OEE performance at 100% in quarter one, 2024, and successfully receiving a total of 13 cargos, as well as providing ancillary services of 251 LNG truck loading and two GUCD, as well as 12 reloading services in quarter one, 2024. On the new floating storage unit project at regasification terminal in Pengerang, as mentioned earlier, currently the project is progressing as planned, where the project is expected to be in operation by mid-2025. For utility segment, during the quarter, utilities plants achieved 100% product delivery reliability for steam and electricity, while close to 100% for industrial gases. For electricity, higher product sales volume was recorded due to higher power off-take and higher consumption from our customers.
As mentioned by Encik Aziz, there's also higher export to the grid recorded during the quarter due to the attractive system marginal price. For industrial gases, higher product sales volume was recorded due to higher consumption from one of the customers during plant stabilization period, post shutdown in the month of January and February this year. Lower product sales for steam, however, was recorded during the quarter, and this was mainly due to low off-take by customers during their plant slowdown and unplanned shutdown. The ICPT surcharge is currently at 17 sen per kWh for the first half of 2024, and very soon, the surcharge rate for second half of 2024 will be reviewed and declared by the government.
The current tariff of ICPT and gas price, we continue to strengthen our efforts to ensure plant safety and efficiency as top priority in order to meet captive customers of take, while taking opportunities, opportunities to forward export to the grid. Right, moving on to financial performance, for PGB Group. As I explained earlier, the group sustained its commendable performance across all of its plants and facilities. Against corresponding quarter, Q1 2023, revenue declined by 3% at MYR 1.6169 billion, mainly attributable to lower revenue from utility segment. And this is in line with the lower product prices. This was, however, offset by higher revenue from gas processing, following higher reservation charge income under the new term, as well as higher revenue from gas transportation, following the upward tariff adjustment effective January 1, 2024.
Nevertheless, gross profit improved by 10% at MYR 601 million on the back of lower fuel gas and internal gas consumption, as well as supported by the lower fuel gas price recorded during the quarter. As we can see, the higher fuel gas price in the corresponding period was reflected in the tariff adjustment for the regulated business this year. Profit for the quarter was correspondingly higher by 5% at MYR 472 million, in tandem with the higher gross profit, negated by the unfavorable foreign exchange movement and lower contribution from joint venture companies.
Comparing against preceding quarter, quarter four, 2023, group revenue slightly higher by 2%, mainly driven by higher revenue from gas processing, following the higher reservation charges, as well as the higher revenue from gas transportation, following the upward tariff adjustment, as mentioned earlier. Gross profit was also higher by 19%, in tandem with higher revenue, coupled with low operating expenses, mainly maintenance expenses, following lower maintenance activities performed during the quarter. Correspondingly, profit for the quarter was higher by 1.4% at MYR 472 million, in line with higher gross profit. However, this was negated by lower share of profit from joint venture companies and lower interest income from fund investment. In the preceding quarter, one of the joint venture companies actually benefited from one-off tax optimization impact.
For segmental performance, against the corresponding quarter one last year, gas processing and regasification segments recorded slightly lower gross profit due to higher operating expenditure, particularly on depreciation expense, following the completion of several capital projects, as well as higher level of maintenance activities performed during the quarter. While for gas transportation, the gross profit was higher on the back of lower operating expenditure due to lower fuel gas price, coupled with higher revenue as a result of upward tariff adjustment. For utility segment, the gross profit was also higher due to favorable impact of lower fuel gas costs. Against the preceding quarter, quarter four, 2023, all segments recorded higher gross profit in tandem with higher revenue, coupled with lower operating expenses, mainly due to lower maintenance activities performed during the quarter. Moving on to the statement of financial position.
