AEV posts 9% hike in Jan-Sept profit

Net earnings of Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. (AEV), the listed investment holding firm of the Aboitiz family, rose nine percent in the nine months ending September on robust performance of its power, food and real estate businesses.

In its latest financial report, AEV said net income amounted to P17.3 billion as of the end of September compared to last year’s P15.9 billion.

Core net income, on the other hand, inched up by four percent to P17.7 billion.

Power accounted for 72 percent of total income contributions followed by banking and financial services, food, land, and infrastructure at 17 percent, eight percent, two percent, and one percent, respectively.

“We welcome the gains posted by our strategic business units for the first nine months of the year. This reflects the strength of a focused growth strategy that endeavors to do well by doing good in advancing business and communities,” AEV president and chief executive officer Erramon Aboitiz said in a statement.

Aboitiz Power Corp. contributed P12.8 billion to the parent company this year, reflecting a six percent increase.

On a stand-alone basis, the power business unit increased its core net income by five percent to P18.4 billion primarily due to income contributions from Pagbilao Energy Corp. (PEC) and Hedcor Bukidnon Inc.

PEC, the joint venture between TPEC Holdings Corp. and Therma Power Inc., which are wholly-owned subsidiaries of TeaM Energy Corp. and AboitizPower, started operating the 420-megawatt (MW) coal-fired power plant in Pagbilao, Quezon this year.

Hedcor Bukidnon also commenced operations for its 68.8-MW hydro plant in Manolo Fortich.

“Our strong financial performance in the first nine months was driven by the continuously increasing demand for reliable, affordable, and sustainable power supply. We were able to take advantage of this demand by growing our capacity and our balanced mix portfolio of renewable and thermal assets.

We aim to be a supplier of choice by optimizing our facilities to maximize efficiency and reliability and ensure that we can fully support the energy requirements of our customers,” AboitizPower COO Emmanuel Rubio said.