MANILA, Philippines?Top Philippine conglomerate San Miguel Corp. said Thursday its net profits for the first half fell to P6.2 billion ($138 million), but that its move into the power sector had been a boon.

The firm said the decline was due to lack of windfall profits compared with last year, when it sold nearly half of San Miguel Beer to Japanese brewer Kirin.

Listed San Miguel Corp. reported a P56.2-billion net income for the first six months of 2009.

It did not provide the comparative percentage fall for the first half of 2010. But, based on last year's reported data, net income plunged nearly 89 percent.

Minus the windfall items and including foreign exchange gains, San Miguel's interim net profits in the first half of 2010 grew 7.0 percent from a year earlier, driven mainly by brisk beer and liquor sales, it said.

Net profit for San Miguel Beer jumped 14 percent year-on-year to 5.56 billion pesos as extra money flowed through the economy via candidates' spending money ahead of the May national elections.

San Miguel Beer, which is still 51-percent owned by San Miguel Corp, has a near monopoly on the domestic market.

San Miguel Corp has been moving aggressively in recent years into heavy industries, and it said Thursday these moves had paid off.

Profit contributions by its affiliates, which now include top power distributor Manila Electric Co, grew 22 percent to 1.09 billion pesos.

Investments in three power generating plants accounted for 699 million pesos of San Miguel's consolidated net profits, it added.