As of 31 March 2024, our group's total assets was at MYR 18.2 billion, low by 6%, mainly due to the repayment of one of the Islamic financing facility made during the quarter, which amounted to MYR 1.2 billion. Correspondingly, total liabilities, liabilities also reduced by the same amount, MYR 1.2 billion, as a result of the said transaction. Even though there was reduction in cash and cash equivalent to MYR 2.3 billion during the quarter, cash balance remained healthy, with some headroom to play with for existing and also the upcoming projects. As for the dividend, the board has approved the first interim dividend of MYR 0.16 per share, payable on 27 June 2024.
As mentioned by Encik Aziz, this demonstrates our commitment to ensure a sustained level of return to shareholders despite the ongoing economic conditions. We're still giving a healthy level of payout, more than what we are committed under our dividend policy. To summarize, our performance for quarter one 2024 we again sustained world-class operational performance. Our excellent operation in quarter one continued to be the basis of our strong business performance, again achieving to close to 100% reliability in delivering products and services for all our business segment. Higher gross profit during the quarter on the back of lower fuel gas and internal gas consumption, as well as due to lower fuel gas price. Our cash balance remains healthy to support our growth projects. Dividend of MYR 0.16 per share, similar to corresponding quarter last year.
That's all from me for now. I will now pass the line over to Encik Aziz to share on our company outlook moving forward.
Thank you, Shahrul. Ladies and gentlemen, again, I've mentioned about our sustainability blueprint. So along the four lenses of our sustainability blueprint, first, we will continue to focus on safety, reliability, and efficiency of our operation. During quarter one, 2024, one of the key initiatives to ensure enhanced safety control is a successful operationalization of the new electronic permit to work system that we think will strengthen safety and address all the key pain points from the traditional paper-based process. This system, with the control that we put in place, we hope will reduce human error as well as increase productivity. Now, second part is as part of our strategy in ensuring flawless project delivery, in line with our tagline of OTO BOS: On time, on budget, and on safety.
Timely execution within budget and quality. We are enhancing our project management approach and with greater involvement of the leadership team. As mentioned to you also in the previous quarter, under sustained value creation, we managed to grab few growth opportunities. Currently, we are focusing on working toward a final investment decision for two projects, which we have secured the letter of intent from the government. First is on the Labuan new power plant and the new 100-megawatt peaking power plant at the same site as our existing Kimanis Power. We hope that we could achieve final investment decision for all these projects soon. At the same time, the GPA third term has been agreed, has been revised.
Now is under implementation with a new incentive system, and with this, it will give benefit to us if we continue to focus on better efficiency of our operation, to secure the reward from the incentive system. So with that, thank you for joining us, and now we move to question and answer. Over to you, Suri.
Thank you, Abdul Aziz and Shahrul. We have now come to the question and answer session. Please be reminded to continue to obey the session rule, where everyone should be on mute to ask questions. Please press the raise hand button, and we will open the microphone for the selected participant. You may also type your question in the chat box, and we will read it out loud for you. Let's start, shall we?
Yes, Daniel.
Good. Good afternoon, guys. Can you guys hear me?
Yes. Yes.
Okay. My first question is, for gas processing, right, how much is the performance incentive has been recognized in the first quarter as compared to the fourth quarter last year? That's my first question. On the second question, you mentioned that there is a higher export of power via NEDA to the grid, okay, during the quarter. Can I check, how much has it contributed in terms of revenue or bottom line, during this quarter? Based on what tariff do you actually export to the grid? What tariff rate is it? On the third question, on the Labuan new power plant, what is the capacity like, yeah? What capacity are you looking at? Thank you. That's all from me.
Okay, for the incentive, as the question is now on from the GPA. I think we registered around MYR 40 million for quarter one, 2024, and that's actually higher than quarter one last year by about, you know, MYR 50 million higher compared to corresponding period last year. We'll need to get back to you on the NEDA margin. You on the Labuan first, okay?
Okay, Daniel, for the Labuan power plant, we're still in discussion with the government. Based on the LOI, the size will be between 100-130 megawatt. So the final configuration and size still under discussion with the government, and I'm sure once we reach FID, we will announce the exact, size, capacity accordingly. Yeah?
