Alsons reports 20% jump in 2011 net income

Alcantara-led Alsons Consolidated Resources Inc. posted a 20-percent increase in its net income to P455 million in 2011 from P378 million a year before.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Alsons said it also registered an 8-percent increase in revenue to P2.92 billion last year from P2.71 billion in 2010.

For this year, Alsons chairman Tomas I. Alcantara is optimistic that the company’s financial performance will continue to improve with the expected increases in the sales of its subsidiaries in the energy and utility sectors.

Alsons’ approved consolidated budget for this year, the company said, took into consideration a “substantial increase in gross revenue, matched by an increase in expenses arising mainly from the projected addition of a rehabilitated diesel power plant it will be acquiring in (2012).”

In the meantime, the board of Alsons approved last week its investment in a subsidiary, Conal Holdings Corp., which would build and operate the first phase of a 200-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Maasim, Sarangani.

The first unit (100 MW) of the planned coal plant, which was estimated to cost $450 million, is expected to be completed by September 2013, while the second unit may be commissioned within the fourth quarter of 2014. For the first 100-MW unit, about 70 MW will be provided for Socoteco II and the remaining 30 MW will be sold to the grid.

Aside from the Sarangani facility, ACR, through Conal Holdings, also plans to build in Zamboanga City another 100-MW coal facility, which may cost as much as $250 million.—Amy R. Remo