Semirara income in Q1 drops 42%

Semirara Mining Corp., the country’s biggest coal producer, posted a 42-percent decline in its net income after tax to P1.01 billion in the first quarter in 2013 from P1.73 billion in the same period last year.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Semirara Mining said the drop in earnings was due mainly to losses from coal operations, which were temporarily suspended.

These losses, however, were partially offset by significant gains in the company’s power-generation business.

According to Semirara, the coal segment posted a net loss of P145.44 million in the first three months of 2013, while the power segment contributed P1.15 billion in earnings.

“The coal segment was hit by the lower production resulting from the temporary suspension of coal mining operations after the Panian West wall incident and lower coal prices,” the coal firm explained.

“Meanwhile, the significant improvement in the earnings of the power segment was mainly driven by the higher availability of the plant and higher average load capacity as both units were already operating after the plant rehabilitation,” it added.

Semirara owns and operates a Batangas-based coal-fed power plant that can generate 520 megawatts.