Power giant Tenaga said its net profit in the third quarter to May more than doubled from a year earlier on the back of higher electricity sales and lower operating costs.

Net profit grew to RM336.6 million from RM140 million a year earlier, as sales rose to RM4.54 billion from RM4.13 billion, it said.

Tenaga said it posted foreign exchange gains of RM66.8 million in the third quarter, against a loss of RM61.7 million a year earlier.

Upbeat

In the nine months to May however, the company said net profit fell to RM367.3 million from the year-earlier level of RM723.4 million, despite a rise in sales to RM13.07 billion from RM12.13 billion.

The sales gains were partially offset by forex losses for the nine months which reached RM477 million, up sharply from the year ago loss for the period of RM71.4 million.

Looking forward Tenaga said it remains upbeat over the group's operating prospects given the Malaysian government's projection for robust economic growth of 6.7 percent for 2004.