Lopez’s EDC blames disasters for drop in recurring income

By Lenie Lectura – March 1, 2018
from Business Mirror

LOPEZ-led Energy Development Corp. (EDC) on Thursday reported a decline in its recurring income and revenues last year, as operations were mainly affected by earthquake and typhoon.

The country’s largest geothermal- and wind-energy company posted consolidated revenues of P33.3 billion and recurring net income attributable (RNIA) to equity holders of the parent of P8.8 billion for 2017.

In 2016 revenues stood at P24.2 billion, while recurring income reached P9.2 billion. There was a strong 6.5-magnitude earthquake that hit Leyte island in July 2017 and Typhoon Urduja struck in December 2017.

“Our Leyte unit, which generated almost 45 percent of our revenues in 2016, was on track for a record year last year until it got struck by two major calamities,” EDC Chief Financial Officer Nestor Vasay said.

“Despite the initial shock from the earthquake last July and from Urduja last December, our team worked hard to successfully restore much-needed electricity to our countrymen in the Visayas region,” Vasay added.

Meanwhile, EDC’s Bacman business unit delivered an additional P0.9 billion in revenues on account of higher contracted volume, to negate the lower generation volume of its Palinpinon power plants. Its Burgos wind farm, the largest in the country, also built on its strong 2016 performance to post its highest volume since it was commissioned in 2014.

“We have been able to fully contract our Bacman and Nasulo power plants, thus, reducing our exposure to the spot market. We also bought back close to $90 million of our dollar bonds last year to help reduce our foreign-exchange exposure,” Vasay said. “For 2018, we will continue to manage some of these key risks, and will continue to work on our power-plant optimization and other efficiency programs.”

The company ended 2017 with a cash balance of P11.7 billion.