Business Mirror
Published on Monday, 25 February 2013 19:51 Written by Lenie Lectura / Reporter
HIGHER electricity sales and an improved economy lifted Manila Electric Co.’s (Meralco) reported net income by 29 percent to P17 billion last year.
Core profit, which excludes one-time exceptional charges, also rose to P16.3 billion in the same period from P14.9 billion or 9-percent higher.
Meralco Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan assured the company will deliver solid financial results through sound investments. “The full-year outlook with respect to 2013 will be ahead of 2012,” Pangilinan said, without giving profit target numbers for Meralco this year. “We will better assess the full impact of effect of election on the economy and on sales and profitability for Meralco on its first-quarter results,” he added.
Revenues stood at P282 billion last year, an 11-percent increase year-on-year. The growth was mainly attributed to the 7.1-percent increase in the volume of energy sold last year, which reached 32,771 gigawatt-hours.
Pangilinan said energy sales during the first two months of the year were encouraging. “This year, we were off to a good start with respect to the energy sales in January which was up by 3.9 percent and for February it’s trending toward a 2.8-percent increase in energy sales. Systems loss continues to be on the downward trend in the first two months.”
The 12-month moving average for system loss rate last year was 7.04 percent, about 0.31-percent better than in 2011 and almost 1.5 percent better than the Energy Regulatory Commission-mandated cap of 8.5 percent.
Meralco’s average distribution charge stood at P1.55 per kWh in 2012, P0.03 per kWh lower than 2011. By end-2012, Meralco customer count increased by 3 percent to almost 5.2 million. Residential customers comprised 91 percent of the total customer count.
Meralco’s 2012 results, said President Oscar Reyes, reflected the broad-base growth of the economy, fueled by the service, real estate and manufacturing sectors.
“We met record demand for electricity without any rise in distribution charges and managed to bring the system loss rate to record-low levels, passing on the resulting savings to our customers,” said Reyes.
He added that Meralco aims to sustain customer centric efforts with a commitment of a total capital expenditure (capex) of close to P13 billion in support of anticipated growth of the economy and continue to pursue operational efficiency and through cost management. In 2012 Meralco’s capex stood at P10.3 billion
Free cash flow as of end-2012 stood at P25.3 billion. Meralco’s liquid position has allowed it to refinance more effectively its debt at more favorable terms.
Meralco’s debt as of end last year is at P24.6 billion. The utility firm plans to tap peso-denominated loan facility in the amount of P14 billion to P15 billion in the second or third quarter this year.
The board approved a cash dividend of P6.10 per share to all shareholders of record as of March 26, payable on April 24. The final cash dividend includes a special dividend of P2.89 per share. Total payout represents 70 percent of the company’s 2012 core net income. source
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