APC rolls out power capex

Aboitiz Power Corp. is spending as much as P170 billion over the next several years to put up new power projects and rehabilitate existing facilities to maximize capacities and improve reliability—a move that is expected to shore up the available power supply across the country.

In a statement, APC president and CEO Erramon I. Aboitiz said the company was bent on providing solutions for the growing energy needs of the country.

The company, he added, will participate in the development of various greenfield projects, both hydro and clean coal, in the next three to five years.

In Mindanao alone, APC has already committed to invest P35 billion to add 354 megawatts of new capacity by 2015, to ease the critical power shortage in the island, according to Aboitiz.

During the first quarter this year, APC posted a 9 percent hike in its core net income to P5.1 billion, due largely to the higher electricity demand and prices during the period.

The power generation business alone contributed the bulk, or P4.6 billion, of the company’s total core net income in the first three months of the year, up by 4 percent compared to the same period last year.

As of end-March, APC’s total consolidated assets rose by 4 percent to P159.4 billion from the end-2011 level of P153.5 billion. The company’s consolidated cash and cash equivalents stood at P28.6 billion, while total consolidated interest-bearing debt reached P73.2 billion as of the end of the first quarter this year.

Also, Aboitiz Equity Ventures, the holding company of the Aboitiz family and parent firm of APC, posted a 28-percent increase in its core net income to P5.5 billion during the first three months of the year.

Out of the total earnings contributions from the company’s strategic business units, power—through APC—accounted for 73 percent. Income share of the banking and food business units were at 23 percent and 4 percent, respectively.

According to AEV, its Union Bank of the Philippines ended the first quarter with an earnings  contribution of P1.2 billion, up 285 percent in the same period last year. UnionBank’s asset base stood at P260.1 billion as of end-March, with a deposit level of P190.3 billion and a loan book of P115.2 billion.

Meanwhile, AEV’s nonlisted thrift bank, City Savings Bank, Inc.  contributed earnings of P99 million during the quarter.