Okay. Okay. Yeah, getting back to the incentive, first quarter this year is MYR 40 million. Then the other numbers for fourth quarter last year, how much was it?
It's lower by about MYR 2 million compared to this quarter.
MYR 38 million in fourth quarter last year.
Yeah, roughly around that. Yeah.
Roughly, yeah.
Yeah.
I see. Okay. My last question is that, okay, on the sales gas delivery volume, how much was it this quarter?
Sales gas-
Volume.
Yes.
313.
We delivered,
1,300
2,300 MMscfd. Yeah.
2,300 MMscfd.
Yep.
Okay, that's all from me. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you, Daniel. Do you have another question?
... Hello, can you hear me?
Yes, Anshool.
Hi, good evening. I just have a couple of questions. To start with, just, can you provide some more details about the weaker JV contribution? Was there some one-off expense involved in this quarter? Because I'm just comparing the run rate from the previous year, and it's underperformed that as well, not the previous quarter, but the rest of the year as well.
Sorry, Anshool , you're breaking up. So your question is... Can you repeat the question again, Anshool ?
I'm so sorry. Can you hear me clearly now?
Better.
Yes. I was talking about the JV performance, the contribution from associates. It's the-- Are there any one-off losses or expenses that took place this quarter?
Oh, okay. All right. On the lower contribution from JV, I think what happened during the quarter, I think all the JVs actually registered healthy margin, contributing positively to, to the group. So what has happened during the quarter is we're taking a prudent approach on the provision for the, aging receivables. I think the normal thing that, accountant will do is at the aging of your receivables. Yeah.
These are the receivables at the JV level?
Right. Right.
Yeah.
We are taking a prudent approach to do provision. This is all based on aging. Yeah.
Understood. My next question is regarding the tariff reset. I'm just trying to get a clear understanding of how the reset works. Is my assumption correct that the tariff has... the tariff specifically for internal gas consumption has been reset at the MRP at the end of the year, end of the previous year? Is that correct?
Sorry, Anshool , the question was not very clear to us. You're asking about the revised tariff because of the IGC price? Is that your question?
So, yes.
Okay.
Yeah.
Okay. What happened in 2023, you saw the gas price was at an unprecedented high level last year. So obviously, the gas price, the actual gas price last year was a lot higher compared to what was assumed in the RP submission. So under the IBR framework, we were allowed to recover the price differential. Hence, for this year, there's adjustment in terms of tariff under what you call Annual Revenue Adjustment, ARA, to reflect the price differential of internal gas consumption last year. So hence, that's why there's a upward adjustment to tariff for 2024. So basically, we don't take risk on the market price of the gas price. It's a pass-through thing to shipper.
If you recall, Anshool , during our briefing on the RP, this is enhancement that the government has allowed us from the previous RP, where we take the risk of price of the gas. So it's good enhancement, I think, for infrastructure owner like us, where we don't take the risk on the market price of the gas. Yeah.
Understood. I just have a question from a near-term perspective. Like, if I want to see how the performance is for the next quarter, if the MRP exceeds the level seen at the end of the previous quarter, will you see some losses due to IGC in the next quarter? Is that, like, a correct understanding? And if it's lower than the MRP at the end of the previous quarter, then you will see some cost benefits.
There, there would be some fluctuation in the number, because how it work is that for the year, they have approved a certain price as part of what they will reimburse you. So if the price goes higher than what is budgeted, it will impact your bottom line. If it goes lower, you have a positive benefit. But what happened is, from next year, the next year, either positive or negative, it will be adjusted in the next year, business. Yeah?
If I may-
So-
... during the year itself-
So-
Any presentation will.
You will see. You will see the bottom line impact-
Yeah
... for that year, depending what is the actual MRP versus whatever the budget that has been approved by the government.
The over or under recovery will be-
Next
affected in the following year.
Next year.
Yeah.
