By: Ronnel W. Domingo - 01:05 AM
April 25, 2017
Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) on
Monday reported a muted growth on consolidated core net income for the first
quarter of 2017 despite a surge in revenues.
Meralco chief finance officer Betty
Siy-Yap said in a press briefing the power giant’s unaudited consolidated core
net income for the period remained at P4.6 billion.
Siy-Yap said the figure excluded
one-time, exceptional charges. With these factors included, the company’s
consolidated reported net income grew 6 percent to P4.8 billion.
She said core net income largely
came from Meralco’s main distribution business, which grew by 3 percent
year-on-year to 9,317 gigawatt-hours.
Siy-Yap said energy sales increased
in the first quarter, despite a “slightly lower” average distribution rate of
P1.40 per kilowatt-hour.
Meralco chair Manuel V. Pangilinan
said the company would continue to focus on growth opportunities, as anchored
on the country’s strong economy.
“Strong macroeconomic fundamentals
underpin the past growth trajectory of the Philippines and we see these as
being sustained in the short- to medium-term,” Pangilinan said.
“Despite global growth and
geo-political uncertainties, we remain confident that the domestic economy will
continue to expand at the current pace, or potentially faster, as new drivers
weigh in,” he added.
Oscar S. Reyes, Meralco president
and CEO, said the company expected robust consumer spending and household
demand to continue on the back of the sustained rise in remittances from
overseas, revenues from business process outsourcing, among others.
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