Thursday, November 18, 2010

First Gen’s 9-month profit jumped 43% to $104.9m

Manila Standard Today
by Alena Mae S. Flores
First Gen Corp., a unit of the Lopez group of companies, reported a higher attributable net income to parent of $66.5 million in the first nine months of the year, up 849 percent from $7 million year-on-year.
First Gen disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange that the increased earnings were driven by the strong operating performance of the First Gas group, First Gen Hydro Power Corp. and Energy Development Corp.
First Gen’s consolidated net income in the first three quarters rose 43 percent to $104.9 million from $73.3 million for the same period in 2009.
“While our First Gas plants continue to deliver solid and dependable results, earnings growth was delivered by EDC coming mainly from the increased contribution of the plants that it acquired last year,” First Gen president Giles Puno said. “We are fortunate that these developments are aided by the positive sentiment and growth of our economy today.”
First Gen’s consolidated revenues climbed 27 percent to $980.1 million from last year’s $771.9 million.
The company said the steady and reliable dispatch of First Gas’ 1,000-megawatt Sta. Rita and the 500-MW San Lorenzo natural gas-fired power plants were the main contributors to the increase in revenues from the sale of electricity. Sales from the two plants rose $142.9 million or 19 percent to $906 million from $763.7 million on year.
“The higher revenues were offset by corresponding increase in the pass-through fuel charge to its electricity off-taker and higher operations and maintenance fees paid to Siemens Power Operations Inc.,” First Gen said.
The First Gas plants delivered earnings of $98.4 million, in which First Gen’s equity share was $59 million for the period ending Sept. 30 this year. First Gen’s equity share in First Gas is higher by $3.3 million on year.
Equity in net earnings from associates swung to $58.8 million from a loss of $11.8 million.

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