AboitizPower records lower income in January-March

By Lenie Lectura May 1, 2020
https://businessmirror.com.ph/2020/05/01/aboitizpower-records-lower-income-in-january-march/

Aboitiz Power Corp. posted a lower income at end-March this year, mainly due to tax payments, interest expense and power plant outage incidents.

From January to March this year, the power firm booked P2.1 billion, from P3.6 billion recorded in the same period last year.

During the period, the company registered non-recurring losses of P27 million. Without these one-off losses, core net income for the first quarter of 2020 stood at P2.1 billion.

“This was mostly due to the decline in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization [EBITDA], coupled with additional taxes from the Income Tax Holiday expirations of Therma South and GNPower Mariveles power plants, and the additional interest expense from the parent bond and loan that were taken up late last year,” AboitizPower said Thursday.

The company’s performance was also affected by outages in Therma South and GNPower Mariveles power plants, and lower selling prices, which mitigated the fresh contributions of Therma Visayas and decreased purchased power costs.

AboitizPower President Emmanuel V. Rubio said the company continues to adapt to the constantly changing business climate due to the pandemic situation and would make further adjustments when necessary, to sustain the business.

“The pandemic has affected the timeline of GNPD [GNPower Dinginin Ltd. Co.] . Unit 1 will synchronize by the fourth quarter of 2020 and will commence commercial operations by the first quarter of 2021.

Unit 2 will synchronize by the first quarter of 2021 and will commence commercial operations by the second quarter of 2021,” said Rubio during the company’s recent annual meeting.

Similar to other power firms, Aboitiz noted a decline in power demand since the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) was implemented.

“Demand for power has dipped since the ECQ; spot prices are also lower, given the lower demand and collections are down. We’re seeing an upward movement week on week, especially with demand due to higher temperature. Likewise, collections are higher than expected. It is expected to gradually increase upon the easing of lockdown,” he said.

But with the additional capacities in its portfolio, Rubio said the company has “fortified our bench and have further strengthened governance across different parts of the business.”

We are going to continue growing our renewable portfolio. We are focusing on participating and playing a significant role in the program of the government on RPS [Renewable Portfolio Standards] and the Green Energy Option program, plus our focus growth area overseas,” he said.

AboitizPower has remitted P14 million to the government of Davao City. The amuont represents its share of Energy Regulations 1-94 (ER 1-94) Program funds in support of its efforts to combat the effects of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).

Last April 6, the Department of Energy (DOE) issued Department Circular 2020-004-00080, dictating that the ER 1-94 funds received by host communities of power generation companies may now be used in full for efforts towards managing the effects of Covid-19.