Roxas Holdings sees profit drop by 28%
SUGAR firm Roxas Holdings Inc. saw its nine-month net profit ending June decline to P329.26 million, a drop of 28 percent year-on-year, due to low sugarcane supply and higher cost of raw materials.
For the quarter ending June, the third quarter in its fiscal year, RHI saw the situation improve as it chalked up a net profit of P191.11 million, 39.5 percent higher than the previous year, the company said in a regulatory filing.
In a separate press statement, RHI chair Pedro Roxas said the group had put in place measures to address the low sugarcane supply situation, particularly in its Central Azucarera de la Carlota plant in Negros Occidental.
“We hope to stabilize the cane supply situation across all our operations in Negros Occidental and Batangas through the programs we have started to roll out,” Roxas said.
RHI president Renato Valencia said the low cane supply had affected the group’s cash flow as measured by earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), which dropped by 10 percent year-on-year to P1.16 billion during the first three quarters of the fiscal year.
For the nine-month period ending June, RHI’s revenues went up by 4 percent year-on-year to P6.58 billion. RHI revenues for the quarter ending June rose by 49.5 percent year-on-year to P3.11 billion.
“Most of our subsidiaries performed positively in the third quarter and we are looking at further improving results by the fourth quarter,” Valencia said.
Refined sugar sales amounted to P2.08 billion for the first three quarters while raw sugar contributed P1.88 billion. Revenues from the sale of molasses, tolling services from refinery and other activities amounted to P733 million.
The firm’s fledgling ethanol business contributed P1.88 billion during the first nine months.
Last May, RHI acquired majority of San Carlos Bioenergy in Negros Occidental to add to the capacity of its Roxol Bioenergy Corp. As a result, ethanol sales rose by 79 percent year-on-year. Doris Dumlao-Abadilla