So you are indifferent. It's just a time lag, in terms of account.
Correct.
Understood. So the budgeted price, is that an average of the previous year, or is that the end of the previous year?
Typically, we will agree with them based on the forecast, the guidance of the oil price for the next three years, and then based on that, corresponding MRP, and they allow you that numbers in the budget.
... Understood. This is my last question regarding the electricity export under NEDA. Could you share how much volume was it? And, is this going to be an ongoing process, or are you going to export under that scheme based on the SMP?
Yeah, we will continue because we know what is our cost to produce. If it is above SMP, definitely we have an automatic control system that will trigger the export. So, if our cost is lower, definitely we will export to take advantage of the capacity that we have.
In as far as the volume, f or quarter one, this year-
Uh.
We exported to the grid around 30 MW. I think last year corresponding period was very minimal because the wind was-
SMP
on the high side.
Yep.
It's not favorable to us.
We are. The regime works, Anshool , at every site we have is only up to 30 megawatts. You are allowed to inject into the grid. That's the limit, and we always check our capacity against that. If the cost is better than SMP, it will be injected automatically.
Understood. Thank you so much.
So on that note, maybe I can answer, Daniel's question on how much is the-
Yeah
-margin on the NEDA export. I think the corresponding period, quarter one last year, there's not much margin because the feedback was on the high side, so we didn't export that much to the grid. But this year we registered margin around MYR 4 million for that 30 MW that we exported to the grid.
For the full three months. Full three months, correct.
Thank you, Anshool. I think we have another one from Shan. Hi, Shan.
Hi, thanks for the call. I have two questions. My first question is, you know, if you were to compare the overall maintenance activity levels as well as the maintenance expenses to last year, are we expecting a year-on-year higher or year-on-year lower this year? And if it's higher or lower, how much would are we expecting to be? What's the amount? And my second question is, regarding your CapEx. You know, is there any change in terms of your CapEx allocation over the next three years? And what's the split between the regulated and also non-regulated CapEx? Thanks.
I think on the maintenance, I think on a year-on-year basis, 12 months compared to 12 months, we expect about the same level. But of course, the timing, the phasing will vary from one quarter to another, depending on when we have the plan, major maintenance activities, the likes of plant turnaround and plant shutdown. However, we expect the cost slightly higher this year because, as you're aware, the government has just announced the new regime of service tax, of which now includes the repair and maintenance activities. So as such, we anticipate the cost of maintenance activities for 2024 to be higher, resulting from the implementation of the service tax of 8% for 2024.
Shan, can you repeat the second question? Sorry.
It's regarding your CapEx guidance, and what's the split between regulated and also non-regulated CapEx?
You mean CapEx balance for this year?
Yeah, how much you plan to spend on CapEx this year?
CapEx
... or even probably over the next three years?
Okay. I think for CapEx, we anticipate it to be higher than last year, given that couple of our major projects is currently progressing. So how much we incur will depends on the milestone achieved for those projects. In terms of the split of the CapEx, I would say around 60/40. 60 for non-regulated, 40% for regulated business.
All right. Thanks. If it's higher, then how much higher are we expecting year-on-year?
It will be higher, but as I said, it will depend on the progress milestone of the major projects that we have started.
Okay. All right, thanks.
Great.
Daniel, you have a second chance here.
Yes, I have questions. I wanted to understand more about this NEDA to me. So, how does this NEDA work? When you say 13 MW to export to the, to the grid, okay, so basically you will tell Tenaga or the single buyer that you are, you have, you want to contribute 13 MW to the grid. So that 13 MW will be available throughout the three quarters, full three quarters, or what?
Okay. As you know, the SMP doesn't stay flat for the whole three month.
Okay.
