Alsons income grows by five folds

By Myrna M. Velasco – March 24, 2019, 10:00 PM
from Manila Bulletin

With the full commercial operation of the first unit of its Sarangani coal-fired power plant, the net earnings of the Alcantara-led Alsons Consolidated Resources Inc. (ACR) had escalated more than five-fold to P562.95 million last year as against attenuated P103 million in 2017.

The firm’s operating income had likewise been up 9.0-percent to P1.49 billion from P1.37 billion the previous year; while earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) improved to P2.66 billion versus P2.32 billion in 2017.

That had then driven its profit attributable to parent on substantial jump to P93.5 million in 2018 – essentially reversing a loss of P21 million in 2017.

“The key driver of revenue and income for ACR remains to be the Sarangani baseload coal-fired power plant in Maasim, Sarangani province,” the company has noted.

The first unit of the Sarangani power facility had commercially ramped up to its full capacity of 105 megawatts since 2016; and it currently delivers electricity to more than 3.0 million consumers in Mindanao grid.

The plant’s second unit is undergoing commissioning and testing – preparatory to its targeted commissioning by the middle of this year – and for it to reach full operation in 2019.

In terms of revenues, the company just logged a slight improvement of 2.0-percent to P6.66 billion from the year-ago level of P6.51 billion.

“This was due mainly to increased energy dispatched by the SEC plant in 2018,” the Alcantara firm has explained.

The next ventures for the company shall be its Siguil hydropower project that will also be sited in Sarangani; then its 105MW San Ramon coal-fired power plant in Zamboanga City.

The Alcantara group is fundamentally pursuing projects now that are of its core expertise – in power plant developments as well as in real estate, with preferred sites in Mindanao.