Alsons nets P397M in first quarter

Alcantara-led Alsons Consolidated Resources Inc. (ACR) registered increase in its first quarter net earnings to P379 million versus year ago’s P310 million.

The income attributable to the parent firm has also gone up to P93 million compared to a leaner P55 million within the same three-month period in 2020.

On the revenue front, the publicly listed Alcantara firm noted that this was down to P2.16 billion as against P2.21 billion in the same first quarter last year.

The company said its power facilities have been on seamless operations and in providing the energy needs of its customers in Mindanao grid, hence, they have been driving up the stream of cash for the Alsons group.

“Amidst this ongoing pandemic, our power facilities continue operating to provide power to our customers serving around 8 million power consumers in 14 cities and 11 provinces,” ACR Executive Vice President Tirso G. Santillan Jr. said.

He emphasized that for this year, “we are on-track in the construction of our Siguil hydro plant which we expect to begin operating in early 2022.”

At the same, Santillan indicated that the company will “go into high gear in the development of our new power projects in Zamboanga City, Zamboanga del Norte and Negros Occidental.”

The company earmarked P4.5 billion capital outlay for its 14.5 MW Siguil hydropower facility in Sarangani province; and a heftier P16 billion for its 105MW San Ramon Inc. coal-fired power facility in Zamboanga City.

The Alcantara firm reiterated that it will “focus on renewables with at least seven run-of-river hydroelectric plants in various stages of development.”

Already in the line-up of its next two hydro projects are the 22MW Siayan (Sindangan) hydro plant in Zamboanga del Norte; and the 42MW Bago hydropower project in Negros Occidental.

The shift in the company’s investment focus followed a development platform that initially concentrated on thermal plants to help solve power supply crisis in Mindanao in recent years.

Article and Photo originally posted by Manila Bulletin last May 14, 2021 4:43pm and written by Myrna M. Velasco.