MANILA, Philippines — Ayala-led ACEN Corp. saw its earnings decline to P1.95 billion from January to March, weighed down by softer contributions from its domestic operations.
The company’s first-quarter net income was 28 percent lower than the P2.7 billion earned in the same period last year, with revenues dropping by 21 percent to P7.8 billion from P9.9 billion.
The weaker results were mainly attributed to decreased power generation in the Philippines and lower prices in the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM), the centralized venue for power trading.
In the Philippines, ACEN’s renewable energy (RE) plants generated 489 gigawatt-hours (GWh) during the quarter, down by 14 percent year-on-year due to ongoing repairs in typhoon-hit wind farms in Ilocos Norte.
WESM rates, meanwhile, dropped to P2.73 per kilowatt-hour in February, the lowest in over two years or since January 2023.
ACEN president and CEO Eric Francia said the first-quarter performance reflects some of the challenges in building and expanding renewables capacity.
“The company is strengthening its balance sheet with the planned equity infusion to ensure that we remain strong amidst these challenges and sustain our growth initiatives in line with the global energy transition,” Francia said.
Despite lower Philippine RE generation, ACEN still managed to grow its total attributable renewables output by three percent to 1,680 GWh, driven by the international portfolio.
The power plants abroad produced a total of 1,191 GWh of clean energy in the first quarter, the company said.
To date, ACEN’s global renewables portfolio includes 3.6 GW of operational assets, 2.6 GW of under-construction projects and 823 MW of committed projects awaiting construction.
Looking ahead, ACEN CFO and chief strategy officer Jonathan Back remains optimistic about the company’s ability to “move past” the challenges it encountered at the start of the year.
“We will continue to expand ACEN’s operating capacity, bringing our sizable pipeline to bear while taking a more measured approach amid today’s external uncertainties,” he added.
Later this year, ACEN plans to raise up to P30 billion via a stock rights offering to bankroll the construction of more green projects in the Philippines and abroad.
As the listed energy platform of the Ayala Group, ACEN wants to scale up its attributable renewables capacity to 20 GW by 2030.
