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India's CESC on Friday reported a more than 21 rise in first-quarter profit, aided by robust power demand in the pre-monsoon and summer months.

The power generation and distribution company posted a consolidated net profit of 3.47 billion rupees ($41.90 million) for the quarter ended June 30, compared with 2.86 billion rupees a year earlier.

Revenue from operations rose 5.07% at 43.10 billion rupees, while total expenses rose 6.61% to 41.94 billion rupees.

For further results highlights, click here.

KEY CONTEXT

Indian states saw severe heat conditions over the quarter, with maximum temperatures hitting 42-44 degrees Celsius over central, northwest, east and north India. This, along with an economic recovery, led to a jump in electricity demand in India.

India's electricity transmission network supplied almost 131 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) in April, the fourth-highest monthly amount on record, based on data from the Grid Controller of India’s National Load Despatch Centre.

Last month, peer Power Grid Corporation of India reported a fall in profit, hurt by weak demand in its core transmission business.

PEER COMPARISON

Valuation (next 12 months) Estimates (next 12 months) Analysts' sentiment

RIC PE EV/EBITDA Revenue growth Profit Growth Mean # of Stock to price target** Div yield (%)

rating analyst

s

CESC Ltd 8.61 6.26 12.14 12.25 Strong 9 0.80 8.63

Buy

Tata Power Company 20.71 12.09 7.18 151.57 Hold 22 1.07 0.85

Ltd

NTPC Ltd 10.71 8.20 4.54 17.59 Strong 15 0.93 3.29

Buy

Power Grid 11.07 7.10 2.67 5.18 Buy 13 0.97 5.93

Corporation of

India Ltd

** The mean of analyst ratings standardised to a scale of Strong Buy, Buy, Hold, Sell, and Strong Sell

** The ratio of the stock's last close to analysts' mean price target; a ratio above 1 means the stock is trading above the PT

APRIL-JUNE STOCK PERFORMANCE

-- All data from Refinitiv

($1 = 82.8250 Indian rupees)