MANILA, Philippines -- Electricity producer Aboitiz Power Corp. said Monday its first-quarter net profit surged 143 percent to P1.01 billion ($24 million) on higher sales and acquisitions.

Aboitiz Power, partly owned by conglomerate Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc., posted a 41 percent growth in revenue to P2.97 billion.

Acquisitions made in 2007, including the 360-megawatt Magat hydro power plant which was bought from the government, drove earnings higher. Power generation accounted for P584 million of group earnings.

Power distribution contributed P383 million to group earnings, up 18 percent from a year earlier.

Aboitiz Power is expected to post net profit of P3.82 billion for 2008, according to the median forecast in a Thomson Financial poll of five analysts. Net profit in 2007 more than doubled to P4.1 billion.

Shares in Aboitiz Power closed 1.0 percent lower at P4.95 on Monday ahead of the results.

The stock has fallen 6.6 percent so far this year, outperforming the main index which has shed 24 percent due to continued selling of emerging market assets amid a bleak outlook for the global economy.

($1 = P42.10)