Lopez-led Energy Development Corp. (EDC) registered a hefty drop in recurring and consolidated net profits in the first quarter of the year as the negative impacts of Typhoon Urduja late last year spilled over to this year.
In the first quarter, EDC posted a 44 percent drop in recurring net income attributable (RNIA) to equity holders of the parent from P3.25 billion to P1.81 billion and a 56 percent slide in consolidated net income from P3.09 billion to P.1.34 billion.
Revenues decreased by 15 percent from P9.61 billion to P8.18 billion.
The company attributed the decline to lower revenues, partially offset by higher insurance proceeds and lower interest expense this period.
“Our results for the first quarter was dominated by the impact of Typhoon Urduja that hit Leyte island, site of our biggest business unit, in December,” stated EDC Chief Financial Officer Nestor Vasay said.
“Generation volume was lower by about 40 percent in Leyte compared to first quarter of 2017, and we continued to incur recovery expenses. However, we are now at 90 percent of the return-to-service activities in Leyte, and is targeting to complete our program by the third quarter,” he said.
This year, the company spent P6.1 billion this year to increase the resiliency of its power assets, EDC Vice President for Corporate Finance Erwin Avante said.
Vasay said the company’s stable financial footing allow it to continue making the necessary investments on plant resiliency, operational reliability, and efficiency.
Despite the drop in net income in the first quarter, the company’s financial position remained strong with cash balance of P14.27 billion.
“We are confident that our activities fleet-wide to increase our operational efficiency and to mitigate our key risks – particularly in contracting our capacity — will help us off-set some of the foregone revenues from the impact of last year’s earthquake and Typhoon Urduja,” he said.
