Sembcorp Industries Ltd (U96) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary
February 23, 2021
Earnings Call Speaker Segments
Lay Ng
executiveLadies and gentlemen, good morning, and welcome to Sembcorp Industries Full Year 2020 Results Presentation Webcast. I'm Lay San from Group Strategic Communications and Sustainability. The members of the panel for today's presentation are Group President and CEO, Wong Kim Yin; and Group CFO, Graham Cockroft. Without further delay, I will now hand over the time to come to Kim Yin to begin the results presentation. Kim Yin, please.
Kim Yin Wong
executiveGood morning, and thank you for logging on to Sembcorp Industries' full year 2020 results briefing. In September 2020, we completed the demerger of Sembcorp Marine. As such, the performance of our existing business is presented as continuing operations, while the performance of the Marine segment will be classified as discontinued operations. So let me start by briefly outlining the key performance for the full year 2020 under continuing operations. Turnover was SGD 5.4 billion, down 19% from the previous year. Net profit before exceptional items was SGD 301 million. And this is compared to 2019, 34% less. After exceptional items of negative SGD 144 million, net profit was $157 million, down 49%. Earnings per share, $0.078, down 48%. ROE, returns on equity, was 3%. ROE before exceptional items was 5.9%. For the discontinued Marine operation, we recorded a loss of $1.154 billion. This included a noncash, nonrecurring fair value loss of $970 million on the distribution in specie of the capital of Sembcorp Marine. While 2020 was a very challenging year, the underlying performance of our Energy and Urban businesses remain resilient. In view of this, the Board proposes a final and total dividend of $0.04 per ordinary shares for FY 2020. And this is subject to shareholders' approval. Let me elaborate a little bit about the group performance highlights. 2020 marked a new chapter in Sembcorp's history. We completed the demerger between Sembcorp Industries and Sembcorp Marine. And this allows us to now sharpen our focus on sustainable solutions. The demerger and the deconsolidation of Sembcorp Marine's debt also strengthened our balance sheet. Group borrowings reduced from SGD 10.8 billion to SGD 7.7 billion. Value was also unlocked with our share price increasing 78% in 2020, following the completion of the demerger. Apart from the demerger, we continued streamlining our portfolio since 2018. Together with the divestments completed in 2020, we have unlocked cash proceeds of $735 million from 17 divestment transactions. And in a very difficult COVID year, the global Sembcorp team responded with exceptional commitment and character to deliver reliable, essential services, which continued with no interruption. With the continued challenges of the pandemic, our priorities continue to be the health and safety of our people, to support the communities we operate in and building resilience for the future. The unprecedented impact of the pandemic on the global economic outlook and the low energy prices has led to the impairment of certain investments and assets, which Graham will bring you through in his section of the presentation. Now let me go through the key highlights of the Urban and Energy businesses. Under Energy, the Energy business remained profitable amidst the challenging environment. Net profit was $160 million compared to $195 million in 2019. Net profit before exceptional items was $297 million compared to $360 million last year and the exceptional items of negative $144 million. In 2020, we continued to gain momentum in strengthening our renewables portfolio. In Singapore, our 60-megawatt peak floating solar project is on track for completion in the second half of this year. When completed, the project will be one of the world's largest inland floating solar PV systems. In India, we secured an additional 400-megawatt solar project in the latest Solar Energy Corporation of India auction, or SECI. We also fully commissioned SECI 2 and 3 projects and become the first to commission fully projects awarded in the SECI 1, 2 and 3 wind project tenders. In Vietnam, we started building our capacity with 17 megawatt of rooftop solar installation completed in December 2020, and I believe we will gain momentum in this area. Our global renewables portfolio in operation and under development has now grown to over 3,200 megawatts. We continue to develop innovative, sustainable solutions. In 2020, we launched Singapore's first renewable energy certificate, or REC, aggregator platform. We are also exploring integrated energy solutions to power data centers. Moving on to Urban. The Urban business turned in a creditable performance in 2020. This was driven by strong performance from Sino-Singapore Nanjing Eco Hi-tech Island project in China and Kendal Industrial Park project in Indonesia. Net profit was $92 million compared to $117 million in 2019. The profit in 2019 included significant contribution from the sale of the Riverside Grandeur residential development in China. Net profit before exceptional items was $60 million in 2020. In 2020, we held a groundbreaking ceremony of a new 1,000-hectare VSIP development in Binh Dinh Province, Vietnam. So despite the COVID-19 pandemic, land sales and order book remained healthy. The Urban business has a significant land bank of integrated urban developments in Vietnam, China and Indonesia, and that will underpin its future performance. With that, let me now hand over to Graham to take you through the group financial review. Thank you.
