Phoenix Petroleum Philippines is allocating P510 million to establish a Singapore-based company that will trade the company’s fuel products.
Phoenix disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange late Friday the new company would also engage in the trading business in Singapore “for the purposes of eventually servicing other third parties and customers.”
Phoenix has expressed confidence of surpassing its net income and revenues last year due to the addition of the liquefied petroleum gas business and growth from fuel and non-fuel segments.
“Our objective is to grow top line and bottom, not just bottom. It will be better than last year, I am not talking about percentages. I am talking about absolute numbers. We want to grow the business this year, top line and bottom line against last year,” Phoenix chief operating officer Henry Albert Fadullon said.
Phoenix posted record earnings of P1.09 billion in 2016, up 21 percent from a profit of P905 million in 2015.
Core earnings from the fuel business more than doubled to P937 million in 2016 from P416 million in 2015 due to better margins and sales mix.
Sales volume reached 1.5 billion last year, up 25 percent, driven by solid growth in retail and commercial volume.
Revenues were slightly higher by two percent due to lower oil prices year-on-year but they were offset by higher sales volume.
“Our objective is to make sure that this year will be better than last year. Retail is growing… That’s why retail is a priority. The other one is LPG,” Fadullon said.
Phoenix announced the potential acquisition of Petronas Energy Philippines Inc. in May and secured August 3 the approval of the Philippine Competition Commission.
Phoenix’s LPG business will be consolidated into the company beginning August and is expected to contribute to to earnings by end of the year.
“The third piece is aviation industry,” the official said, as Phoenix supplies majority of Cebu Pacific Air’s demand and some of Philippine Airlines’ requirements outside Manila.
“We will continue to sustain the growth momentum of our company as we expand our retail, commercial, lubricants, and LPG businesses, drive operational excellence, and acquire companies,” said Phoenix president and chief executive officer Dennis Uy earlier.