MANILA, Philippines —Listed Pryce Corp. logged a 31.6-percent growth in earnings last year to end at P2.22 billion on the back of stronger cooking gas sales.
According to Pryce, its liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) sales climbed by 7.9 percent to 298,499 tons due mainly to improved demand in the Luzon market.
Consolidated revenues, meanwhile, slightly went up to P19.26 billion from P18.77 billion last year amid the 21.57-percent drop in the average LPG contract price.
LPG prices dipped to $576.46 per metric ton, translating to a decline in domestic prices.
“The increase in consolidated revenues could have been higher had it not been for the [contract price] decline,” it said in a stock exchange filing on Thursday.
READ: LPG sales boost Pryce Corp. earnings
Pryce, which also has real estate and pharmaceutical assets, saw its LPG business contribute P18.13 billion to the company’s consolidated revenues.
Its industrial gasses and real estate businesses gave P793.26 million and P287.3 million, respectively.
Pryce’s pharmaceutical unit, meanwhile, contributed P44.86 million.
Pryce Gases, the company’s LPG arm, mainly operates in the Visayas and Mindanao. It also manufactures and markets industrial gasses.
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Pryce Pharmaceuticals, on the other hand, is a wholesaler and distributor of private branded multivitamins and a few over-the-counter generic drugs.
At the same time, operating expenses rose by 17.74 percent to P2.5 billion due to “general inflation” and increases in compensation, logistics and fuel costs. INQ