(The Philippine Star) | Updated May 17, 2013 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines - Lopez-led First Gen Corp. registered a double-digit increase in its net income in the first quarter on the back of gains from its power plants.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), First Gen reported a net income of $55.8 million in the first three months of the year, 11 percent higher than the $50.3 million recorded a year ago.
First Gen said this came from “the higher income booked by the 1,500 megawatt First Gas plants due to the full earnings contribution following the purchase in May 2012 of the 40 percent BG Group stake, higher sales volume and trading gains from EDC geothermal plants, and savings from interest expense.”
In May 2012, First Gen acquired the BG Group’s 40 percent stake in the First Gas plants for a net price of $360 million.
First Gen subsidiary First Gas owns the 1,500-MW Santa Rita and San Lorenzo natural gas plants in Batangas.
The Lopez-led power company booked a higher first quarter income despite a 5-2 percent decrease in consolidated revenues to $494.6 million during the quarter from $521.8 million a year ago.
Of the total revenues, First Gas plants accounted for $324.3 million, or 65.6 percent of the total consolidated revenues while EDC’s geothermal revenues accounted for $146 million, or 29.5 percent.
Revenues from FG Hydro, meanwhile, accounted for $24.1 million, or 4.9 percent of total consolidated revenues.
Revenues from the First Gas plants dropped 6.6 percent during the quarter from $347.6 million a year ago due to a slight drop in fuel prices and lower dispatch by the gas plants.
“The lower dispatch was brought about by a scheduled major maintenance outage of the 1,000 MW Santa Rita power plant,” First Gen said in its disclosure.
On the other hand, EDC’s revenues rose 3.2 percent from $141.5 million on the back of higher sales volume from subsidiary Green Core Geothermal Inc. and trading gains from BacMan Geothermal Inc.
However, FG Hydro’s electricity sales dropped due to lower revenues from ancillary services and lower spot market prices.
As such, FG Hydro’s revenues dropped 26.1 percent from $32.6 million recorded a year ago.
First Gen booked additional income of $9.9 million from BG’s stake in the First Gas plants.
“In total, the First Gas plants contributed $24.8 million to the company’s attributable net income for the first quarter of 2013. EDC’s geothermal assets contributed $26.3 million in attributable earnings for the period from $21.4 million in 2012. FG Hydro’s plants contributed an attributable income of $12.1 million to First Gen for the first quarter of 2013, compared with $17.8 million for the same period in 2012. First Gen directly owns 40 percent of FG Hydro while the remaining 60 percent is owned through EDC,” First Gen said in its disclosure.
The company said it was able to pare down interest expense to $37.5 million from $44.3 million due to a series of refinancing initiatives.
First Gen president Francis Giles Puno said the company would continue to deliver growth projects.
“We continue to deliver strong financial and operational results for the first quarter of 2013 despite the delay suffered by BacMan’s rehabilitation works and the unfortunate landslide at the Unified Leyte site. We continue working hard to deliver the commitments we’ve made, especially on BacMan, and we are intent on delivering our growth projects across the platform,” Puno said.
In May 2010, First Gen affiliate EDC acquired the Bacon-Manito geothermal plants in Albay and commenced operations in February.
However, the three units remain down due to repairs and rehabilitation works. source
No comments:
Post a Comment