By
BusinessMirror - August 14, 2017
THE Energy Development
Corp. (EDC) of the Lopez group on Monday posted a decline in net
earnings during the first half of the year, mainly on account of higher
expenses and foreign exchange losses.
The EDC said its
consolidated net income, inclusive of nonrecurring items, stood at P4.6
billion, 6-percent lower than the P4.9 billion in the same period a year-ago.
“The decline was
primarily driven by higher operating expense, forex losses on loans and loss
from the early redemption of a portion of the company’s US$ denominated bonds
partly offset by higher revenues mainly from Unified Leyte and the Bacman power
plants,” it said.
Revenues increased by4
percent to P17.7 billion at end-June this year, from the P17 billion in the
first half of 2016. The increase was driven primarily by higher energy sales
volumes booked by Unified Leyte geothermal power plants and the reduction in
the Bacman plants’ exposure to the electricity markets following the increased
proportion of contracted energy sales.
EDC CFO Nestor Vasay
said the January-to-June financial results “confirm progress [the] EDC has made
in boosting cash generation and in delivering financial predictability to
investors by addressing the uncontracted portion of its Bacman power plants and
by undertaking an extensive asset-reliability program for the Leyte Power
Plants.”
However, earnings
growth in the second half of the year will likely become moderate following the
6.5-magnitude earthquake that struck the island of Leyte on July 6, Vasay said.
“We, however, remain
steadfast and have exerted efforts to expedite the return to service of the
generating capacity of the Leyte Plants back to its pre-earthquake levels,”
Vasay added.
As of the first half of
2017, the EDC’s financial position remained strong with cash balance of P10.9
billion.
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