LOPEZ-LED power generation firm First Gen Corp. reported a 15 percent drop in its recurring net income at P3.3 billion ($65 million) in the first quarter of the year, from P4 billion ($77 million) a year ago due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on business.
The company’s net income for the quarter fell 20 percent to P3.3 billion ($65 million) from P4.2 billion ($81 million) due mainly to lower electricity sales across all platforms, though partially offset by lower interest expenses and taxes.
“With this unforeseen pandemic, 2020 will be challenging for all. Though electricity is an essential need, First Gen has not been spared from the difficulties. The lockdown imposed in March has translated to lower electricity demand. We are now more than ever strengthened in our strategy to catalyze the country’s movement towards a decarbonized future,” Francis Giles Puno, First Gen president and chief operating officer, said in a statement.
First Gen booked consolidated revenues of P24.4 billion ($481 million), down 10 percent from P28 billion ($534 million) for the same period in 2019.
The company detailed that its natural gas plants suffered from lower electricity sales resulting from depressed demand following the enhanced community quarantine put in place in the latter part of March, as well as higher operating expenses as it booked expenses to aid employees and third parties during the period.
In a related development, First Gen subsidiary Energy Development Corp. (EDC) said its Ladies Club has extended assistance to more than 475 individuals affected by the pandemic by providing food packages and personal protective equipment.
“We are very thankful to the LGBU Ladies Club of EDC for their support to our host-communities especially to the workers who are greatly affected by the current crisis… The beneficiaries of the LGBU Ladies Club donation drive were mainly workers who are under the No Work, No Pay scheme, thus, their livelihood was affected by the pandemic,” Erwin Magallanes, EDC’s head of Leyte corporate social responsibility, said in a statement.
The group said so far, it has donated to frontliners of the community more than 450 face masks and shields and provided 73 packs of groceries and vegetables for villages locked down in host barangays, drivers and utility workers, apart from 40 food meals for the community frontliners.
At present, First Gen has 3,492 megawatts of installed capacity in its portfolio from natural gas, geothermal, hydro-electric, wind and solar power sources.
