MANILA -Higher output from new local and foreign plants pulled up Ayala-led energy firm ACEN Corp.’s profit in the first quarter by 400 percent, bouncing back from weaker performance in the same period last year.
In a stock exchange disclosure on Thursday, ACEN said net income soared to P2 billion, or five times last year’s P405 million, in January to March.
“After weathering several challenges in 2022, we began the year with encouraging results brought about by the growth in generation output,” said ACEN president and CEO Eric Francia.
Total attributable renewables output saw a double-digit improvement, growing by 20 percent to 1,058 gigawatt-hours (GWh), with 748 GWh coming from international output.
Partial commissioning of the New England Solar Phase 1 project under ACEN’s Australian unit, improved geothermal availability in Indonesia, and greater wind resources from Vietnam contributed to this growth, according to ACEN.
Locally, ACEN said renewables generation rose by 31 percent to 310 GWh on the back of Visayas output recovery and added capacity from the 116-megawatt Arayat-Mexico solar farm in Pampanga province that began commercial operations last year.
To recall, ACEN’s first quarter net income in 2022 dropped by nearly 70 percent due to transmission line damage in the Visayas in the aftermath of Supertyphoon “Odette” (international name: Rai).
The company also logged a 23-percent increase in consolidated revenues at P9.1 billion in the first three months of the year.
Improved Ebitda
Meanwhile, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) climbed by 76 percent to P4.6 billion buoyed by ACEN’s move “to a modest net merchant selling position.”
“We expect to grow our net selling merchant position further, with more capacity scheduled to come online in the second half of the year,” Francia said.
Earlier, he announced that ACEN would be earmarking P70 billion in capital expenditure this year to accelerate the development of renewable energy projects.
ACEN currently has 4 GW in net attributable capacity, 98 percent of which comes from renewable technologies such as solar and wind power.
The energy firm plans to reach 20 GW in clean energy capacity by 2030 in line with its net-zero emissions goal.
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