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Net income surged to P3.3 billion from about P1.8 billion a year earlier, while electricity generation climbed 23 percent to 5,950 gigawatt-hours as more wind and solar facilities began supplying power.
The earnings increase also benefited from a P1.8-billion one-time accounting gain after ACEN took full ownership of an Indian renewable energy venture, providing a substantial boost beyond its regular electricity business.
Still, underlying operations expanded strongly, with earnings before interest and other major expenses rising 35 percent to P21 billion across its Philippine and overseas investments.
Management’s view
"ACEN continues to grow as more projects come into operation, expanding our renewable energy portfolio and generation," ACEN president and CEO John Eric Francia said in a statement on Wednesday.
"As we build on this growth, our focus is increasingly on execution, operational excellence, and profitability,” he added.
Philippines leads, overseas plants gain ground
ACEN has grown into a major regional renewable energy developer, with wind and solar projects spanning the Philippines, Australia, India, Vietnam and Laos, alongside investments in Indonesia, giving the company a broad presence in Asia-Pacific's expanding clean energy market.
The Philippines remained its largest market and a major growth driver, with revenues from its share of local power operations rising 51 percent to P37.1 billion as larger supply contracts with Meralco, more corporate customers and higher electricity prices lifted sales.
Average wholesale electricity prices climbed 40 percent to P5.10 per kilowatt-hour, while about 81 percent of ACEN's electricity sales across its markets were covered by supply contracts, reducing its reliance on unpredictable daily market prices.
Its international operations also delivered higher electricity production:
The expansion brought ACEN's renewable energy portfolio to 7,484 megawatts, with 59 percent already operating and the rest representing projects still under development.
Stronger operations, uneven profits
The larger network is producing more power, but building new plants also brings higher loan interest and depreciation, an accounting expense that spreads construction costs across a facility's operating life.
These expenses begin accumulating as plants enter service, even before they reach their full earning potential, limiting how much of ACEN's growing operating income translates into net profit.
"Our operations continue to deliver, with higher generation and a 35 percent rise in core attributable EBITDA," chief financial officer and chief strategy officer Jonathan Back said in the same statement.
"The gap to recurring earnings primarily reflects depreciation and financing costs that begin well before our plants reach steady-state cash flows,” he added.
ACEN manages rising debt load
The pressure surfaced in the third quarter, when operating earnings climbed 23 percent to P6.3 billion as electricity production increased 19 percent, but ACEN posted a P609-million net loss after booking costs tied to a damaged wind turbine in Ilocos Norte and faulty electrical cables at an Australian solar farm.
As construction continued across its markets, net debt rose to P180.6 billion.
With P18 billion in cash and more renewable energy projects moving toward completion, ACEN's next challenge is turning its expanding regional power business into sustained profit growth while managing the borrowing costs of its investments.
—Edited by Miguel R. Camus
