Philex Mining profit up 47%

Philex Mining Corp. posted a 21-percent increase in revenue and 47 percent surge in net income in 2011 to hit a record of P5.8 billion, officials said in a briefing Wednesday.

Profit exceeded the previous high of P5 billion, which was posted in 2007.

Higher metal production and prices fueled the company’s record-breaking performance, company chairman and CEO Manuel V. Pangilinan said.

Senior vice president for finance Renato N. Migriño said in a presentation that 2011 sales hit P15.3 billion, up 21 percent from P12.68 billion in 2010.

Of the total revenue, gold accounted for P9.29 billion (29 percent up from P7.2 billion); copper, P6.1 billion (6 percent up from P5.72 billion); and silver, P187.89 million (40 percent up from P134.55 million).

Net income rose by 47 percent to P5.8 billion from P3.94 billion in 2010.

Core net income reached a record P5.57 billion, a 34 percent increase from the year before.

Philex milled 9.487 million tons of ore in 2011 from 9.364 million tons in 2010. However, production levels may be flat in 2012, Philex president and COO Eulalio B. Austin Jr. said.

Austin said Philex sought to raise production in the Padcal mine in Benguet despite the “diminishing” metal grade in the ore body. He said the firm was also looking at possible mergers and acquisitions and the commissioning of the Silangan project on time.

Philex Petroleum Corp., a subsidiary of Philex, contributed P538 million to the miner’s consolidated earnings in 2011—a turnaround from the loss of P191 million in 2010.