Graham Cockroft
executiveThank you, Kim Yin, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us this morning. I shall now take you through the group's financial review. Starting on Page 8 with the Group P&L. As mentioned by Kim Yin earlier, with the demerger of Sembcorp Marine, our existing business is presented as continuing operations, while the performance of the Marine segment is presented as a discontinued operation. For continuing operations, the group recorded a turnover of $5.4 billion in 2020, 19% lower than in 2019. The lower turnover across all business segments was mainly due to weaker demand as a result of COVID-19 and the decline in energy prices. Group EBITDA before exceptional items was $1.1 billion in 2020, 19% lower than 2019. Performance from our operations in India, Singapore and Myanmar was lower, partially offset by better performance from the Middle East. 2019 EBITDA included a contribution of $104 million from the Urban business, mainly from the sale of residential units in Riverside Grandeur in Nanjing, China. Including exceptional items, 2020 EBITDA of $1.2 billion was 17% lower than the $1.4 billion reported in 2019. We'll look at the details of the exceptional items in the next couple of slides. The share of results from associates and joint ventures was $233 million compared to $186 million in FY '19. The better result was mainly attributable to Urban's operation in China and Indonesia and better results from Energy operations in the Middle East. Net finance costs of $464 million were 5% higher compared to 2019. The increase is mainly due to higher fair value charges -- changes, sorry, of interest rate swaps and the amortization of capitalized transaction costs. The group recorded a profit before tax of $211 million, a decrease of 53% compared to 2019. The group's effective tax rate for 2020 was approximately 26%. You can see noncontrolling interests of $22 million were 21% or $6 million lower than FY '19 of $28 million. Net profit from continuing operations of $157 million was 49% lower than FY '19. The group recorded exceptional items of negative $144 million in FY '20. Net profit before EI for FY '20 was $301 million, a decrease of 34% compared to 2019. Earnings per share for FY '20 was $0.078, and earnings per share before exceptional items was $0.159. Turning to Slide 9, which looks at discontinued operations. You can see there that the total loss from discontinued operation in FY '20 was $1.14 billion (sic) [ $1.154 billion ]. This total comes from 2 parts: first, the loss from discontinued operations of $184 million as our share of Marine's losses from operations for the period until the demerger; second, a noncash, nonrecurring fair value loss of $970 million was incurred upon the distribution of Marine shares, representing the difference between the market value of the distributed shares and SCI Group's carrying value of those shares at the time of the demerger. Including the Marine business and exceptional items, the group recorded a net loss of $997 million for the full year of 2020 compared to a profit of $247 million in FY '19. Turning now to the exceptional items on Slide 10. This slide shows the breakdown of exceptional items in our Energy business. Exceptional items, which include impairments of investments and assets amounted to negative $137 million impact to net profit. All of these, except for Bangladesh in the final row there, were disclosed during the year. Turning to Slide 11. These are the exceptional items in the Urban and Other businesses. Urban recorded an exceptional gain of $32 million. This arose from a $9 million gain from the share -- the sale of some shares in the Sino-Singapore Innovation Park Development in China and a $23 million gain from the finalization of the Singapore-Sichuan Hi-tech Innovation Park project. Other businesses recorded a negative exceptional of $39 million, mainly from the impairment on investment in the Shenzhen Chiwan Sembawang Engineering Co. We completed the sale of this business earlier this year. Turning to Slide 12 and group turnover. The group's turnover of $5.4 billion in FY '20 was $1.3 billion lower than FY '19. The Energy business recorded a turnover of $5.3 billion, 14% lower than FY '19. The lower turnover was mainly due to the impact of COVID-19 on energy demand and lower energy prices. Turnover was also affected by the absence of contribution from divested businesses. The Urban business comprises mainly associates and joint ventures, which are accounted for under the equity method. Turnover was lower than FY '19 as FY '19 included a recognition from the sale of Riverside Grandeur in Nanjing, China. That's a residential development wholly owned by Sembcorp. The lower turnover of Other Businesses was mainly due to lockdowns affecting the operations of the construction business and the absence of contribution from the commercial construction business post-divestment. Turning to Slide 13 and group net profit. The group's net profit before exceptional items for FY '20 of $301 million was $155 million or 30% lower than FY '19. The Energy business net profit before exceptional items decreased 18% to $297 million compared to the prior year's profit of $360 million. We have more detail on the Energy performance -- Energy segment's performance in the next few slides. For Urban, the net profit before exceptional items in FY '20 were $60 million, 49% lower than last year. Land sales in Vietnam were lower in FY '20 than the prior year. In FY '19, we also recognized profits from the sale of the residential units at Nanjing Riverside Grandeur. The decline in Other Businesses was mainly due to delays in the construction business' projects as a result of COVID-19 and the absence of earnings -- absence of an earnings contribution from the divested commercial construction business. Group corporate costs of $33 million were $8 million higher than the corresponding period, mainly due to higher professional fees for various corporate initiatives. The group's net profit after exceptional items was $157 million, a decrease of $148 million or 49% compared to FY '19. On Slide 14, we've presented a waterfall, which shows the movement in the group's profitability between 2019 and 2020 by segment. Most of the downward movement is due to nonrecurring income in the Energy and Urban businesses in 2019, as explained on the slide. Within the Energy Others, there was also the absence of contribution from divested assets in Singapore and lower triad income in the U.K. Under Other Businesses, COVID-19-related restrictions slowed progress on projects for the specialized construction business. Turning to Slide 15. This is the Energy net profit breakdown by geography. I'll highlight a few of the main drivers of the variance for each of the markets. For Singapore, the decline in net profit was mainly due to lower power demand and the absence of contribution from multi-utility facilities divested in October 2019. This was offset by a higher contribution from our gas business where we had increased our ownership from 70% to 100% in November 2019. For the rest of Southeast Asia, the decline in net profit was primarily due to the $16 million of one-off compensation recognized in FY '19 from Myingyan, as highlighted on the previous slide. For China, net profit declined slightly, largely due to the lower wind resource experienced in FY '20. India's performance was affected by the lower availability of Project 1, lower energy demand and prices for Project 2 and lower wind resources in the Renewables business. The actual results for Project 1 were a PLF of 78% and a net profit of $75 million; for Project 2, a PLF of 75% and a net loss of $52 million. For Renewables, SGI had a PLF of 23.9% and a net profit of $27 million. In the U.K., the performance of UKPR was affected by lower triad income, as I mentioned, and