Semirara income surges to P3.98 B in second quarter

The combined favorable impact of high coal prices as well as soaring prices in the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) had propelled the 279-percent surge in consolidated net income of Consunji-led Semirara Mining and Power Corporation (SMPC) to P3.98 billion in the second quarter this year compared to a relatively dismal P1.05 billion in the same period in 2020.

Because of the substantial rise in the company’s earnings within the April-June stretch, SMPC’s first half income this year had also climbed by sizeable 181-percent to P6.28 billion as against the leaner P2.24 billion within comparative period last year.

SMPC primarily noted the 49-percent hike in the selling price of its Semirara coal, as anchored on Newcastle index – and that averaged at P2,393 from a year ago level of P1,601 per metric ton. Coal prices somehow peaked at US$136 in June this year, which was the highest level in more than a decade.

As specified, coal sales inched up 96-percent to 4.9 million metric tons year-on-year from 2.5 million MT, and the company reckoned that has been “the highest quarterly sales volume ever recorded by SMPC.”

In tandem with that, the average selling price it clinched for its generated electricity went up 43-percent to P4.11 per kilowatt hour (kWh) from P2.87 in the same period last year – and that was partly attributed to the 173-percent spike in prices for WESM-traded capacity.

In the second quarter, the company indicated that its sales volume expanded 11-percent to 987 gigawatt-hours (GWh) from 892 GWh in a comparative period last year; and that was mainly attributed to the 96-percent improvement in the gross generation of its Southwest Luzon Power Generation Corporation (SLPGC) facility in Batangas.

As noted by SMPC President and COO Maria Cristina Gotianun, “we had a very good second quarter because of favorable market conditions.”

She, nevertheless, expounded that “sustaining our performance will be a challenge given the onset of the rainy season and our plant outages, but we are determined to optimize our performance.”

The coal segment of the company’s business contributed P3.04 billion into its bottom line within the second quarter; and that’s 504-percent upswing from last year’s relatively dull P503 million.

In power generation, financial outcome clearly logged weighty upturn of 730-percent, which was a triple digit at P359 million versus a net loss of P57 million in a parallel quarter last year.

Conversely, the company’s other power generating facility – the Sem-Calaca Power Corporation, still posted 3.0-pecent decline in earnings to P581 million vis-à-vis P602 million a year ago.

Source: Manila Bulletin