AC Energy sees tripling of income
AC Energy Corp. is banking on the infusion of international assets and the recent fund raising activities to bolster its bottom line by over threefolds.
“The planned infusion of the international assets and the recent fund raising will further grow the company’s balance sheet by about three and a half times,” said AC Energy Chairman Fernando Zobel de Ayala during the listed firm’s annual stockholders meeting held virtually on Monday.
AC Energy booked consolidated net income of P3.869 billion in 2020, a turnaround from the P132.873 million a year ago.
Consolidated revenues climbed to P20.439 billion from P16.114 billion that largely came from the sale of electricity.
Consolidated net income attributable to the equity holders of the parent company stood at P3.753 billion from P57.654 million.
Ayala largely accounted the company’s 2020 financial performance to the improvement of operating efficiencies and reliability, the improvement of operating margins, and the acquisition of additional stakes in local renewable projects.
Despite the difficult year, Ayala told AC Energy stockholders the company earmarked P10 billion in capital expenditures (capex) and initiated power projects in Luzon.
Of the total amount, AC Energy invested P7.4 billion to acquire North Luzon Renewables Energy Corp.’s wind farm project in Ilocos Norte, as well as solar farms of Negros Island Solar Power Inc. (Islasol) and San Carlos Solar Energy Inc. (Sacasol) in Negros Occidental.
AC Energy also commenced the development of five projects with a gross capacity of around 374 megawatts (MW) in the previous year.
These include the 120-MW solar project and the 40- megawatt hours (MWh) battery storage project in Alaminos, Laguna, the 60-MW solar project in Palauig, Zambales, and the 150-MW quick response thermal plant in Pililia, Rizal.
AC Energy is also constructing a renewable energy laboratory in Mariveles, Bataan equivalent to a 4-MW hybrid solar plant integrated with an energy storage system, which will test various new technologies in solar and battery storage.
To date, AC Energy has attributable capacity of 1,034 MW, with almost half (491 MW) coming from renewable sources.
“We are currently focused on scaling up our investments particularly in solar and wind. That is where we expect to make significant investments in renewables,” AC Energy President and Chief Executive Officer Eric Francia said.
During the meeting, AC Energy secured its stockholders’ green light to infuse international assets of its parent, AC Energy and Infrastructure
Corp., into the company.
Once the planned infusion is completed, AC Energy’s attributable capacity will surge to 2,400 MW, of which more than 1,800 MW or 77 percent will come from RE sources.
“This puts AC Energy in an excellent position to attain its vision of reaching 5 GW (gigawatts) of renewables by 2025, and realize its aspiration of becoming the largest listed renewables platform in Southeast Asia,” said Francia.
To achieve what it dubbed a “bold ambition,” AC Energy has been undertaking a series of fund raising activities to further strengthening its balance sheet and augmenting its cash position.
In January, AC Energy completed its stock rights offering that raised P5.4 billion from the issuance of 2.27 billion primary shares.
GIC Private Ltd. affiliate Arran Investment Pte Ltd. also completed the subscription of four billion primary shares of ACEN via a private placement.
The private placement of GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, added about P11.9 billion of cash, resulting in a total of P17.3 billion pesos of additional cash in the first quarter of 2021.
“Our strong balance sheet is complemented by a robust pipeline of renewable projects, and our highly capable and motivated team places AC Energy in an excellent position to play a meaningful role in the green-led recovery,” Francia said.
AC Energy shares gained 29 centavos or 4.03 percent to close at P7.49 each on Monday.