Sunday, December 8, 2013

Power distributor hikes budget for next year


Business World Online
Posted on December 08, 2013 11:03:57 PM


MANILA ELECTRIC Co. (Meralco) has increased its planned capital expenditures (capex) for next year, a top company official told reporters in Hong Kong on Friday, citing the need to meet an expected increase in demand.

LINEMEN of Manila Electric Co. restore electricity supply to a slum in Manila that was hit by a fire in this photo taken on Sept. 1, 2008. -- AFP
“We are looking at a capex of P15.6 billion in 2014. Its higher now compared to the previous announcement,” Meralco President and Chief Executive Officer Oscar S. Reyes said in a briefing on updates on Metro Pacific Investments Corp.

He attributed the capex hike mainly to the expected addition of big-volume customers.

“We’ve got new projects such as PAGCOR (Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.) City,” Mr. Reyes noted.

“A number of them are expected to go online next year or in 2015.”

Touted as the Philippines’ answer to Macau, the Bagong Nayong Pilipino Entertainment City in ParaƱaque will feature four hotel and gaming complexes. Its locators are Enrique K. Razon-led Bloomberry Resorts Corp., which opened Solaire Resorts & Casino last March; SM Group and Melco Crown (Philippines) Resorts Corp., which will open City of Dreams Manila next year; Universal Entertainment Group, which will open Manila Bay Resort & Casino in 2015; and Travellers International Hotel Group, Inc., which plans to open Resorts World Bayshore in 2016.

“Secondly, we are seeing industrial estates that have run out of space and are expanding. New zones are being developed.”

Just last month, Mr. Reyes announced that the company had programmed some P13.5 billion for capex next year, mainly to accommodate an expected increase in customers and to improve distribution services.

Meralco distributes electricity in Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite and Rizal, as well as parts of Batangas, Laguna, Quezon and Pampanga. Through Clark Electric Distribution Corp., the company also provides electricity to more than 1,000 industrial customers in Clark Freeport Zone in Pampanga.

The company’s net income slipped to P13.644 billion as of September from P13.646 billion in the same nine months last year. Revenues sank 3.1% to P208.097 billion from P214.749 billion, while costs and expenses fell 5.4% to P188.672 billion from P199.410 billion. Its shares gained 1.81% or P4.80 to close at P270 apiece on Friday last week from P265.20 each last Thursday. -- LCSM   source

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