Roxas Holdings profit grows 5-fold

MANILA, Philippines - Listed bio-sugar and bio-energy company Roxas Holdings Inc. (RHI) said its net income surged more than five-fold for crop year ending September 2016, driven by higher revenues and business expansion.

In a disclosure to the local bourse, RHI said net income jumped 451 percent to P102 million.

RHI said the increase was due to higher interest and depreciation charges that stemmed from investments to expand the alcohol business and improve the efficiency of the sugar business.

Revenues grew nearly 50 percent to P12.1 billion on the back of higher volumes and stronger prices.

Combined tons of cane milled (TCM) for the company’s Batangas and Negros plants rose five percent to 2.7 million tons.

RHI president and CEO Hubert Tubio expects to sustain growth for the next crop year following upgrades to equipment and processes in its sugar mills to reduce overall cost of production.

“The completion of the off-season repairs will enhance the efficiency and profitability of all our plants in the incoming crop year,” he said.

RHI chairman Pedro Roxas is upbeat its decision to invest and expand its alcohol business will bring stable and consistent returns to the company.

The company’s ethanol businesses Roxol Bioenergy Corp.(RBC) and San Carlos Bioenergy Corp. Inc. (SCBI) are the country’s biggest ethanol producers with a combined capacity of 285,000 liters per day.

In May 2015, RHI acquired SCBI which recently completed its expansion project that increased the plant’s capacity to 38 million liters from 32 million liters annually.

“We hope to have an improved positive story in the coming year as we begin to benefit from the major investments in plant and equipment we have made in recent years at our sugar and ethanol plants,” Tubio said.

RHI is the largest integrated sugar business in the Philippines which manages 100 percent of Central Azucarera Don Pedro, Inc. in Batangas, and Central Azucarera de la Carlota, Inc.,RCB and and majority of SCBI.