that's in line with the regulated rate set by the U.K. regulator, Ofgem. The Rest of the World reported an improved net profit mainly due to higher tariffs and lower interest costs. Net profit in Salalah also included an insurance receipt due to the disruption from Cyclone Mekunu in May 2018. Under Corporate, we had lower interest costs due to lower debt balances and lower interest rates in the Energy segment. We also had a write-back of some prior year provisions and income recorded -- or captured under the job support scheme. Turning to group return on equity. The slide shows return on equity for continuing operations by segment. The group ROE before exceptional items was 5.9%. The group ROE includes the return on equity also of Other Businesses and Group Corporate. Energy ROE before exceptional items for FY '20 was 8.5%. Urban ROE before exceptional items was 5.5% lower than FY '19. As explained earlier, the FY '19 net profit for Urban was higher as it included the recognition from the sale of residential units in Riverside Grandeur in Nanjing. Turning to group CapEx and equity investment. You can see that CapEx and equity -- sorry, in the Energy segment was substantially lower than FY '19. The spend in FY '20 was mainly for wind development in India and solar capacity in Singapore. Equity investment in FY '20 was $2 million related to joint ventures in Vietnam and Indonesia. Turning to Slide 18 on group free cash flow. For cash flow, the overall group position includes Marine's operations up to the 11th of September 2020. The group's FY '20 cash flow from operating activities was $491 million compared to $977 million in FY '19. The higher level of working capital was mainly due to increased receivables in India. The group net cash flow from investing activities was positive $28 million as cash flows from divestments, dividends and interest income exceeded net investments in CapEx. This excludes the effect of the deconsolidation of Sembcorp Marine's cash of $1.3 billion upon the distribution specie of ordinary shares and the capital of SCM to SCI shareholders in September 2020. Excluding expansionary CapEx, the group free cash flow for FY '20 was $719 million. Turning to Slide 19 on group borrowings. At the end of 2020, the group's net debt was $6.7 billion, substantially less than the $9 billion at the end of 2019. For FY '20, interest cover was 2.4x, while gross debt and net debt-to-capitalization ratios were 0.69 and 0.60, respectively. With the deconsolidation of Sembcorp Marine, the level of gross debt and net debt has fallen dramatically. Although the interest cover and debt-to-capitalization ratios are worse than a year ago, that underlying business is now less exposed to oil price volatility and can manage better -- and can better manage these ratios. The debt maturity profile has also improved post-demerger. That's captured on the next slide here, Slide 20. These tables show the maturity profile of the debt at the end of 2020 and the end of 2019. With the demerger, you can see we have substantially reduced the amount of short-term debt and now have a better profile over the years. In late FY '20, after the demerger, we redeemed the $1.5 billion of bonds due in 2024 that we had issued to fund the subordinated loan to Sembcorp Marine. The redemption was financed with a mix of drawdowns under credit facilities and existing cash balances. This refinancing is expected to achieve annual interest cost savings of between $25 million and $35 million per year. On group liquidity on Slide 21. At the end of 2020, the group's cash and cash equivalents were $1.0 billion, and our unutilized committed facilities were $847 million. So in total, the group had around $1.9 billion of cash, cash equivalents and undrawn committed facilities at the end of 2020. Turning to the outlook for 2021. It's clear that significant challenges remain for economies around the world. There continued to be uncertainties with regard to the strength of the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. For Sembcorp, we expect to have another 202 megawatts of renewable capacity commencing operations in 2021. We also expect the full year contribution from Sembcorp and Veolia services, which we acquired in June 2020. In India, SECI 2 and SECI 3 wind projects, amounting to 550 megawatts which were commissioned in 2020, will also contribute their first full year of operations. However, underlying performance of the group will be impacted by the potential exit of a major manufacturing customer on Jurong Island and a customer's facilities in the U.K. that are undergoing a 1-year overhaul. In 2020, these customers contributed approximately $30 million of net profit. There will also be the loss of income from divested assets in Panama and Chile. We also expect earnings in Singapore and Vietnam to be impacted as the natural gas contracts in Singapore approach expiry in 2028 and as the Phu My 3 power plant in Vietnam faces reducing tariffs as its power purchase agreement approaches expiry in 2024. With this, I end my presentation. This will be my last results briefing with Sembcorp as I head back to New Zealand next month. And I'd just like to say thank you to all of our investors and analysts for their support in my time at Sembcorp and to wish you well for the years ahead. We can now take any questions that you may have. Thank you.
Lay Ng
executiveThank you very much. Thank you, Graham. Thank you, Kim Yin. We will now proceed to the Q&A session. [Operator Instructions] Thank you very much.
Operator
operatorThank you, Lay San. First, we have Mayuko in the queue. Okay, it seems like Mayuko has lowered her hand. So next, we'll have Terence Chua.
Terence Chua
analystCan you all hear me?
Graham Cockroft
executiveYes, Terence, we can.
Terence Chua
analystYes. Yes, so I just have 2 questions first. Can you all give an update on Sembcorp Myingyan in Mandalay Myanmar and the Sembcorp Industrial Park in Myanmar whether there's any -- I understand there's probably no disruption, but what's your view on the ongoing situation? My second question is can you comment on how you see energy demand in the key markets for 2021 or maybe how has it performed in the first 2 months of 2021? Yes, that's all.
Kim Yin Wong
executiveOkay. Thank you, Terence. You know that we own and operate 225-megawatt Myingyan power station in Myanmar. Last week, we have put out an announcement as well that shares the level of investments that we have, right? With the situation in Myanmar, as it escalates, we were obviously monitoring very closely. Our first priority is the safety of our people, right? So to that end, there are daily communications with our 90 employees. 70 of them are at Myingyan, near to Mandalay. It's still some distance away. I was told it's a 2 hours' drive, and there are 20 of them in Yangon. So we make sure that we communicate with them regularly. And so far, they are safe. The other thing that's important and is an immediate priority is also then to make sure that, with the safe operations of our people, the business continue to hum. Now this plant is one of the lowest-cost power that is available to the people of Myanmar, right? So this business, for us to continue operating this plant, it is important to the well-being of the people in -- or the community that we serve. So that is our other priority: to make sure that the plant continues to operate. And so far, we have been able to keep it operating. So those are the key priorities at the moment, right? And in terms of the industrial park, we have announced the launching of the park. Now having said that, today, there's no actual activities, right? It is a project in development. There is -- we do not have any actual activities or investment going on in the industrial park at the moment. So those are the updates on that. Graham, anything to add to that?
