TOKYO (Reuters) – Kansai Electric Power Co, Japan’s top nuclear power operator, raised its profit forecast for the fiscal year ending in March by 40% to 365 billion yen ($2.4 billion) on higher nuclear power runs and stronger earnings at its transmission and distribution business.
Kansai Electric had five nuclear reactors online with a combined capacity of 4.6 gigawatts as of end-December. On Friday, the company raised its nuclear capacity factor forecast – an indicator of its nuclear power load – to 85% from the previously expected 80%.
Kansai Electric now expects profit from its transmission and distribution business to rise by 73 billion yen from the previous forecast.
The company is also targeting higher electricity and gas sales thanks to a higher demand forecast for the Kansai area – Japan’s second busiest region – after the Tokyo Metropolitan area – which includes the cities of Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe.
For the nine-month period ended in December, Kansai Electric posted a 3% year-on-year increase in net profit to 362 billion yen, also driven by increased nuclear power operations and as it booked a 63 billion yen gain from the sale of a 28% stake in UK power distribution company Electricity North West.
The results from Kansai Electric, which kept a 12% stake in Electricity North West after the deal, contrast to those from major Japanese power sales companies.
Profits at JERA, the country’s biggest utility, halved to 155 billion yen in April-December amid a weaker performance in overseas power generation, fuel and renewable energy businesses, including in Taiwan.
Tokyo Gas, Japan’s biggest city gas provider, saw profit for the period drop 68% to 36.6 billion yen amid rising raw material costs. It revised guidance for full-year profit to 72 billion yen from earlier expected 81 billion yen.
JERA kept its profit forecast for the full fiscal year at 200 billion yen.
($1 = 154.6000 yen)
(Reporting by Yuka Obayashi and Katya Golubkova. Editing by Mark Potter)
