Forex swings slice Aboitiz Power income

Foreign exchange fluctuations shaved Aboitiz Power Corp.’s net income by 2 percent year-on-year to P9.7 billion in the first half of 2017.

Aboitiz Power said in a statement it lost P744 million in the first six months of this year due to forex losses on the revaluation of its dollar-denominated liabilities.

The company said, however, that its consolidated Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) jumped 18 percent to P21.8 billion from P18.4 billion.

“Our core power generation and power distribution businesses have continued to post significant growth,” said Antonio R. Moraza, Aboitiz Power president and chief operating officer.

“Our new power plants are contributing significantly while our existing power plants are continuously improving in terms of availability and reliability,” said Moraza.

He said Aboitiz Power’s pipeline of projects was on track and should bring the company towards its goal of having 4,000 megawatts (MW) of net attributable capacity by 2020.

The group’s power generation business recorded an 8-percent growth, bringing in P8.9 billion in terms of core net income.

From January to June, Aboitiz Power sales accounted for 2,706 MW of generating capacity, one-third more than the 2,033 MW previously.

Sales were mainly driven by the additional capacity of GNPower Mariveles Coal Plant Ltd. Co. and higher capacity sold from hydro units.

Aboitiz Power’s distribution business also saw a 3-percent rise in net income contribution of P1.8 billion in the semester.

Distribution sales also improved by 1.4 percent, for a total of 2,546 gigawatt-hours.