First Gen 9-mo profit drops to $206.9M

Lopez-led First Gen Corp. reported lower earnings in the first nine months due to the weaker performance of its wind, geothermal and solar operations.

In a disclosure to the local bourse Monday, the company said its net income attributable to equity holders of the parent company sank by 16 percent to $206.9 million from last year’s $246.79 million.

Revenues from the sale of electricity slightly fell by 2.3 percent to $1.85 billion.

The decline in its bottom line was blamed on the lower contributions from subsidiary Energy Development Corp. (EDC), which plunged by 41 percent to $59.7 million from $101.4 million.

This, as EDC witnessed a reduction in sales volumes and average selling prices at the spot market, coupled with expenses incurred for operating and maintaining its power plants.

EDC is focused on power generation sourced from solar, wind and geothermal.

But the rest of its businesses helped ease the impact of the drop in EDC’s profit, First Gen said.

It said its hydro segment posted higher earnings contribution at $15.7 million in the period. Contributions from its natural gas business likewise inched up to $149.8 million.