Graham Cockroft
executiveNo. No. I can take the energy demand, if you like.
Kim Yin Wong
executivePlease.
Graham Cockroft
executiveSure. Terence, it's Graham. Just to -- it's quite interesting what's been going on with energy demand and energy prices as well, clearly, which are very important. Across the key -- our key markets, Singapore, India and the U.K. where we have a merchant exposure, we've seen year-on-year, so '20 over '19, a fall in demand in all 3 markets. We also saw a fall in prices in the same period of time. But if you sort of break it down a bit more and you look more closely at Q4 over Q3, which perhaps gives a stronger indication of where things might be going in 2021, then you see both growth in demand, Q4 over Q3, and also price increases in the same period. So that's -- while I don't have a crystal ball to tell you what it's going to be in 2021, but in terms of where things have been going over the year and where things are perhaps trending most recently, then we are seeing higher levels of energy demand and prices at the moment.
Kim Yin Wong
executiveAnd if I may add, obviously, part of this is the initial shock to the communities because of COVID, right? And then over time, it has -- we see some recovery. Now having said that, I've been coached to be very careful about this and to say that, look, the scale as well as the speed at which the recovery, in terms of economic activities, remains uncertain, right? So we want to be very cautious about -- thinking about recovery or a very quick uptick in prices or demand. I think we remain very cautious about that.
Operator
operatorNext in queue, we have Lin Chen.
Lin Chen
attendeeI'm Lin from Reuters. I want to ask, is Sembcorp reevaluating its investment in Myanmar? Or is there any, like, long-term plans for the country?
Kim Yin Wong
executiveI would like to repeat what I said just now, we are invested in the country. We are operating this very important infrastructure asset, and we believe it is serving the people of Myanmar well. So our immediate priority is to make sure that our people are safe and that our business continues to operate and continues to serve the community that we are in.
Operator
operatorNext in queue, we have Siew Khee.
Lim Siew Khee
analystI've got a few questions, and I will just read them all at once. The first one is how big is the Veolia earnings contribution? You can give us historical, if you like. Secondly, are you happy with where you are in terms of your thermal power in India right now? Or are you still looking at -- or are you reviewing the operations? I just wanted to see whether you're happy with the stake right now and what's your plan in India. Thirdly, in doing your impairment exercise and review in second half, have you considered and looked at all things? What other things you may not have actually looked at or may not have actually provided and still reviewing? Fourth question, do you expect any major planned shutdown anywhere in the world this year? And finally, you mentioned that there's a potential exit of a customer in JI. When will you know whether that's confirmed and whether you can just split to the contribution between Singapore and U.K. from this -- sorry, the $30 million of net impact that you mentioned, the exit of JI's customer as well as the 1-year shutdown of a customer, can you just split into countries?
Kim Yin Wong
executiveGraham, do you want to deal with that? The first one is about Veolia, the -- how big is the contribution -- historical contribution from Veolia. If I may, maybe we can deal with the questions in reverse order while we look for that number. For the major planned shutdown, this year, we are looking at India. P1 will have a 45-day shutdown, and P2 will have a shorter one. And we will also have a smaller maintenance in Myanmar as well as in Vietnam. So -- but those are all within contractual arrangements, and we believe it would have minimal impact on revenue, right? So that hopefully answers the shutdown question. In terms of the potential exit of the customer, I think, are we...
Graham Cockroft
executiveWe haven't -- Siew Khee, we haven't broken down by individual markets. We've said the $30 million for the -- both the impact of the exit of the customer and the U.K. facility shutdown. In terms of when the customer may exit, clearly, that's in their hands and not ours, so we don't have any information at this point to confirm a date.
Kim Yin Wong
executiveOn that, I believe the customer in Jurong Island has already announced their plans. So I think we can say that it is Eastman. They are ending their manufacturing operations in Singapore, right? And because of that, our services with them will come to an end. And it is -- it will definitely happen this year, I think. That's what is quite clear to us, right? And the U.K. is -- the major customer is taking down their plant to reconfigure their plant. So it will take a little bit of time before they can come back online.
Graham Cockroft
executiveWe expect that outage to be about 1 year, I think, at this stage. Siew Khee, on Veolia, we -- our expectation is they will contribute something around $10 million in 2021.
Kim Yin Wong
executiveOkay. And India...
Graham Cockroft
executiveIn terms of impairments, we always review. If there's a trigger, we will certainly review. But also just as part of preparing the annual accounts, we do a sweep across the entire portfolio to see whether there's anything else that we should be considering. And there's no further reviews planned at this point. It's something that we do regularly, particularly if there's a trigger.
Kim Yin Wong
executiveI think on the -- in terms of India as a whole, we obviously are in a very strong position in India today in terms of both thermal as well as renewables. As you know, we got 1,700 megawatts of wind in India, and we have just added into the development 400 megawatts of solar. We intend to continue to plow into it. Having the thermal operations, as today the card is laid out on the table, what it does for us is also then you could generate cash flow that we can use to fund our renewables growth, right? So that's one thing about it. In terms of when -- the question about, in the longer term, how do we think about the India portfolio, I think -- let me talk about it as a group, with India being a key part. In the longer term, we do want to meet our carbon targets, right? And we are moving in the direction of wanting to decarbonize. Now that can be done, as I say, in 2 ways. One is you can reduce your thermal but you can also increase your renewables. And India is a place in which we are pushing the strategic direction of providing sustainable solutions and also, in particular, growing our renewables portfolio. Just to add a little bit on to what Graham was talking about, obviously, you look through all the EIs that we have announced in the past year, quite a fair bit in each of the markets. The one that, obviously, a lot of people are watching is India. We are -- I can tell you that we are watching that very closely. We are reviewing it very, very closely, right? I think when we're ready, we will talk about it in more details. But at the moment, based on the latest that we are aware of, we are not ready to make an impairment. I think that is the position that we have today, yes?
