By: Ronnel W.
Domingo 04:01 AM
May 20, 2020
First Gen Corp. saw its
first-quarter net income fall by 17.5 percent year-on-year to P4.9 billion, as
the coronavirus pandemic took its toll on power firms even at the tail end of
the period.
The Lopez-led firm also said
its recurring earnings for January-March dropped by 15 percent to P3.3 billion.
“With this unforeseen pandemic, 2020 will be
challenging for all. Though electricity is an essential need, First Gen has not
been spared from the difficulties,” company president and and chief operating
officer Francis Giles Puno said in a statement. “The lockdown imposed in March
has translated to lower electricity demand.”
First Gen’s natural gas-fired
power plants suffered a decrease in recurring earnings as there were lower
electricity sales when implementation of the enhanced community quarantine
(ECQ) started on March 17.There was also higher operating expenses as First Gen
booked expenses to aid employees and third parties for ECQ.
Even First Gen’s renewable
energy business felt the effect of the lockdown as subsidiary Energy
Development Corp. (EDC) contributed flat recurring earnings—P1.3 billion
compared to P1.4 billion previously—from its geothermal, wind and solar
platforms.
Despite lower electricity
sales, EDC was able to achieve savings in its operating and interest expenses
as an outcome of its continuous improvement initiatives.
First Gen hydro power business
plunged by 51 percent to P200 million, blamed mainly on lower prices at the
wholesale electricity spot market.
The group’s consolidated
revenue from the sale of electricity slid by 10 percent to P24.4 billion, with
the natural gas segment accounting for 60 percent.Revenue from the natural
gas-fired assets dipped 13 percent, mainly due to lower average natural gas
prices coupled with a decline in the plants’ dispatch. INQ
No comments:
Post a Comment