Lopez Holdings posted P1-billion in first-quarter net profit, 64-percent lower than the year-ago level, which was boosted by the group’s additional sale of its stake in Manila Electric Co.
The decline was primarily due to the absence of a gain on the sale of investment in equity securities. Lopez’s subsidiary First Philippine Holdings Corp. (FPH) sold a 2.66-percent stake or 30 million shares in Meralco in January 2012.
Unaudited three-month consolidated revenues decreased by 13 percent year-on-year to P22.16 billion from P25.37 billion as FPH registered declines in the sale of electricity and in the sale of merchandise.
“Despite slow first-quarter electricity sales due to lower generation and also lower electricity prices, FPH is a robust company with a stronger balance sheet, having substantially paid down debt in 2012. We expect recurring income to stay strong. ABS-CBN had a very good first quarter and successfully raised funding for further investments in digital convergence. New investments will naturally reduce income in the short to medium term, but will enhance value and provide steady growth in the long term,” said Lopez Holdings president and chief operating officer Salvador Tirona.
As of end-2012, Lopez Holdings held a 60.3 percent economic interest in ABS-CBN and 46.2 percent in FPH. Under recently adopted Philippine accounting standards, Lopez Holdings has de-consolidated ABS-CBN Corp. and now consolidates FPH and in its financial statements.
FPH saw a 64-percent decline in net income attributable equity holders of parent to P1.78 billion in the first quarter primarily due to the absence of a gain from sale of investment. ABS-CBN registered a 66 percent year-on-year increase in attributable net income for the first quarter to P508 million partly due to election-related advertisements.
Another Lopez firm, First Gen Corp., posted an 11-percent increase in its attributable net income to $55.8 million in the first quarter due to higher earnings from its gas-fired power plants in Batangas.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange yesterday, First Gen explained that it could now book the full earnings contribution of its 1,000-megawatt Sta. Rita and 500-MW San Lorenzo gas facilities as it fully owned and controlled these power plants since May last year.
Also contributing to the increase in net income were the higher volume of electricity sold and trading grains incurred by its affiliate Energy Development Corp. as well as savings from interest expense.
In terms of consolidated revenues, however, First Gen posted a 5.2-percent decline to $494.6 million for the first three months of 2013 from the $521.8 million a year ago.