ACEN income surges 25% as new plants deliver

ACEN Corp. reported a consolidated net income of P1.78 billion in the second quarter, 25.4% higher than the P1.42 billion earned in the same period last year, boosted by fresh contributions of new Philippine and international power plants and strong wholesale electricity prices during the quarter.

“We’re delighted to see the strong rebound in the second quarter, which helps generate momentum as the company sets out its bold ambition to reach 20 gigawatts (GW) of renewables by 2030,” said Eric T. Francia, president and chief executive officer of ACEN, in a press release.

In its financial report filed to the exchange on Tuesday, the Ayala-led energy company reported a P2.18-billion net income for the first semester, an 19% decline compared to P2.69 billion reported in the same period last year.

The company said revenues for the second quarter were recorded at P8.57 billion, 11.4% higher compared with P7.69 billion in the same period last year.

Consolidated revenues for the first semester rose by 19.1% to P15.97 billion from P13.41 billion previously, due to higher spot market prices balancing the impact of curtailment and customer buyout fees in the first quarter.

According to ACEN, attributable output in the first semester grew 11% to 2,482 gigawatt-hours due to increased operating capacity from its wind farms in Vietnam and its solar plants in India, which offset the impact of thermal outages during the first quarter.

“The Philippine business has returned to profitability as we start to recover from short-term headwinds experienced in the first quarter of the year,” said ACEN Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer Maria Corazon G. Dizon.

ACEN has close to 4 GW of pro forma attributable capacity spread across five countries in the Asia-Pacific region. Of the capacity, 87% is renewables.

In the Philippines, the company has close to 600 megawatts of solar and wind farms under construction that are targeted to be completed by 2030. The country remains to be ACEN’s core market, accounting for 40% of its portfolio.

On Tuesday, shares in the company declined by 2.92% or P0.26, finishing at P8.64 each on the stock market. — Ashley Erika O. Jose