Semirara Mining and Power Corp. on Wednesday said consolidated net income after tax jumped 54 percent to P9.55 billion in the first nine months from P6.21 billion year-on-year.
Semirara, controlled by the Consunji Group, said in a statement the strong nine-month results surpassed the full year audited consolidated net income after tax of P8.47 billion in 2015.
The company said coal production, Sem-Calaca Power Corp. and Southwest Luzon Power Generation Corp. contributed P3.88 billion, P2.5 billion, and P3.18 billion, respectively during the period.
Before eliminations, coal recorded a core net income after tax of P5.81 billion, up 88 percent from P3.092 billion, while Sem-Calaca posted a net income after tax of P950 million, down 69 percent from P1.69 billion on year. Southwest Luzon recorded a profit of P2.8 billion, up 185 percent from P980 million.
Coal production increased 44 percent to 8.3 million metric tons from 5.8 million MTs last year.
The production is exclusive of unwashed coal of 871,000 tons and 564,000 tons in 2015 and 2016, respectively. Coal sales volume also increased 57 percent to 9.6 million MTs from 6.1 million last year.
The energy generation of Sem-Calaca decreased 37 percent year on year to 1,983 gigawatthours from 3,163 GWh. Unit 2 was on maintenance shutdown in the whole of first quarter.
Total energy sold by Sem-Calaca decreased 22 percent to 2,372 GWh from 3,035 GWh in 2015. Semirara said the decline in energy generation of Sem-Calaca was offset by another subsidiary, Southwest Luzon, which generated 1,120 GWh during the period.
Total energy sold, inclusive of energy sourced from the spot market, is 1,134 GWh. Southwest Luzon is now in commercial operations.
The Semirara board approved the appropriation of P2.5 billion from its unappropriated retained earnings as of December 31, 2015 to cover the capital expenditures and investments for the 700-MW power plant project under St. Raphael Power Generation Corp. in Batangas.
The St. Raphael coal-fired power plant project is a joint venture of Semirara and Meralco Powergen Corp., the power generation arm of power retailer Manila Electric Co.
The Semirara board approved the second phase of the expansion in 2014 for the investment for a new configuration of two units of 350 MW using pulverized coal technology.
The current Calaca facility consists of two 300-MW generating units under Sem-Calaca as project company.
DMCI Holdings Inc. bought the Calaca plant from the government in July 2009 with a bid price of $361.7 million.
The company pursued the expansion of an additional 300 MW capacity under the Southwest Luzon project name which was fully completed this year.
The power plants utilize coal from Semirara’s mining operations in Antique.