Alsons posts H1 net income of P293 million, cites Sarangani Energy contribution

By Lenie Lectura – August 15, 2019
from Business Mirror

ALSONS Consolidated Resources Inc. (ACR) posted P293.08 million in net income from January to June this year, higher than the P120.38 million it recorded in the same period a year ago.

Revenue for the fist six months of the year was slightly down to P3.10 billion, from P3.48 billion at end-June last year.

The Alcantara-led ACR is mainly involved in the power business. It said that second-quarter earnings stood at P188.72 million from P1.81 billion in the same period last year, while revenues slightly improved to P1.87 billion from P1.81 billion.

The company attributed its strong first-half performance to its unit Sarangani Energy Corp. (SEC) which operates a coal power plant.

As in the past years, the first 105-megawatt  section of ACR’s 210-MW SEC coal-fired baseload power plant was the key revenue and income driver. The SEC plant’s first section began operating in April 2016 and currently delivers power to more than 3 million people in the General Santos-Sarangani area and other parts of Mindanao.

The second 105-MW section of SEC (SEC 2) is currently completing its commissioning phase and will begin commercial operations in the fourth quarter of this year. SEC 2 is set to contribute another 105 MW of baseload power to benefit an additional 3 million people in various parts of Mindanao. The impending operation of SEC 2 is expected to significantly boost revenue and earnings for the company in 2019.

In the fourth quarter of this year, ACR will begin civil works on the P4.25-billion, 14.5-MW run-of-river hydroelectric power plant at the Siguil River basin in Maasim, Sarangani Province. The project is ACR’s initial entry in renewable energy and will provide additional power to the General Santos-Sarangani region when it begins operations in 2022.

Another project in ACR’s pipeline is the 105-MW San Ramon Power, Inc. baseload coal-fired power plant in Zamboanga City, which is slated to begin operations in 2023. SRPI will select the plant’s engineering procurement and construction contractor before the end of October this year. ACR also has three bunker diesel plants in its portfolio: the 103-MW Mapalad Power Corp. power plant in Iligan, the 55-MW Southern Philippines Power Corp. (SPPC) power station in Alabel, Sarangani Province; and the 100-MW Western Mindanao Power Corp. (WMPC) power plant in Zamboanga City.

The WMPC diesel plant has entered into an ancillary services procurement agreement (Aspa) with the NGCP to provide dispatchable generating capacity, reactive power support, and black start capability in order to stabilize the power grid in the Zamboanga Peninsula (Western Mindanao/Region 9).

The SPPC diesel plant in Sarangani also has a proposal to provide ancillary services to NGCP in order to help stabilize the power grid in Region 12 or South-Central Mindanao.

Besides power generation, ACR is engaged in property development. The company is in partnership with Ayala Land, Inc. in the development of Azuela Cove, a 27-hectare township project in Davao City. The first two Ayala Land Premier towers are under construction, with initial turnover expected in the first quarter of 2023.