Even in a day, it varies depending on the grid. If there is a lot of demand, higher merit order come into the requirement, then the SMP will go higher. It can be for 2 hours, it can be for 4 hours. So we will always check in real time, and we will trigger the injection to the grid, and there's no need to actually inform TNB or whatnot. So it will be just calculated based on whatever injection that goes into the grid. But it's depend on the time of the day. You know, it's not like the whole three-month SMP will be flat at some numbers. Within a day, there could be a few instances, only maybe 3 or 4 hours or maybe 12 hours.
So we don't know because the grid work in such a way. Yeah? But we have a system to track and make sure that we don't miss the opportunity, and those are done almost full automatic today.
Up to 30 MW.
Up to 30 megawatts.
Up to 30 MW. I see.
Yeah.
So, basically, you already let Tenaga know that you are readily available for this 30 MW, but as time, as the... During the day, when there's a peak demand, then suddenly you guys will be triggered to contribute to the system. It can be 2 hours, it can be 4 hours, it can be 12 hours, depending on the system demand.
Correct.
I see. And then based on what tariff?
The SMP. The System Marginal Price.
System Marginal Price.
Yeah.
The System Marginal Price is not fixed, is it?
It's not fixed. Like I said just now, if at that, let's say, normally at 12:00 is the highest demand-
Yeah
... for the day, and at that time, the highest cost power plant in the grid-
Yeah
... will have to come in.
I see.
That becomes the new System Marginal Price.
Ah.
So if that power plant is more expensive than us, we inject into the grid.
I see. So you guys will also get paid at the higher pricing.
Correct.
Okay. So the margin here, just now you referred to the MYR 4 million for the full quarter basis, MYR 4 million margin.
Correct.
That is a gross profit, is it, we are referring to?
Yes, gross profit.
Gross profit, yeah.
Yeah. Gross profit. Okay. Gross profit. Gross profit. So this NEDA thingy starts, started only this quarter or already started earlier now?
I think it's been two years.
Two years.
As Shahrul mentioned, last year, because the gas price, as you're aware, reached almost $60 - MYR 60, so we become more expensive than SMP. So that's why you don't see injection from us. But this year, the gas price has dropped to MYR 40 or thereabout. At certain time, we're actually cheaper than SMP.
I see. Okay, nothing. One sec. Now, you guys are looking at a higher gas price in subsequent second quarter. So will that actually will that actually? We are going to look at lower profits for the group segment in the second quarter due to the higher tariff due to the higher gas prices?
Depends, depends also on the... You know, there is coal price into the equation. There are other fuel. All that is being added into the mix. Sometimes, even though we are expensive, it might still be cheaper than SMP, then we still can make the gain. Yeah? So the dynamic is not as straightforward as just gas price. Yeah?
Okay. Understood. No, what I mean is for your utility segment, for your other, your gas processing segment, with this higher gas prices, MRP prices, that doesn't actually indicate that your margin could be affected, could be lower in a subsequent quarter.
You mean for gas processing?
Utilities.
Utilities.
Gas processing, not gas only, for the gas, for all the segment, gas processing, the gas, which you guys will incur IGC, right? And also for your utility segment, you guys will have a higher input cost compared to this first quarter.
I think the movement of gas price will have impact to the regulated business, as well as-
Okay
... as well as to utilities business segment. But as mentioned earlier, for regulated, it's just a matter of timing. We will be, so we can recover the price differential in the following year.
Yeah.
But for utilities, it will go straight to our bottom line.
Utilities.
Yeah.
You guys doesn't do accrual accounting, is it, provisions on whether it's above or below expectation, then you guys accrue it during the quarter?
There is an exposure draft for such accrual accounting, but yet to be effective. Once that has been effective, then we can do the accrual accounting.
Yeah.
Yeah. We're also waiting for that, Daniel.
Okay, I see. Okay, thank you. That's all from me.
Yeah.
Thank you.
Yes, anyone else? I think we have a last round. If there are no other questions, we hope you have, we have satisfied your, your curiosities here. Thank you for your participation in our analyst briefing for quarter ended 31st March, 2024. That's the end of the session.