First Gen income up 46% to $220 million

MANILA, Philippines — Lopez-led First Gen Corp. reported a 46 percent jump in its net income in the first nine months of 2019, driven by higher electricity sales from its clean fuel platforms.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, First Gen said its net income attributable to equity holders in January to September reached $220 million (P11.5 billion), higher than the $151 million (P7.9 billion) in the same period last year.

The company attributed the increase to higher electricity sales of its clean fuel platforms, foreign exchange gains, lower interest expense, and benefits from deferred income taxes.

Consolidated revenues from the sale of electricity rose 11 percent to $1.616 million (P84.2 billion) from $1.462 million (P76.2 billion) in the same period last year.

The company’s natural gas portfolio accounted for 63 percent of total consolidated revenues.

 “Their revenues were 10 percent higher in the first three quarters of 2019 mainly due to higher average natural gas prices coupled with improved plant dispatch,” it added.

Revenues from First Gen subsidiary Energy Development Corp.(EDC) grew to $547 million. This accounts for 34 percent of the company’s total consolidated revenues.

The company said the increase was due to the performance of its Leyte and Negros plants. This was supplemented by higher BacMan revenues in the first three quarters of 2019, though partially offset by lower revenues from its Mindanao and Burgos plants.

In addition, First Gen Hydro Power Corp., owner of the 132-megawatt (MW) Pantabangan-Masiway hydroelectric power plants, posted a 31 percent rise in revenues to $37 million from $28 million due to increased sales to WESM in terms of volume and price.

Meanwhile, the company’s recurring net income attributable to equity holders surged 21 percent to $217 million in the nine-month period from $180 million.

EDC contributed recurring earnings from its geothermal, wind and solar platforms of $67 million in the first nine months of 2019, higher by $14 million compared to $52 million in 2018.

EDC’s Leyte and Negros geothermal plants performed better due to lower outages and higher average selling prices.

First Gen reported that its natural gas-fired power plants also delivered increased recurring earnings for the period, while the two newer gas plants – the 420-MW San Gabriel and 97-MW Avion – generated higher electricity sales from their respective customers.

In addition, the two older plants – the 1,000-MW Santa Rita and 500-MW San Lorenzo – continue to perform steadily.

“We are pleased to report that First Gen’s thrust of clean, low carbon and renewable power continues to result in laudable earnings for the first nine months of 2019. We fully expect to end the year with milestone earnings,” First Gen president and COO Francis Giles Puno said.

“As for the country’s first LNG terminal that will unlock the natural gas industry in the Philippines, JGC Corp. of Japan has been selected as the tenderer for the engineering, procurement, and construction of the FGEN Batangas LNG Terminal Project.
“JGC is currently completing a study focused on modifying FGen’s existing jetty that would allow us to receive large and small scale LNG vessels. Another major benefit to completing this work is that, given the attractiveness of LNG prices today, it will allow FGen to bring in a floating storage regasification unit on an interim basis to enable us to deliver LNG supply earlier,” he added.

First Gen has a capacity of 3,492 MW, which accounts for 21 percent of the country’s gross generation.