AboitizPower posts P13.5 billion net income from January to September 2019

On a year-to-date basis, AboitizPower’s net income for the first nine months of 2019 was ₱13.5 billion, 19% lower than the ₱16.7 billion recorded during the same period last year.

The company recognized non-recurring losses of ₱220 million versus last year’s losses of ₱1.7 billion related to net foreign exchange and derivative losses. Without these one-off losses, the company’s core net income was ₱13.7 billion, 26% lower than the ₱18.4 billion recorded in the same period last year. This was primarily due to the higher volume and cost of purchased power, lower spot market revenues, and lower plant availability.

“It has been a tough year for AboitizPower with the supply issues that resulted in the high cost of replacement power for our customers. The company has also generated lower revenues from the spot market due to challenges that caused some of our power plants to shut down,” said Emmanuel V. Rubio, AboitizPower Chief Operating Officer.

“Despite this, our customer base continues to grow, which underscores the consumers’ trust and confidence in AboitizPower. Moreover, we remain confident that with our incoming capacities, we will surpass our 2020 target of 4,000 megawatts attributable capacity, ensuring sustainable growth for the company, our shareholders, and the customers and communities we serve,” Rubio said.

Results of Operations

Generation and Retail Electricity Supply

AboitizPower’s generation and retail supply business recorded consolidated earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) of ₱28.7 billion in the first three quarters of 2019, 13% lower than the ₱33 billion recorded during the same period last year.

This was primarily driven by the higher volume and cost of purchased power, lower spot market revenues, and lower plant availability. Spot market prices were high in the first half of 2019 and during that period, the company purchased replacement power due to outages and contracting ahead in preparation for Therma Visayas, Inc.’s incoming capacity. Plant availability was also lower versus the same period last year due to outages from the company’s coal facilities.

Distribution

For the first three quarters of 2019, AboitizPower’s distribution business recorded consolidated EBITDA of ₱6 billion, 3% lower than the ₱6.2 billion recorded during the corresponding period in 2018. This was primarily due to lost margins from the decommissioning of the Bajada power plant.

The company saw energy sales increase to 4,341 gigawatt-hours (GWh), which was 5% higher than the 4,136 GWh recorded in the first nine months of 2018. This was primarily driven by the increase in new customers across all segments.