Roxas Holdings profit hits P751M

Leading sugar producer Roxas Holdings Inc. posted a net profit of P751 million from October 2011 to June this year, the first nine months of its fiscal year, reversing the net loss incurred in the same period a year ago.

RHI chairman Pedro Roxas disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange that the turnaround from a net loss of P305 million in the same period a year ago was primarily driven by higher margins, lower overhead expenses and reduced financing charges.

“We have also made some progress in deleveraging with a P900-million reduction in our debts for the first nine months of operations,” Roxas said.

“Our Ebitda [earnings before interest, taxes depreciation and amortization] reached a record of P1.7 billion, or 181 percent higher than the previous year’s P593 million,” RHI president Renato Valencia said.

But Valencia said RHI was expecting its net income to dip by the end of its fiscal year due to the company’s regular, major off-season repairs and its fixed costs in the next two months in preparation for the coming crop year.

“Our ethanol business, through Roxol Bioenergy Corp., has already started to contribute substantially to our revenue stream, posting P457 million in revenue from P39 million a year ago,” Valencia said.

Valencia said Roxol Bioenergy had achieved a positive cash flow of P24 million compared to last year’s negative cash flow of P165 million.—Doris C. Dumlao