Pryce income dips in Jan-june

LISTED Pryce Corp. posted a lower net income of P708.79 million at end-june this year from P745.92 million in the same period a year ago.

The 4.98-percent decline was mainly brought about by an increase in operating expenses.

It reported Thursday that operating expenses rose by 16.84 percent to P1 billion due to inflation and fuel price hikes, thereby causing increases in the costs of transport, wages, services, logistics, and supplies. It added that the opening of new sales centers and refilling plants further increased expenses.

Further, other income also declined. “All these contributed to the 4.89 percent fall in net income.”

The company completed last December a new import marine terminal in Lugait, Misamis Oriental. It has a storage capacity of 4,000 metric tons (MT), the biggest in Mindanao.

Pryce Corp. is expected to complete another marine terminal by the end of this year in Lila, Bohol. By then, Pryce Corp. would have a total of 10 import marine terminals, bringing its overall storage capacity of all marine terminals to 38,840 MT.

Last year, the company built three refilling plants and 178 new sales centers.

Pryce said it booked a 39.17-percent increase in revenues to P9.91 billion from January to June compared to the same period last year.

“The increase in consolidated revenues is primarily explained by the increase in average international LPG contract prices and secondarily by the growth in sales volume of LPG,” it said.

The company said the average contract price, which directly influences local LPG prices, rose by 51.6 percent from the previous semester’s $546.25 per MT to this year’s $827.92 per MT. The increase in contract price is due to the disruption of the oil supply chain, brought about by the Russia-ukraine war.

Sales volume of LPG grew by 12.3 percent to 141,214 MT from the previous year’s 125,776 MT. The increase largely occurred in Luzon where margins are lower compared to that in Visayas and Mindanao.