RHI net income plunges 96.5 percent in first 9 months

Listed sugar and ethanol producer Roxas Holdings Inc. (RHI) saw its net income plunge by 96.5 percent for the first nine months of its fiscal year, ending in September, compared to year-ago level.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, RHI reported a net income of P6 million from P175 million year on year, while it reported a 13 percent increase in its revenues to P9 billion from P8 billion year on year.

RHI President and CEO Hubert D. Tubio said “unfavorable weather conditions and the dwindling number of farm workers” reduced RHI’s overall sugar production by 19 percent.

Moreover, the company struggled with the higher cost of production caused by a spike in the cost of outside fuel, on the back of lower sugar prices during the earlier period and the sector’s overall lower cane supply.

Nonetheless, group chairman Pedro E. Roxas noted that RHI’s inventory at the beginning of the crop year compensated for the lower volume of sugar produced by the company during the period.

In terms of the group’s ethanol business, it was able to rake in higher revenues despite a slight drop in the selling price of ethanol. RHI attributed its earnings on the improvements of its ethanol plants, which increased the company’s alcohol production to 51 million liters. /jpv