Aboitiz Power income dives 57% to P3.7-B in first half

Published July 28, 2020, 3:45 PM by Myrna M. Velasco

https://mb.com.ph/2020/07/28/aboitiz-power-income-dives-57-to-p3-7-b-in-first-half/

 

Given the coronavirus contagion that pummeled businesses in recent months, listed firm Aboitiz Power Corporation reported that its net income in the first half tumbled 57-percent to P3.7 billion from a more auspicious bottom line of P8.6 billion in the same six-month stretch in 2019.

And in the second quarter when the pandemic exceptionally stymied economic activities in the country because of the government-enforced lockdown, the company’s income took further beating with 67-percent drop to P1.7 billion compared to P5.0 billion in a parallel period last year.

On its six-month income, Aboitiz Power emphasized that it logged non-recurring gains of P224 million, which was higher than the P121 million the previous year. It attributed such to “net foreign exchange gains on the revaluation of dollar-denominated liabilities.”

The firm emphasized that if these one-time gains had not been posted, the earnings of the company from January to June should have been lower at P3.5 billion, still seemingly inferior compared to last year’s P8.5 billion.

Primarily in the second quarter, the company noted decline in its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) “stemming from decreased demand due to the enforcement of COVID-related community quarantine and outages.”

Aboitiz Power similarly logged additional tax expenses following the lapse of the income tax holiday (ITH) perks of its Therma South Inc. and GNPower Mariveles Coal Plant Ltd. Co.; compounded by added interest expense from bond and loan that were availed of in last year’s fourth quarter.

For the power generation and retail supply segments of the company’s operations, Aboitiz Power indicated that it registered EBITDA of P14.8 billion, which was 17-percent lower versus last year’s P17.8 billion in the same six-month period.

“The variance was primarily due to reduced demand resulting from the enforcement of COVID-related community quarantines, as well as forced outages during the first half of 2020 involving Pagbilao units 1-3, TSI (Therma South Inc) Unit 2 and GMCP (GNPower Mariveles Plant) Unit 2.”

The reduction in earnings, it stressed, “offset the decrease in purchased power costs during the first half of 2020,” as well as the revenues cornered from its Therma Visayas Inc. (TVI) and Therma Mobile Inc. (TMO) plants.

In terms of energy sold during the covered financial review period, it declined 6.0-percent to 10,764 gigawatt-hours (GWh) from 11,460 GWh last year, and this was mainly attributed to “lower demand brought about by the pandemic and forced outages.” Conversely, overall capacity sold during the period

had been higher by 12-percent to 3,388 megawatts from 3,035MW a year ago.

The income contribution of the distribution segment of its business had been flattish at roughly the same level of P3.7 billion, despite the reported fall in sales.

“Energy sales decreased by 7.0-percent to 2,629 gigawatt-hours during the first six months of 2020 from 2,842 GWh in the first half of 2019,” the company stipulated, and that had been similarly traced to the drop in energy consumption of commercial and industrial end-users because of the stay-at-home orders of the government that in turn had affected work flow in businesses.