SMPC sets new record high profit in 2022

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Integrated energy company Semirara Mining and Power Corp. (SMPC) has set a new all time high profit last year, eclipsing its previous earnings record in 2021.

SMPC finished 2022 with a net income of P39.9 billion, up 146 percent from the P16.2 billion recorded the previous year.

The company attributed last year’s record-breaking results to robust domestic coal shipments, higher spot electricity sales, and elevated market prices.

“Last year, we focused on the Philippines, South Korean and other ASEAN markets to lessen our dependency on China, which had been importing heavily discounted Russian coal,” SMPC president and COO Maria Cristina Gotianun said.

“Diversifying our market focus allowed us to get the best price for our inventory,” she said.

SMPC’s domestic coal sales rose by 33 percent to a historic high of 7.7 million metric tons (MT) from 5.8 million MT, while exports slumped by 24 percent from 9.4 million MT to 7.1 million MT.

The company said average selling price of Semirara coal surged by 91 percent from P2,695 to a record level of P5,136 on the back of soaring index prices and higher-grade coal sold.

Combined spot electricity sales from SMPC subsidiaries SEM-Calaca Power Corp. (SCPC) and Southwest Luzon Power Generation Corp. spiked by 83 percent from 1,028 gigawatt hours (GWh) to 1,881 GWh.

SMPC saw spot electricity average electricity price increase by 35 percent from P5.51 per kilowatt hour (kWh) to P7.46 per kWh last year due to thin supply-demand margins and higher fuel costs.

However, for the fourth quarter of 2022, SMPC reported a 34 percent drop in consolidated net income to P3.9 billion from P5.9 billion in the same period the previous year due to higher stripping costs, lower average foreign exchange rate, and an income tax and related expense of P1 billion in relation to the deferral of the Molave mine income tax holiday for the year 2020.

SMPC said the move would effectively extend the company’s tax break until 2023.