Graham Cockroft
executiveYes.
Kim Yin Wong
executiveI hope that answers your question, Siew Khee.
Lim Siew Khee
analystYes.
Operator
operatorNext, we have Rahul Bhatia.
Rahul Bhatia
analystYes, I have a couple. My first is that could you talk about medium- to long-term ambition of increasing renewables as part of total portfolio? Any targets you have in terms of capacity? And a related question on this is how you intend to finance for new investments given the current debt situation. My second question is, can I check with you on your view on opportunities that were mentioned in the Singapore budget related to increase in solar capacity and EV charging stations? Is it something you're looking at closely to be part of it?
Kim Yin Wong
executiveThank you, Rahul. In fact, I would need to ask you for a little bit more patience. On your question 1 and 2, the long-term ambitions for renewables, we clearly have got strong ambitions, but I will only be able to give you a little bit more color. We are planning for Investor Day in May, right? And I really hope that you could attend. And then in May, we will give you all these details, long-term ambitions and then how we can finance the growth. So I ask for your patience, and I'm also very excited about the opportunity to come and tell you the story, right? In terms of the Singapore budget, there are several areas. In fact, there's a big push into a greener future, a more sustainable future, right? Among them, if I recall -- and Lay San, you have to help me out here, if I recall correctly, there was, first, $90 billion of bond funding for infrastructure, right, of which green bonds were specifically mentioned. So that is one area in which we think we want to latch on to, to finance the growth of our business, of our ambition. The other thing was, as you already pointed out, EV was a big push. Now what that does for us today, we are not directly invested in EV or EV charging. Now having said that, this is part of a big trend and a big transition into electrification. And it would drive demand for power, right? And we are one of the major producers in Singapore. So that is an area in which it will definitely benefit us. In terms of solar and renewables growth and sustainability in general, allow me just to share how I think about -- how we think about our positioning in sustainability. We're into energy production, we are in water and then we are also into waste collection. In energy, of course, as you're well aware, we are 280 megawatts of solar. We're one of the largest solar players in Singapore. And the landmark project that we mentioned is the 60 megawatts of floating solar, one of the largest in the world when it gets commissioned. So we're very proud of that, and we'll continue to plow into that area. That fits squarely into governments and Singapore's push into more sustainable living in terms of source, right, production of energy. In terms of water, we have a new water plant. We recycle some 280,000 -- is it gallons?
Lay Ng
executiveCubic meters.
Graham Cockroft
executiveCubic meters.
Kim Yin Wong
executiveCubic meters, sorry, 280,000 cubic meters of water every year, right? And so that's -- we are positioned in helping Singapore use water more sustainably. In terms of waste, of the 1.4 million households in Singapore, we collect and manage the waste of 700,000, half of the Singapore population. We recycle or we generate energy from some 300,000 tonnes of waste that is produced. We use it to generate energy for Singapore. So from a recycling perspective, in water and in waste, I think we're also a big player. So we're happy to see the Singapore budget coming out with a strong drive towards sustainability. And we believe we are very well positioned, certainly, in Singapore. And we are -- if I'm not wrong, we may be the only one who is positioned in all the key dimensions of sustainable living. So hopefully, that will give you some color on it. And again, I'm very eager to talk about 1 and 2, but we'll be ready to share a lot more with you in May. Thanks.
Operator
operatorNext in queue, we have Foo Zhiwei.
Zhiwei Foo
analystCan you hear me?
Kim Yin Wong
executiveYes, Zhiwei.
Zhiwei Foo
analystWell, first, I'd just like to wish Graham all the best for his future endeavors.
Graham Cockroft
executiveThank you very much.
Zhiwei Foo
analystOtherwise, I think I have just 2 questions, one on India and the other is on the U.K. For India, I think it's a commendable result, considering the weaker POS. Can I check whether there was any late payments during the second half period? And then a follow-up on the India part is, given that coal prices in Indonesia have risen by about 30% this year so far, what have you done so far in terms of managing this pricing risk? And how do we think about dark spreads and your prospects in India? And then on the U.K., given the continued disappointment in the business, how should we think about it going forward into 2021 and beyond?
Kim Yin Wong
executiveU.K. first, you know that we are -- last year, U.K., in terms of demand, it was down. And of course, with COVID, then with lower demand and volatility, prices are all down. So we're positioned in our U.K. business to capture volatility and peaks. So because of that, FY 2020 was quite disappointing. You are right. Now having said that, with the recovery, we actually experienced a very good month in January, right? I am not at liberty to disclose with you what was the financial performance, but it was significant, all right? So -- but we -- I think given the nature of things, as we mentioned just now, we are not sure. We want to be very cautious about the speed and the scale of any recovery in a place like U.K. where COVID has hit pretty hard. So we do not want to overpromise. But it's fair to say that FY 2020 was -- we hit a low, all right? So I think we want to be very cautious about UKPR performance. It will depend on the speed and scale of the recovery in the U.K. There was a little bit of excitement in January. We remain very cautious. I would ask Graham to help me out with the India late payments and so on.
