First GenFirst Gen Corporation reported recurring net income (RNI) attributable to equity holders of the parent of $123 million for the first nine months of 2017. This was moderately lower by 4% or $5 million compared to the $128 million it earned for the same period last year.

The company’s attributable net income for the first three quarters of 2017 was $101 million. Attributable net income was lower than RNI by $22 million due to the one-time effect of break funding costs incurred as a result of a $500-million refinancing of the 1,000-megawatt 

(MW) Santa Rita Power Plant’s long-term debt last May 2017, as well as the premium paid for Energy Development Corporation’s partial buyback of its US dollar-denominated bond and earthquake-related expenditures, among others (see related story on this page).

First Gen’s consolidated revenues from the sale of electricity increased by $104 million, or 9%, to $1,278 million as of September 2017 compared to $1,174 million for the same period last year.

The natural gas portfolio accounted for $778 million, or 61%
of First Gen’s total consolidated revenues. Their revenues were 23% higher for the first nine months of 2017 mainly due to the fresh contributions of the 97-MW Avion Peaking Power Plant and the 420-MW San Gabriel Flex Plant, though partially offset by the slightly lower combined dispatch of Santa Rita and the 500-MW San Lorenzo power plants.

The 132-MW Pantabangan Masiway hydroelectric plants’ revenues decreased by 30% to $29 million, or 2% of First Gen’s total consolidated revenues. Consequently, the recurring at tributable earnings contribution of FG Hydro was lower by $4 million at $9 million in the first nine months of 2017.

“Despite the recent calamities like the Batangas and Leyte earthquakes which negatively affected the operations of our gas plants and our largest geothermal facility, First Gen’s recurring 3Q17 net income only slightly dipped. Other power plants in the portfolio, like Bacman and Burgos, were able to deliver better profits this year while our newest gas plant San Gabriel recovered in the third quarter,” First Gen president and COO Giles Puno said.