Semirara earns record P25.8 billion

MANILA, Philippines — Earnings of Semirara Mining and Power Corp. (SMPC) surged to record high in the first half on the back of soaring global coal prices, coupled with higher spot electricity sales.

SMPC said its net income from January to June more than quadrupled from P6.3 billion to P25.8 billion, the company’s highest earnings for any given semester.

“As expected, we had a weaker performance quarter over quarter because of the China lockdowns, but compared to last year, we did very well,” SMPC president and COO Maria Cristina Gotianun said.

“We maintain our view that the second semester will be anemic because of market volatility and unfavorable weather conditions,” she said.

Coming from its highest quarterly profit in the first quarter, SMPC sustained strong profitability in the second quarter.

The company registered a net income of P10.8 billion during the April to June period, up 171 percent from P4 billion in the same period last year.

SMPC attributed the strong second quarter earnings to all-time high coal selling prices coupled with higher spot electricity sales volume at elevated prices.

For the second quarter alone, contributions from the coal segment grew by 195 percent year-on-year to P9 billion, while SEM-Calaca Power Corp. (SCPC) accounted for P1 billion, up 81 percent year-on-year.

Southwest Luzon Power Generation Corp. (SLPGC) contributed P742 million, a 107-percent increase from P359 million.

SMPC said total shipments in the second quarter dropped by 24 percent from 4.9 million metric tons (MMT) to 3.7 MMT as China imposed COVID lockdowns and shifted to Russian coal.

Export sales plunged by 44 percent from 3.2 MMT to 1.8 MMT, while domestic sales grew by 12 percent from 1.7 MMT to 1.9 MMT.

Buffering the impact of lower shipments was the 126-percent increase in average selling prices from P2,393 to P5,399, the highest for any given quarter, according to the company.

SMPC said heavy rainfall and higher stripping activities, meanwhile, curbed coal production, dropping 21 percent from 4.3 MMT to 3.4 MMT.

For its power business, SMPC’s overall gross generation in the second quarter was mostly flat at 984 gigawatt-hours (GWh) as SCPC Unit 2 remained on forced outage because of a defective generator stator.