ACEN income up 49% in 6 months

MANILA, Philippines —  Earnings of Ayala-led ACEN Corp. jumped by 49 percent to P6.3 billion in the first half from P4.2 billion a year ago, powered by a strong renewable output.

Attributable renewable energy (RE) generation grew by 42 percent during the period due to new operating capacity, which also enabled ACEN to strengthen its net selling position in the power spot market.

Revenues, on the other hand, dipped by 5.9 percent to P19.3 billion from P20.5 billion as electricity sales and rental income declined, while costs and expenses narrowed by 25 percent to P13 billion from P17.3 billion.

“We have strong momentum on the back of a robust increase in operating earnings and steady progress with our project pipeline,” ACEN president and CEO Eric Francia said in a statement yesterday.

Currently, the Ayala Group’s listed energy arm has about 4.8 gigawatts (GW) of attributable RE capacity in operation and under construction, on top of the recently signed agreements and competitive tenders worth over one GW.

“We have won several new projects that we expect to add to our capacity within the next six to twelve months. We remain on track with our goal of achieving 20 GW of renewable capacity by 2030,” Francia added.

From January to June, ACEN delivered a total attributable RE output of 2,908 GW-hours across markets here and abroad.

In the Philippines alone, the company’s renewable energy facilities generated 1,015 GWh, up by 77 percent from a year ago.

Several solar and wind farms across Zambales, Ilocos Norte, Cagayan and Pampanga were brought into commercial operation during the first semester. The new plants accounted for 52 percent of ACEN’s domestic RE output this year.

International assets, on the other hand, produced an attributable output of 1,893 GWh, 28 percent higher compared to the same period in 2023.

Newly commissioned large-scale projects in Australia, India and Vietnam have been recently added to ACEN’s generation portfolio.

“We have begun to see the results of our emphasis on expediently bringing more of our portfolio into operation,” ACEN CFO and chief strategy officer Jonathan Back said.

He said they expect the newly operationalized plants to already contribute “significantly” to the company’s financial results for the remainder of the year.