Japan's Tokyo Gas reports record 2022/23 profit on LNG price boost
TOKYO, April 26 (Reuters) - Tokyo Gas on Wednesday reported its highest ever yearly net profit for the 2022/23 fiscal year amid record LNG prices, but warned that next year's profit may drop because of projected lower city gas and electricity sales.
Like many other major Japanese companies, Tokyo Gas has liquefied natural gas (LNG) and other energy assets globally which helps it to diversify revenue and supply sources as Japan needs to import nearly all its energy resources.
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LNG prices surged to a record in August 2022 after Russia curtailed natural gas supplies to Europe in response to sanctions imposed for its invasion of Ukraine.
On Wednesday, Tokyo Gas said that its profit attributable to the owners of the parent was a record 281 billion yen ($2.1 billion) in the fiscal year ending on March 31, up from 96 billion yen in the previous fiscal year, and sales were up 53% to 3.3 trillion yen.
The increase in earnings was supported by higher LNG sales prices in Australia and North America as well as the yen's depreciation against the U.S. dollar, the company said.
However, for the 2023/24 fiscal year Tokyo Gas, Japan's top city gas supplier, expects profit to fall 64% to 100 billion yen on weaker city gas sale volumes and lower electricity sales, it added.
"Although residential demand is expected to rise, mainly due to impact from weather temperatures, and commercial demand is anticipated to recover... in industries such as the restaurant and hotel industries, industrial demand from power generation customers is forecast to drop," the company's statement said.
Tokyo Gas plans to keep its full-year dividend payment unchanged at 65 yen per share both for the current and next fiscal year and will buy back up to 12.2% of its shares worth 113 billion yen, it added.
($1 = 133.6900 yen) (Reporting by Katya Golubkova and Yuka Obayashi; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)