First Gen Corp., a Philippine-listed independent power producer primarily using clean energy, said Friday recurring net income in 2022 rose 5 percent to $265 million compared with the $252 million posted the previous year, helped by gains in geothermal plants, and wind and solar farms.
The power firm saw a 23 percent year-on-year jump in revenue to $2.667 billion from $2.167 billion in 2021 on increased volume of electricity sales and higher fuel and spot market prices.
The natural gas portfolio accounted for 66 percent of First Gen’s total consolidated revenues, while 31 percent came from Energy Development Corporation’s (EDC) geothermal, wind, and solar plants. The remaining 3 percent comes from the company’s hydro plants.
“First Gen managed to produce better earnings for 2022, despite lower earnings in the first nine months. We saw EDC make a strong recovery from the better performance of its geothermal plants, while the hydro platform delivered stable income. The natural gas platform was able to contain its fuel supply curtailment issues from Malampaya, and was able to sell more power in 2022.
This led to a minimal decline in net income in the gas portfolio,” First Gen President and COO Francis Giles B. Puno stated. The natural gas platform reported a 4 percent decrease in recurring earnings for 2022 to $190 million from $198 million in 2021.
Income growth was tempered by damage to the turbine of the 97-megaWatt Avion power earlier in 2022, increased taxes on the natural gas platform, expiry of the tax holiday enjoyed by the Burgos project, and higher interest expense.
EDC had recurring and attributable earnings at $97 million for 2022, an 18 percent increase from its recurring income of $82 million the previous year.
Rules of the Philippine Stock Exchange allows the of currencies, other than the peso, to report their financial results. First Gen said it used a weighted average rate of P54.049 for every $1 in 2022 and a rate of P49.082 to a $1 in 2021.
