First Gen’s Q1 income drops 9% YoY to $81m

Only the company’s hydro platform saw revenue growth.

Philippines’ First Gen Corporation reported a 9% year-on-year (YoY) decline in attributable recurring net income in the first quarter at $81m due to the lower volumes of electricity sold across all platforms.

In a disclosure, the company said its revenue was also down by 9% YoY to $596m because of the lower sales except in the hydro platform.

Meanwhile, Energy Development Corporation’s geothermal portfolio also recorded lower recurring net income due to the decline in revenue over lower power prices and a rise in operating expenses.

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First Natgas Power Corporation also saw a drop in revenue due to the expiration of the power supply agreement of the 420 MW San Gabriel natural gas-fired plant with distribution firm Manila Electric Co.

“As we expected, First Gen started the year slow with the expiration of San Gabriel’s contract with Meralco. Prices in the market were also generally lower with adequate supply available in 1Q24,” First Gen President and COO Francis Giles B. Puno said.

“This was cushioned by our takeover of Casecnan last February. San Gabriel likewise went on a major maintenance outage as soon as its contract with Meralco expired in order to be ready for the current extreme weather condition that’s amplifying the need for more power,” Puno said, adding that San Gabriel came back online on 6 April.

The company’s hydro platform saw a 12% growth to $8m during the period after its takeover of the 165-megawatt (MW) Casecnan Power Plant, offsetting the lower recurring income of the 132 MW Pantabangan-Masiway power plants at $6m due to the reduced volume of electricity sold because of the low water reservoir levels.