Lower tax expenses resulted in higher net profit for Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority (PPWSA), rising 21.1 percent to 38.4 billion riel ($9.4 million), for the first quarter ended March 31, 2023 (Q1 2023) from 30.3 billion riel ($7.4 million) a year ago.

Quarterly revenue grew marginally to 83.01 billion riel ($20.2 million) from 82.02 billion (nearly $20 million) in Q1 2022, mainly due to water sales and construction fees, its filing with Cambodia Securities Exchange showed.

PPWSA, which holds a monopoly to supply water in Phnom Penh and the outskirts, derives most of its revenue from water sales and pipe connections to households, commercial and industrial, administrative, rented rooms and wholesalers.

As of March 31, 2023, water sales represented about 88.8 percent of the revenue.

dynamic_detail_1

In the first quarter, PPWSA laid 105,535.55 metres of main and distribution pipes,

produced 59.3 million cubic metres of clean water and installed connections in 7,355 new houses, 577 of them comprising low-income households.

Water loss due to leakages accounted for 8.7 percent, the state-owned entity said.

For the second quarter of 2023, PPWSA plans to produce 57.02 million cubic metres of clean water and expand its distribution network by 149,740 metres.

dynamic_detail_2

The board and parent ministries have also approved a revenue target of 102.14 billion, with expenses amounting to 68.6 billion riel for the second quarter ending June 30, 2023.

The growth in revenue is subject to an expansion in demography, which includes the enlargement of Phnom Penh capital and Takhmao city.

At the time of writing, the counter remained unchanged at 7,700 riel with 740 shares traded for a full market capitalisation of 669.7 trillion riel ($163 million).

sangeetha.amarthalingam@kiripost.com