PRYCE Corp. grew its profit by 9.4 percent to P396.36 million in the first quarter of the year, from P362.35 million a year ago.
Revenue increased 24.2 percent to P3.18 billion, from P2.56 billion last year.
“The sales performance of the company’s principal product, LPG (cooking gas), along with its cylinders & accessories, and LPG gensets, was responsible for such positive outcomes,” Pryce said.
“LPG products accounted for 95.3 percent of total revenues, while the balance was covered by sales of industrial gases, real estate, and pharmaceutical products,” it added.
Pryce attributed the increase in revenue to the 15.1 percent growth in liquefied petroleum gas sales volume at 58,745 metric tons (MT), compared to 51,047 MT last year.
“Also contributing to this rise was the higher average international LPG contract price (CP) of $527/MT during the first quarter compared to last year’s average of $465/MT,” the company said.
Pryce added it posted a profit to sales ratio of 12.5 percent return on sales, while earnings per share was at P0.18 percent.
Pryce said the government’s enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) only slightly affected its first quarter performance since the ECQ was implemented near the end of the quarter, or third week of March.
“However, the company expects the succeeding quarters to be adversely affected by the coronavirus pandemic,” it said.
Pryce said a fall of anywhere between 5-10 percent in sales volume from 2019 levels is possible if the pandemic continues throughout the year.
“It is our hope that this disrupting phenomenon will be resolved soon,” the company said.
