First Gen Corp. said Thursday recurring attributable net income of the parent company grew 36 percent in the first half to $156 million (P8.2 billion) from $115 million (P5.9 billion) a year ago, driven by the strong performance of its clean energy platforms.
First Gen is a subsidiary of First Philippine Holdings Corp., a conglomerate controlled by the Lopez family.
“First Gen’s focus on clean, low-carbon and renewable energy continues to pay off as our first-semester results overtake last year’s. For the remainder of the year, we expect all the platforms to continue to deliver stable earnings,” First Gen president and chief operating officer Francis Giles Puno said in a statement.
Energy Development Corp. delivered $49 million (P2.6 billion) in recurring earnings from its geothermal, wind and solar platform in the six-month period, better by $16 million (P900 million) than $33 million (P1.7 billion) in the same period last year as the Unified Leyte and Tongonan geothermal plant operations continued to normalize and deliver higher earnings after recovering from the damage caused by Typhoon Urduja in December 2017.
The company said all four of First Gen’s natural gas-fired power plants delivered increased recurring earnings during the period.
It said that while the two older plants”•the 1,000-megawatt Santa Rita and the 500-MW San Lorenzo”•benefitted from lower operating expenses, the two newer gas plants”•the 420-MW San Gabriel and the 97-MW Avion”•generated higher electricity sales from their respective customers.
First Gen’s gas platform generated $105 million (P5.5 billion) during the period, up by 19 percent from a recurring attributable net income of $88 million (P4.6 billion) in the first semester of 2018.
Income from the hydro platform was also higher by $8 million (P400 million) to $13 million (P700 million) as it gained from higher sales to the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market and ancillary services.
First Gen said net income attributable to equity holders in the first semester reached $166 million (P8.7 billion), or 95 percent better than $85 million (P4.4 billion) a year ago.
Consolidated revenues from the sale of electricity increased by $146 million (P8.5 billion) or 15 percent to $1.1 billion (P58.1 billion) from $963 million (P49.6 billion) year-on-year.
The natural gas portfolio accounted for $692 million (P36.2 billion), or 62 percent of First Gen’s total consolidated revenues.
First Gen has 3,492 MW of installed capacity in its portfolio which accounts for 21 percent of the country’s gross generation.
