Meralco 2018 net income tops P23 billion
By Lenie Lectura – February 27, 2019
from Business Mirror
THE Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) on Tuesday said it surpassed sales and operational targets in a conducive business environment last year.
The utility firm posted a 13-percent increase in net income last year to P23.1 billion from P20.5 billion a year ago. Core profit also jumped to P22.4 billion, 11 percent higher than the P20.2 billion in 2017. Revenues stood at P304.5 billion at end-2018, 8 percent higher than 2017.
“The sustained growth of the domestic economy, and the resilience of the global economy amidst political uncertainties, have allowed Meralco to still achieve healthy energy sales growth in 2018, despite an increase in the pursuit of greater energy efficiency across all customer classes, distributed and self-generation, particularly rooftop solar, which could negatively impact sales volumes,” Meralco Chairman Manuel Pangilinan said.
“We hope the government’s ‘Build Build Build’ program and private-sector investments will pick up steadily to support domestic consumption and help hurdle the uncertainties affecting our growth,” he said.
Energy sales volume last year grew by 5 percent to 44,313 gigawatt hours. This included the volume distributed by Clark Electric Distribution Corp. of 527 GWh.
Meralco’s customer base at end-2018 stood at 6.6 million.
The company’s capital expenditure last year stood at P13.7 billion, including facilities and lines to support embedded renewable energy plants, the total capacity of which is currently at 180.3 megawatts.
The Board of Directors approved a final cash dividend of P10.594 per share to all shareholders as of March 22, 2019, payable on April 15, 2019.
