MANILA, Philippines - First quarter consolidated earnings of power utility giant Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) surged 58 percent to P3.37 billion on the back of higher sales from a record number of consumers.
Core net income, which strips out currency and derivatives-related items, rose by five percent to P3.42 billion from a year ago.
Amid favorable results in the first three months of the year, the country’s largest power distributor is maintaining its P15-billion core profit guidance for this year that is higher than the P14.9 billion a year ago, Meralco president and chief executive Manuel V. Pangilinan said.
“Consolidated electric revenues for the three months that ended March 2012 was at P65.1 billion, a 16-percent increase over the same period in 2011,” Meralco said.
Energy sales in the first quarter jumped 9.9 percent to 7,687 gigawatt-hours compared with the same period last year, said Meralco chief operating officer Oscar S. Reyes.
“Our net income went up mainly due to higher sales volume and customer count,” said Meralco chief financial Officer Betty Siy-Yap.
Meralco added 40,000 new customers in the first quarter, bringing the total to a record 5.07 million as of end-March.
Meralco, which is indirectly controlled by Hong Kong-based First Pacific Co. Ltd. and partly owned by San Miguel Corp., said industrial energy sales were driven by the businesses that are into food and beverage, steel and cement, and plastic and plastic products.
The commercial segment improved because of hotels, restaurants, schools and communications, while residential sales were driven by slightly warmer temperature and higher residential count, Reyes said.
Meanwhile, the company is maintaining its profit guidance this year as it waits for more development.
“I think it is too early to tell... April appears to be a good month but beyond that it is difficult to say. We are staying with the guidance of P15 billion for the moment,” Pangilinan said.
But Pangilinan said the approval of Meralco’s plan to recover local franchise taxes it paid will have favorable impact on earnings this year. Last month, the Energy Regulatory Commission approved as much as four centavos per kilowatt-hour in additional charge for Meralco’s local franchise tax payments.
For first half, sales might increase by around 10 percent but the rise might be tempered in the second half, said Alfredo S. Panlilio, senior vice-president of Meralco.