Meralco dislodges Napocor as top revenue earner

The Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) has dislodged the National Power Corp. (Napocor) as the country’s top revenue earner in the power sector.

For years, the state-owned Napocor had held on to the number one spot among the top 1,000 companies listed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Napocor is wholly-owned by the government while Meralco is controlled by the Lopez Group of Companies with some shares held by the government.

In separate income statements for the year 2000, Napocor reported total revenues of only P102.16 billion compared to Meralco’s P103.9 billion. Napocor’s revenues rose to P102.16 billion from P91.59 billion in 1999 while Meralco’s revenues increased from P84.43 billion in 1999.

But the big difference lies in the two firms’ profitability. While Napocor recorded a net loss of P12.96 billion, Meralco posted a profit of P2.48 billion last year, although this is down from 1999’s P3.3 billion and 1998’s P5.19 billion.

Napocor’s financial position has been getting worse, with losses of P5.9 billion in 1999. If the Power Sector Bill will not be passed, it is projected that the Meralco dislodges deficit of the company will widen to P17 billion this year.

While Napocor realizes an operating income, this is eroded by expenses, particularly interest expense which amounted to P15 billion last year.

Napocor has also been suffering heavy losses due to foreign exchange differential especially last year when the peso breached the 50 to a dollar level. For 2000, Napocor paid some P14.6 billion in forex differential.

Despite the loss, Napocor’s assets grew to P989.77 billion as of end-December 2000 from P862.09 billion in 1999.