MANILA, Philippines – Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. (AEV) grew its second quarter net profit by 3 percent year-on-year to P5.4 billion as treasury gains and a rebound in banking profits made up for the decline in earnings from the flagship power business.
This second quarter performance brought AEV’s net income for the first half to P9 billion, down by 11 percent from the level in the same period last year.
Excluding one-off gains, AEV’s core net income for the second quarter was P5 billion, down by 6 percent year-on-year.
AEV booked non-recurring gains of P412 million during the second quarter, primarily due to unrealized foreign exchange gains on the revaluation of dollar-denominated net liabilities, versus the P42 million in net foreign exchange losses in the corresponding period in 2018.
Total non-recurring gains for the six-month period amounted to P78 million, a turnaround from the P467 million in non-recurring losses recorded in the previous year.
Without these one-off gains, AEV’s core net income for the first half was P8.9 billion, 16 percent lower year-on-year.
The power segment accounted for 67 percent of the total business, followed by financial services which accounted for 24 percent.
Food, infrastructure and real estate accounted for 6 percent, 2 percent and 1 percent, respectively.
Flagship Aboitiz Power Corp. contributed P6.7 billion in net income for the first half, down by 5 percent year-on-year.
The generation and retail electricity supply businesses posted a 5 percent year-on-year in income contribution to P8.1 billion.
Aboitiz Power’s cash flow declined primarily due to the higher volume of purchased power during the first six months, combined with high spot market prices during the period.
It had purchased replacement power as a result of outages and contracting ahead in preparation for incoming capacity. /gsg