Energy Development Corp., the country’s largest geothermal and wind energy company, posted a recurring net income attributable to equity holders of the parent of P8.8 billion in 2017, 4 percent lower than P9.2 billion in 2016.
EDC disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange that revenues dropped to P33.3 billion last year, down 3 percent from P34.2 billion in 2016.
The company said revenues and recurring net income attributable to equity holders of the parent declined last year due to the strong 6.5 magnitude earthquake that hit Leyte island on July and Typhoon Urduja that struck in late December last year.
“Our Leyte unit, which generated almost 45 percent of our revenues in 2016, was on track for a record year last year until it got struck by two major calamities”, EDC chief financial officer Nestor Vasay said in a statement.
EDC said although the company restored 40 percent of the pre-earthquake Leyte capacity within 10 days in July, and the rest in the succeeding months, it still saw revenues from its largest business unit fall by P800 million.
“Despite the initial shock from the earthquake last July and from Urduja last December, our team worked hard to successfully restore much-needed electricity to our countrymen in the Visayas region,” Vasay said.
The Bacon-Manito geothermal business unit delivered an additional P900 million in revenues on higher contracted volume to negate the lower generation volume of its Palinpinon geothermal power plants.
Its 150-MW Burgos wind farm in Ilocos Norte, the largest in the country, also built on its strong 2016 performance to post its highest volume (16 percent higher in 2017) since its commissioning in 2014.
“We have been able to fully contract our Bacman and Nasulo power plants, thus reducing our exposure to the spot market. We also bought back close to US$90 million of our dollar bonds last year to help reduce our foreign exchange exposure,” Vasay said.
The company’s financial position remained strong with a cash balance of P11.7 billion last year.
“For 2018, we will continue to manage some of these key risks, and will continue to work on our power plant optimization and other efficiency programs,” Vasay said.
EDC, an affiliate of First Gen Corp. is part of the Lopez Group of Companies. It is the largest producer of geothermal energy and one of the leading renewable energy companies in the country.