Graham Cockroft
executiveSure. Zhiwei, thank you for your kind wish. On India late payment, we did recognize around $24 million of late payment surcharge in the first half of 2020, but there was no recognition of any late payment in the second half. In terms of spreads on coal prices and so on, a number of the PPAs do allow coal price pass-through, but it does tend to be linked more to domestic coal prices. So it's something that the team does manage to try and ensure that we are achieving effective pass-through on the coal price changes. The -- as you know, with P2, it's largely uncontracted. So that's really receiving whatever the spot price is at the time, and that clearly reflects what underlying coal prices are in the country anyway. I don't know if, Kim, you have anything else to add.
Kim Yin Wong
executiveIf anything, India as a whole, there's also the renewables portfolio. Last year was a bad wind year, right? So even in the season in which you're supposed to see high winds, it was a bad wind year. So the contribution from the wind portfolio was also weak, much weaker than expectation. So we -- if anything, that is one of the things that I would like to point out as well.
Graham Cockroft
executiveSo just in addition to that, one of the things -- we're talking before about energy demand in various markets. And in fact, India, year-on-year, so the fourth quarter of '20 over the fourth quarter of '19, is 6.4% higher. So despite everything that's going on in India that has happened in the last 12 months, demand in the fourth quarter was 6% higher than the fourth quarter of '19, which is quite remarkable, really. So in terms of -- if you think that spreads are really driven by demand and supply, the capacity side of things, then clearly, increases in demand are good for spreads.
Zhiwei Foo
analystOkay. But from the sense of it, I guess on the cost side, there's not much you can do with regards to your fuel price. Is that a fair statement?
Graham Cockroft
executiveYou could try and hedge, but then if the hedge -- you could hedge the fuel cost, but then if that doesn't get passed through, then you're no better off. So really, it's about trying to ensure that we've got an effective pass-through in the agreements that we have and that we're negotiating currently.
Operator
operatorNext in queue, we have Kentaro. This will also be the last question because I'm afraid we've run out of time. Thank you all for your questions today as well.
Lay Ng
executiveI will have a few questions that have come in through via e-mail. We'll answer those, too.
Kentaro Iwamoto
attendeeCan you hear me? Yes.
Kim Yin Wong
executiveYes. Yes, we can. Thank you.
Kentaro Iwamoto
attendeeMy name is Kentaro from Nikkei. My question is about, again, Myanmar, the industrial park project in Yangon. I understand that there is no actual activities yet, but will you proceed with this project? And when do you expect to start the project?
Kim Yin Wong
executiveIt's too early to make a judgment. I think let's wait until the situation stabilizes because the same question we could also ask -- as you know, we are in the industrial park business, so we also have to take the cue from our customers who would have to come to the park, right? So if you ask the same question to my customers for the park, they would -- and many of them are Japanese, by the way, Japanese, Koreans, Taiwanese. They would mostly likely give you the same answer that they have to wait and see, right? So I think the project is there. We've got people on the ground. They are safe. And we will -- we hope that the situation will stabilize soon so that then we can make those judgments. Thanks.
Lay Ng
executiveOkay. Thank you very much. We have a few questions that have come via e-mail because their mics are not working so well. So maybe I'll just start. These are questions from Credit Suisse from [ Sean ]. On Slide 22, with regards to the natural gas contracts in Singapore that approach expiry in 2028, what are Sembcorp's plans on that front? Also would like to confirm if the operations of these natural gas contracts are reported under Sembcorp Gas. Maybe I'll read all the questions first, shall I, or one by one?
Kim Yin Wong
executiveNo. Let's do one by one.
Lay Ng
executiveOkay.
Kim Yin Wong
executiveGraham, do you want to deal with that?
Graham Cockroft
executiveThe plans on gas? So the gas contracts have a sort of embedded natural decline ratio in those contracts, and these are the pipeline gas contracts. We also have imported LNG. And we blend the 2 of those together to create or to meet what our customers require in the most optimal way. As this gas is coming from the West Natuna field in Indonesia and is -- the contracts have, as I said, decline structures built into them, whether they can be extended or not, that's still to be known. As you saw in the presentation, these don't run out until 2028. So there's still time yet for different arrangements to be made. But then clearly, if that gas does run out, then we have to find other sources of gas. And at the moment, as I said, that's primarily coming from LNG. And the -- both the LNG business and the pipeline business -- pipeline gas, they're actually in separate companies, but effectively, we report them all under the Gas segment.
Kim Yin Wong
executiveWe -- maybe this is the time to talk about this that, obviously, we have got this pipe natural gas contract started in 2001, if I'm not wrong. And then along the way, we added onto it some 300-over MMBtu per day capacity. They are expiring, all right? So when we signed those contracts, we also have corresponding downstream contracts with customers. And during the last few years -- or rather, during the last 20 years, by the way, this combination of upstream and downstream gas business has given us a very strong contribution, some $50 million a year of contribution. Depending on gas prices from time to time, it will be higher or lower, but it's that type of magnitude. So the volume associated with this contract is beginning to decline over the next few years, and you will see some significant decline if there is no replacement. Now today, to be fair, this gas pipeline is coming off West Natuna. The upstream developments, whether or not we'll get more gas into Singapore and through our gas pipeline through Natuna will have to depend on whether or not upstream developers will invest in recovering some of that -- the gas fields that remain out there, right? For those of you who are well versed with the oil and gas business, in upstream exploration and production, generally, there's always gas. The only question is how much it costs to extract, right? And obviously, they would have extracted the lower-cost gas that was out there throughout the 20 years. And then now the more marginal gas fields are left. So if they either find enhanced ways to extract the gas and find it worthwhile, then we can have more gas coming from it. But having said that, I think more importantly is to -- in terms of planning, the arrangement that we have been able to enjoy over the last 20 years is coming to an end. We have to face up to it. So that's one. And related to that, if you ask me, as a related question, in the next few years, which are the other businesses that may come to an end, I think I can also tell you our BOT contract in Vietnam under Phu My 3, 700-plus megawatts of combined cycle business, very good for us for many years, that is coming to an end in 2023 or 2024, all right? So that's also another business that we see expiry. That -- Phu My 3 contributes some $12 million, $13 million a year in terms of net profit. So just taking this opportunity to share this with investors and analysts so that then you are aware of the headwind that we are facing in the next few years even as we talk about the growth and our ambition in growing Renewables and Urban.
