Semirara sees better earnings in H2

MANILA, Philippines — Consunji-led Semirara Mining and Power Corp. (SMPC) is poised for a financial uplift in the second half of the year amid stable coal prices and a revitalized energy business.

“We’re looking at a better income, better than the first half of this year,” SMPC president and COO Maria Cristina Gotianun said.

With coal prices stabilizing, she noted that the mining business is expected to be the driving force behind the Semirara Group’s improved bottomline in the remaining months of 2024.

The Consunji Group’s integrated energy arm is also banking on the successful overhaul of its power plant that is now running at a capacity of 300 megawatts (MW).

“The genset (generator set) in Unit 2 is okay; Toshiba has rewound it,” the executive said, noting that the rehabilitation took about 80 days.

SMPC operates four-unit, 900-MW power plants—the 2x300-MW coal plant under Sem-Calaca Power Corp. and the 2x150-MW power plant under Southwest Luzon Power Generation Corp.

The company earlier tapped the services of Japanese energy and electronics giant Toshiba Corp. to optimize the operations and prolong the lifespan of the Calaca power plants in Batangas.

Gotianun is hoping that the rewinding of Sem-Calaca Unit 2 will help cover the outages of other power plants.

In terms of topline, she pointed out that the contribution from energy sales would still hinge on the average price in the wholesale electricity spot market (WESM).

“The average price of WESM was higher last year compared to this year, so we’re hoping that it will be better. Let us see how it will compensate,” Gotianun said.

The company supplies electricity through bilateral contracts and sells any excess power to WESM, a centralized venue for trading electricity as a commodity.

In the first half, SMPC reported a 34-percent drop in profit to P12.6 billion from P19.2 billion due to the combined impact of “weaker selling prices, higher total coal production costs and increased coal and electricity sales volume.”

In the second quarter alone, earnings declined by 41 percent to P6 billion from P10.2 billion following the continued drop in coal and electricity prices.

Gotianun earlier said that SMPC was expecting coal production, electricity demand and WESM prices to taper in the second half due to the rainy season.