First Gen’s recurring net income up 51% to US$243 M in 2018

By Myrna M. Velasco – March 21, 2019, 10:00 PM
from Manila Bulletin

With brisk sales from its gas-fired power assets, First Gen Corporation logged record-high increase of 51 percent on its recurring net income (RNI) to US$243 million last year from the leaner level of US$161 million in 2017.

After factoring in preferred shares dividend payout, the Lopez firm noted that its adjusted recurring net income hovered at US$221 million, which is significantly higher by 66 percent from the previous year’s US$133 million.

The Lopez firm mainly attributed such robust financial outcome to the higher earnings fetched by its 414-megawatt San Gabriel gas plant – which had not only posted top-notch performance on capacity trading at the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) but also had its capacity finally underwritten by a bilateral contract with Manila Electric Company.

“San Gabriel’s recurring net income made a complete turnaround as a result of its strong spot market sales in first half 2018 and the start of its PSA (power supply agreement) sales to Meralco in June 2018,” First Gen has emphasized.

Revenues from that particular plant climbed by hefty 102 percent to US$199 million from the year-ago level of US$99 million. Recurring net income was on a gigantic rise of 724 percent to US$43 million from a relatively dismal US$7.0 million in 2017.

In addition, the 1,000MW Santa Rita and 500MW San Lorenzo gas plants of the Lopez conglomerate registered increases on their net dependable capacity – all that while the company also successfully achieved target of trimming interest expenses.

“The 1,500MW Santa Rita and San Lorenzo plants generated higher recurring net income driven by their higher net dependable capacity and lower interest expenses in 2018,” the company expounded.

For these two major gas-fired power generation assets of the company, revenues had grown 11 percent to US$1.024 billion vis-à-vis the previous year’s US$920 million.