AboitizPower’s 2024 net income steady despite higher power plant costs

Aboitiz Power Corp. (AboitizPower) announced that its net income grew marginally in 2024 despite the performance of its unit GNPower Dinginin Ltd. Co. (GNPD).

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Friday, March 7, AboitizPower noted a two percent increase in its net income from ₱33.1 billion in 2023 to ₱33.9 billion last year.

Its core net income climbed by five percent from ₱32 billion in 2023 to ₱33.7 billion.

According to AboitizPower, the depreciation and interest for the 1,336-megawatt (MW) GNPD Units 1 and 2 contributed to the slow but steady growth of its net income last year.

This was also the same factor in its net income for the first nine months of 2024, which edged up by two percent to ₱26.7 billion from January to September.

However, excluding GNPD’s impact on the company’s financial performance, AboitizPower noted that it would have been an “18 percent year-on-year [growth]” in its bottom line.

Meanwhile, its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) saw a 13-percent year-on-year growth to ₱73.3 billion.

“This growth was largely driven by higher generation portfolio margins and higher energy sales from the distribution utility (DU) business,” it explained.

Another factor that led to the increase in EBITDA would be the additional capacities generated from the 159 MW-peak (MWp) Laoag and 94 MWp Cayanga solar plants, as well as the rise in the retail supply.

“These same drivers resulted in beneficial EBITDA growth for the fourth quarter,” it added.

EBITDA for the last three months of 2024 jumped by 20 percent, from ₱14.4 billion to ₱17.2 billion.

Higher portfolio margins, the activation of Laoag solar plants, and the full-year contribution of Cayanga solar plant boosted the generation and retail supply business' EBITDA to ₱66.7 billion.

This was an 11 percent increase from its previous year’s performance of ₱59.9 billion.

Better energy sales also drove up the distribution business’ EBITDA by 13 percent.

This was caused by higher power demand during the El Niño phenomenon.

Throughout last year, energy sales from residential and commercial consumers increased by 13 percent, while industrial customers inched up their sales by five percent.

AboitizPower also stated that its total consolidated assets had a six-percent increase to ₱517.6 billion, while its total cash and cash equivalents were at ₱56.8 billion.

The total consolidated interest-bearing liabilities stood at ₱243.2 billion.