Pryce Corp. is looking at a higher income target of P1.55 billion this year after achieving its profit guidance in 2017 following strong liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) sales.
In a disclosure, Pryce said that it is expecting its net income growth to grow around 20 percent and sales volume at 15 percent, this the target income of P1.55 billion, plus or minus 10 percent.
The projection is based on the implementation of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law and the company’s expansion projects.
“[Pryce] perceives the passage of the TRAIN Law (R.A. No. 10963) as having a positive impact on the LPG industry, as the law imposes relatively lower taxes on LPG as opposed to other fuels. This is seen to make market preferences gravitate gradually towards LPG over the other fuels in the next two to five years,” Pryce said.
The company recorded a 29 percent jump in its net income in 2017 from P966.09 million to P1.248 billion – which was within the P1.25 0 billion expectation for that year.
The rise in net income was brought by the 37 percent increase in the consolidated revenues from P6.72 billion to P9.23 billion mainly on LPG sales.
Pryce added that the LPG sales, including cylinders and accessories, were at P8.66 billion or 94 percent of total revenues.
LPG sales volume grew 11 percent from 189,000 metric tons (MT) to 210,000 MT following higher LPG contract prices (CP) from an average $346 per MT in 2016 to $491 per MT in 2017.
The company said that Visayas and Mindanao showed a strong sales performance because of the concentrated demand on fuel for household cooking.
VisMin had a 22 percent year-on-year volume growth versus Luzon’s four percent.
Industrial gas sales, meanwhile, contributed to around four percent of total revenues at P391.5 million.