Lay Ng
executiveLet me read the next question from Crédit Suisse. Does SCI have a target mix of between renewables and thermal power generation? Considering the global shift towards low-carbon future, could you also talk about the OpEx or CapEx changes Sembcorp has to implement for existing thermal power generation assets?
Kim Yin Wong
executiveSecond question, this one will come in May, all right? So again, I'm dying to tell you about it, but I think we'll do that in May. So be there, please, and we will share all that with you, how we intend to shift the portfolio and transform the portfolio from brown to green.
Lay Ng
executiveThank you, Kim Yin. There are 2 more questions from Credit Suisse. I'll go on to the next. Can you talk about drivers of return for India solar projects? For the returns profile, is high single-digit equity returns a fair expectation for such projects? Or is it higher or lower?
Kim Yin Wong
executiveIndia, as you know, because of the SECI arrangement, it has generated a lot of interest, and there's been a lot of capital flowing into the business. So quite a competitive sector and increasingly so. So in order to win projects, one has to find ways to improve and be competitive, all right? So when you asked the question about India solar project or returns profile, I think this is in relation to our latest SECI win of the 400 megawatts Rajasthan project. That is something that we recently won. And we went into the bid, and then we came out as a winner -- as one of the winners of that bid. So I think what we can tell you is that, along the way, we have been also learning, right, from SECI 1, 2, 3 and then other markets. So what we can say is that at least we believe that our India solar project, the one that we just won, the returns are in line. The risk/reward profile is in line with our previous SECI projects, right? So I think that's what we're willing to share at this moment.
Lay Ng
executiveOkay. And the final question from [ Sean ] is how should we think about Sembcorp's capital allocation, divestment, investments, buybacks, dividends, et cetera, and capital management, cost of debt and equity policies going forward? So how should we be thinking about Sembcorp's capital allocation and capital management policies going forward?
Kim Yin Wong
executiveI think -- and I will -- before I ask Graham to cover this, I think we have always been thinking about having a balance -- to strike this balance between investment returns to our stakeholders as well as investment growth, yes? So we have to think about how we allocate capital in these areas and also think about how our sources of capital is available. So these are clearly very important questions. But all along, we have been thinking about it, trying to balance those 2 key elements. And because of that, this season, we are recommending a $0.04 dividend because, I think, even though we had a difficult year, the underlying business remained resilient, and the cash remains resilient. And the $0.04, hopefully, also reflects the confidence we have in the future that we could manage. But can I turn that over to Graham to give more color to this?
Graham Cockroft
executiveSure. Thank you. [ Sean ], I think it's -- probably a lot of the questions that you're asking really are part of the investment outlook. So in terms of capital allocation, where we decide to invest in the future, which will be clearly a function of what Kim Yin is talking about for the Investor Day, that then will drive the funding requirement in terms of divestments and potentially or clearly have an impact as well on the capital structure. The buybacks we don't -- the buybacks we do in the market are exclusively to meet the employee share program within the company. So we're not actively in the market buying shares other than for that program. And as Kim Yin said, the dividend, clearly, we need to get a balance between providing shareholders with an income and also getting the right capital structure in place and being able to fund our investments in the future. But that -- I think a lot of that will fall out once -- or become clearer once the investment profile is clearer to everybody.
Lay Ng
executiveOkay. We have a question from Anita Gabriel with Business Times. Let me read it. 4Q '20 would be the first quarter of SCI x Marine. Could you provide some insights on how the company has fared post-demerger? And based on some of the key financial metrics for 4Q '20, what is the path forward for the revamped group?
Kim Yin Wong
executiveI think, qualitatively, what I can certainly say is that I experienced a little bit of the combined company when I first joined in July. And then in September, we demerged. So I think even with that little bit of exposure, I certainly can say that we've been so much more focused, right, that we can be and we have become. So in terms of priorities, in terms of capital management, for instance, for a while, we were very cautious, almost reluctant, to invest significantly. Even though we have identified sustainability and renewables as a direction, we were so cautious that, for a while, we were not -- we were very reluctant to invest heavily so that we can conserve cash in case we need to support Marine, all right? So with the demerger, that condition is no longer there. One good example is, for instance, in India. We mentioned earlier that we were -- we are, in fact, the only company that has completed all our SECI projects: SECI 1, 2 and 3 projects. And if you just go by completed projects, today, we rank #1 with 800 megawatts of completed SECI projects, right, in terms of megawatts and in terms of the projects that we have won, all right? Compared to everybody else who can claim how many gigawatts, we have the best track record. Now SECI 1, 2, 3 were done quite a few years ago -- or won quite a few years ago. And then over the last 2 years, we were out of the race. We did not feel confident that we have the resources to fund our projects. And because of that, we didn't bid, right? It's only until the demerger happened. And then late last year, the last quarter, then we bid on Rajasthan, and we won. So that is, by action, you can really see how the demerger has enabled us to be more focused, to be more confident to move into the direction that we want to go. Some of that financial metrics, I think, Graham has outlined and provided in his presentation. I think where you're coming from is with regard to -- in terms of the balance sheet. With a $7.7 billion of debt, how do we want to fund our growth, I think it goes back to that point. I fully appreciate the questions from everybody with regard to how -- when we think about metrics, when we think about sources of capital, when we think about the position that we're currently in and then how do we match with our ambition to grow into renewables, I think all that should come together in May when we come out and show you what is the growth path. And then corresponding to that growth part then, we can talk about what are the resources necessary. So those 2 things must come together. And again, I ask for your patience. But at the moment, what I'm prepared to say is that at least for the next year, this current year for what we want to grow into, we really -- at least for this year, growth in the renewable areas, in the 16 megawatts of -- to fund our projects, in the 16 megawatts of floating solar in the Rajasthan project and in some of the things that are immediately in front of us, for the immediate next 12 months, we don't see -- we think we can manage within our current resources. I think that, I can confidently say. But for the next 5 years and longer, we'll come and tell you more about it in May. Anything to add?
