Phoenix losses swell to P3.68B

MANILA  -Davao-based businessman Dennis Uy’s Phoenix Petroleum Philippines Inc. is seeing “positive signs of recovery” in its finances this year despite widening its net loss to P3.68 billion in the nine-month period from only P1 billion in 2022.

Gross revenues were likewise chopped by more than half to P42.8 billion, Phoenix disclosed in its financial report to the Philippine Stock Exchange.

The oil firm said losses were due mainly to economic setbacks and “lingering effects of the pandemic.” It added that recovery in its retail business slowed on the back of price volatility, higher interest rates and capital constraints.

READ: Dennis Uy’s Phoenix sells SG unit to raise money

Phoenix, however, pointed to a 41-percent volume growth as a sign of recovery, alongside additional revenues from its fuel storage and leasing business.

“The improvement in the third quarter is the product of the team’s resilience, hard work and discipline despite the challenges of the year 2023,” Phoenix president Henry Albert Fadullon said in a statement.

Phoenix has been significantly bleeding since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the country. In the first semester of 2023, net loss swelled by more than 3,200 percent to P2.066 billion from only P62.11 million in the same period last year.

READ: Dennis Uy’s Phoenix gets P9-B lifeline from BDO

To plug the bleeding, the company recently agreed to a P9-billion sale-leaseback agreement with Sy-led BDO Unibank Inc.

“Despite difficulties, we are confident in our path to long-term, sustainable growth, and will continue to focus on improving and implementing high-impact activities to further sustain our path to recovery,” he added.INQ