Saturday, May 5, 2012

Aboitiz Power posts P5.6-b profit

Posted  by Alena Mae S. Flores 
Aboitiz Power Corp. reported Friday consolidated net income in the first quarter rose 9.8 percent to P5.6 billion from P5.1 billion a year ago, supported by the strong performance of power generation and distribution businesses.
The company also announced it would invest P170 billion in the rehabilitation of existing power plants to increase capacity and improve reliability. This would include P35 billion for 354 megawatts of new capacity in Mindanao by 2015.
Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc., its parent company, recorded consolidated net income of P5.9 billion in the first quarter, up 27 percent year-on-year.
The parent firm’s core net income amounted to P5.5 billion, up by 28 percent from the same period last year.
Power accounted for 73 percent of Aboitiz Equity’s earnings in the quarter, while banking and food contributed 23 percent and 4 percent, respectively.
Aboitiz Power said in a report its higher net income in the first quarter translated to earnings per share of P0.76 for the period in review.
Aboitiz Power’s core net income amounted to P5.1 billion during the period, up 9 percent from P4.6 billion in the same period last year.
“Our revenue growth for the first quarter was propelled by a higher demand for energy, something we foresee continuing with higher levels of economic activity. Aboitiz Power is anticipating this increased demand for electricity by building the right mix of energy sources in its generating portfolio to be able to deliver better power solutions to customers at reasonable and competitive prices,” Aboitiz Power Corp. president and chief executive Erramon Aboitiz said.
The first quarter saw a 34-percent increase in the average price of electricity in the wholesale electricity spot market due to both supply and demand conditions in the Luzon grid.
Demand picked up during the period with the Luzon grid’s peak demand surging by 5 percent to breach 7,200 megawatts.
The hotter climate was one of the factors that led to the increase in power requirements. Aboitiz Power said it recorded a 5-percent improvement in its average selling price for its power.
Net generation in the quarter grew by 13 percent to 2,452 gigawatt-hours in the first quarter from 2,168 GWh a year ago, led by the 22-percent expansion in power sales through bilateral contracts.
The company’s attributable capacity was at 2,350 MW in the first quarter, posting a 15 percent from the previous year.
(Published in the Manila Standard Today newspaper on /2012/May/05)   source

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