It said the lower net profit was in tandem with lower gross profit, coupled with the impact of unfavourable foreign exchange movement and lower share of profit from joint-venture (JV) companies.

“These were cushioned by higher interest income from fund investments,” it said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia today.

FY2022 revenue, however, rose by 9% to RM6.16 billion from RM5.65 billion previously. It said the increase in total revenue was mainly driven by higher revenue from the utilities segment, on the back of higher product prices.

For the fourth quarter (Q4) ended Dec 31, net profit declined 8.9% to RM412.55 million from RM452.63 million, while revenue rose 8.7% to RM1.63 billion from RM1.5 billion previously.

The company declared a fourth interim single-tier dividend of 22 sen per ordinary share, with the ex-date on March 3 and payable on March 15.

Reviewing its performance in FY2022, Petronas Gas said the group maintained its world-class reliability performance across all its plants and facilities during the year.

On its prospects, it said the overall group performance for 2023 is expected to remain robust, underpinned by the stable earning contracts while the volatility of the foreign exchange and gas price movement may also have an impact on the group’s result.

It noted the government, through the Energy Commission, has approved the incentive-based regulation (IBR) tariffs for regulatory period 2 for the gas transportation and regasification services commencing from Jan 1 to Dec 31, 2025.

“While the new tariffs are expected to translate into lower group transportation and regasification business segment revenues, both segments are anticipated to continue contributing positively to the group’s earnings,” it said.

It also said the group’s gas processing segment is expected to “remain stable on the back of long-term contracts”.