First Gen 1st-quarter bottom line down 17.5%

First Gen Corp. saw its first-quarter net income fall by 17.5 percent year-on-year to P4.9 billion, as the coronavirus pandemic took its toll on power firms even at the tail end of the period.

The Lopez-led firm also said its recurring earnings for January-March dropped by 15 percent to P3.3 billion.

“With this unforeseen pandemic, 2020 will be challenging for all. Though electricity is an essential need, First Gen has not been spared from the difficulties,” company president and and chief operating officer Francis Giles Puno said in a statement. “The lockdown imposed in March has translated to lower electricity demand.”

First Gen’s natural gas-fired power plants suffered a decrease in recurring earnings as there were lower electricity sales when implementation of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) started on March 17.There was also higher operating expenses as First Gen booked expenses to aid employees and third parties for ECQ.

Even First Gen’s renewable energy business felt the effect of the lockdown as subsidiary Energy Development Corp. (EDC) contributed flat recurring earnings—P1.3 billion compared to P1.4 billion previously—from its geothermal, wind and solar platforms.

Despite lower electricity sales, EDC was able to achieve savings in its operating and interest expenses as an outcome of its continuous improvement initiatives.

First Gen hydro power business plunged by 51 percent to P200 million, blamed mainly on lower prices at the wholesale electricity spot market.

The group’s consolidated revenue from the sale of electricity slid by 10 percent to P24.4 billion, with the natural gas segment accounting for 60 percent.Revenue from the natural gas-fired assets dipped 13 percent, mainly due to lower average natural gas prices coupled with a decline in the plants’ dispatch. INQ