AboitizPower’s 1st-quarter income declines to P3.6 billion

By Lenie Lectura – May 3, 2019
from Business Mirror

ABOITIZ Power Corp. posted a 9-percent decline in net income in the first three months of the year to P3.6 billion, from P4 billion recorded for the same period last year.

Core profit stood at P4.1 billion, 21 percent lower than a year ago, mainly due to the higher volume and cost of purchased power.

The power firm recorded consolidated earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) of P10.4 billion for the period, 13 percent lower than the P11.9 billion for the first quarter of 2018.

The company said spot-market prices were exceptionally high during the first three months of the year, and the company purchased replacement power due to outages and over-contracting in preparation for Therma Visayas Inc. (TVI) coming online.

“It has been a challenging first quarter for the industry and AboitizPower. The planned maintenance shutdown of power plants in preparation for the upcoming elections, coupled with forced outages, resulted in the grid’s thinning reserves.

Despite this, our customers remain our top priority and we ensured delivery of replacement power from the spot market,” said Emmanuel V. Rubio, AboitizPower EVP and COO.

AboitizPower’s generation and retail supply business recorded a consolidated Ebitda of P8.6 billion in the first quarter of 2019, 15 percent lower than the P10.1 billion recorded during the same period last year. This was primarily due to higher volume and cost of purchased power.

Capacity sold for the first quarter decreased by 7 percent from 3,174 megawatts in 2018 to 2,947 MW in 2019.

“We are excited with new supply contracts and new power plants that have started to deliver power to the grid, which should contribute to our bottom line starting this year,” Rubio said.

“We will continue to pursue our renewable-energy projects as we look forward to the implementation of the Green Energy Option Program and Renewable Portfolio Standards. We are committed to continue providing the country with adequate power supply that is affordable and sustainable,” Rubio added

AboitizPower’s distribution business, meanwhile, recorded consolidated Ebitda of P1.9 billion, 3 percent higher than the P1.8 billion recorded last year.  The company saw energy sales increase to 1,343 gigawatt-hours, which was 3 percent higher than the 1,298 GWh recorded in the first quarter of 2018.  This was driven by the increase in new customers across all segments.