First Gen posts 18% increase in Q1 net

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Posted: 3:19 AM | May 11, 2006
Abigail L. Ho
Inquirer

POWER producer First Gen Corp. registered an 18-percent increase in consolidated net income to $25.5 million in the first quarter of the year from $22 million in the same period last year.

Unaudited consolidated revenue rose 15 percent to $217 million from $189 million.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), a cash flow indicator, rose four percent to $69 million from $65 million.

First Gen vice chairman and chief executive Peter Garrucho said at the company's annual meeting Wednesday that the improved profit could be attributed to steady operations of its major plants and to cost savings.

First Gen owns and operates the 1,000-megawatt Santa Rita and the 500-megawatt San Lorenzo gas-fired plants in Batangas province and the 225-megawatt Bauang diesel-fired plant in La Union province.

The company declared a cash dividend of P1.75 per share for stockholders of record as of June 2. Payment date is June 16.

It said the cash dividend was two percent more than its dividend policy of 30 percent of the prior year's recurring net income.

Garrucho said the higher dividend payout would not hurt the company's "growth aspirations."

"Our three major assets are performing outstandingly, we have settled our significant disputes, and we have laid the groundwork for growth," he said. "We have a tried-and-tested organization that will carry us to the next 1,700 megawatts of new capacity."

An arbitral tribunal in London presiding over a dispute between First Gen subsidiary First Gas Power Corp. and German supplier Siemens recently made its third interim award of $11.2 million to First Gas and $8.5 million to Siemens.

The third award, which does not include interest, settles the long-standing dispute between the two firms over construction delays for the Santa Rita plant.

Garrucho said the settlement of the dispute contributed to First Gen's improved net income and financial position. With INQ7.net