Graham Cockroft
executiveNo. I think the only -- I need, really, the main difference, as Kim Yin has highlighted, and the financials and probably the balance sheet, if you compared the half year balance sheet with the full year balance sheet, you'll see some big differences there. And that's just on the financial metrics. We don't report quarterly, so you won't see that, but you'll see it in the June to December change. And then precisely as Kim Yin says, I think it's just the focus. It's not having to keep a whole lot of sort of reserve capacity in the balance sheet just in case the oil price doesn't recover. So that's made a big difference, I think, to the group.
Kim Yin Wong
executiveYes. And if you think about the -- just to elaborate a little bit further, and I'm sure many of you would see that, but the $7.7 billion of debt, which I think north of $3 billion are actually project-level debt, right, they are not at the corporate level. So that's one piece of the $7.7 billion. And the other bit that's -- we have $1.5 billion that's associated with -- actually still with SembMarine. If you recall, we funded $1.5 billion as support for SembMarine. Was it in 2019?
Graham Cockroft
executive2019.
Kim Yin Wong
executiveYes. And with that, we took the loan from a shareholder, $1.5 billion, so that we can fund that $1.5 billion to Marine. And when we engineered the demerger, the loan that we have -- we hold with SembMarine, we converted that into equity, right? Before then, we dividend-ed the entire equity to shareholders. But then in the meantime, the loan that we owe at our level, the $1.5 billion, remains on our balance sheet. So that's the $1.5 billion. So if you think about it, you can deconstruct the $7.7 billion. A large part of it, $3.7 billion, is actually project debt, and then $1.5 billion is associated with Marine. That's not to say we disown this $1.5 billion, but I'm just trying to explain how these numbers all add up together, right? So moving forward, again, qualitatively, what we're going to have to look at is how we can manage our -- the portfolio of loans, more asset portfolio, at the same time, explore new sources of funding, right? There are new sources that are coming up, as mentioned just now. Even in Singapore, they're talking about green bonds and so on, sustainability-linked bonds. Then we have to think about other forms of instruments that we may be able to tap in addition to the traditional forms. Just -- Graham was already telling me, hey, look, in the meantime, there's opportunity to actually term out the debt. With some of the 5-, 7-, 10-year debt, the market seems to be favorable. So there are quite a few things that we're reviewing in terms of the capital structure, in terms of developing new sources, in terms of managing it as a portfolio. And also, in the longer run, as our renewable portfolio become more mature, we'll start recycling the capital, right, once they become more mature, the portfolio. So there are several aspects as to what we want to do in order to fund our growth. And I want to come back to my point earlier that for the immediate 12 months, I think we can -- short of another major shock in the economy or in the financial markets, we believe we can fund our immediate growth plans for the next 12 to 18 months.
Lay Ng
executiveOkay. Thank you. And we will end today's briefing with the last question from Anita. Thank you for your patience, Anita. Let me read it. Both Sembcorp and Sembcorp Marine have pivoted towards clean and renewable energy to grow their business, which also means the companies that were once connected entities and our competitors. How different is your strategy in this space? Please comment.
Kim Yin Wong
executiveWe are actually not competitors. In fact, on the contrary, what Marine is -- one thing to do is to leverage on their strength. For instance, they want to -- as I understand it, and I can't speak on behalf of Weng Sun and Tan Sri Hassan, the Chairman, but what I understand is that they want to leverage strength in the engineering space to develop business and competency in building, let's say, off-shore wind facilities. So they are the ones who have built it. We are the ones who -- our ambition is to own and operate these assets. So in fact, it's very complementary what the 2 of us might want to do. Of course, like I said, I cannot -- this is just one aspect of what I understand as to what Marine is trying to do. But at least in that one aspect, I'm hoping that we could refer business to each other. On a good day, now that we're totally separate, even though we may have common shareholders, we can get them to build us some of the off-shore wind facilities to the extent we had the opportunity to get into that business. And they may actually refer us and introduce us to partners who happen to be their customers, all right? So I think, just to be very clear, Sembcorp, from our perspective, is actually to own and operate renewables assets and provide sustainable solutions. Specifically, in renewable assets today, we are quite big in wind. We've got 1,700 megawatts of onshore wind in India, 725 megawatts of onshore wind in China, right? And we are the second-largest solar player in Singapore. And we are wanting to build into this space. And the business model is actually to own and operate these assets and sell electricity, right, sell green power and, at the same time, sell the green attributes of these assets, right? As I understand it, Marine's business is a little bit more in terms of leveraging on the engineering strength to be the creators, the builders of these assets, right? So I hope -- just my understanding to share with you, Anita. Thanks.
Lay Ng
executiveThank you very much. And thank you, everyone, for putting in your questions. We've now come to the end of today's webcast. Thank you very much once again for joining us.
Kim Yin Wong
executiveLook forward to seeing you in May, so thank you.
Graham Cockroft
executiveThank you very much.
Kim Yin Wong
executiveThank you, Graham.
Graham Cockroft
executiveThanks.
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