AEV profit up 12% in Jan-Sept

Power-based conglomerate Aboitiz Equity Ventures grew its nine-month consolidated net profit by 12 percent year-on-year to P18 billion on higher earnings from its power and banking businesses.

For the third quarter alone, consolidated net profit went up by 7 percent to P6.2 billion from a year ago, AEV disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Wednesday.

Power continued to account for the bulk of AEV’s nine-month earnings at 78 percent, while the banking and food segments contributed 17 percent and 5 percent, respectively.  Flagship Aboitiz Power Corp. ended the nine-month period with a higher income contribution of P14.1 billion versus P12.4 billion last year.

Excluding nonrecurring items, AEV’s core earnings for the nine-period ending September went up by 14 percent year-on-year to P17.6 billion. During the period, AEV posted a one-time gain of P894 million versus last year’s nonrecurring loss of P28 million brought about by the revaluation of group-wide dollar-denominated liabilities and placements.

AEV had also written off P513 million in one-off items from its share in the nonrecurring net loss of its power unit, which reflected the higher fuel cost booked by its geothermal plants.

The attributable net generation of Aboitiz Power rose by 10 percent year-on-year to 7,903 gigawatt hours as electricity sold through bilateral contracts expanded by 15 percent. Attributed capacity sold stood at 1,562 megawatts, 12 percent higher year-on-year. The partial completion of the rehabilitation of the Binga hydropower plant coupled with the commercial operation of the 4-MW Irisan Greenfield hydropower plant resulted in a marginal increase in AboitizPower’s attributable capacity to 2,353 MW as of end-September.

“AboitizPower is committed to support the country’s growth by providing power when needed, at a reasonable cost and with the least adverse effect to the environment,” said AEV president Erramon Aboitiz. Doris C. Dumlao