MANILA, Philippines — Alsons Consolidated Resources Inc. (ACR) of the Alcantara Group registered a slight increase in first-half earnings on the back of hotter power demand in Mindanao.
The listed firm’s attributable net income grew by five percent on an annual basis to P362.2 million from P346.1 million, while consolidated net income declined by nine percent to P1.1 billion from P1.2 billion due to lower non-controlling gains.
Revenues slipped by 14 percent to P5.9 billion from P6.9 billion due to lower passed-on coal costs and the limited operations of a power plant, which went on a forced outage from December 2023 until February this year.
“We’ve made a solid recovery after the disruptions caused by the Mindanao earthquake last year, November 2023,” ACR deputy CFO Philip Edward Sagun said.
From April to June alone, attributable earnings jumped by 11 percent to P211.4 million from P190.3 million despite a 10-percent dip in revenues to P3.3 billion from P3.6 billion.
The stronger profit in the second quarter was anchored on increased demand for power due to El Niño, with the electricity spot market contributing significantly to the growth.
“Our outlook for the rest of the year is positive, bolstered by our new (ancillary service procurement agreement) with the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines and the opportunities presented by the (retail electricity and open access) market in Mindanao,” Sagun said.