Semirara Mining Corp., the coal unit of the Consunji-led listed holding firm DMCI Holdings Inc., reported a net income of P633.28 million last year, five percent higher than the previous year’s P601.24 million.
In its financial report filed with the Philippine Stock Exchange, Semirara said earnings per share amounted to P2.28 or an increase of six percent from the year earlier level of P2.161.
Revenues rose 39 percent to a record high of P6.38 billion due to robust demand for coal.
“2007 was an exciting year for the company. From a slow market in 2006, the scenario has completely turned around in 2007. Regional demand for coal has suddenly skyrocketed, thus giving Semirara an opportunity to penetrate the international market. This is a huge milestone for the company since the event finally ended its over-dependence on local markets. Breaching the export market opens a vast and totally new avenue for growth for the company. The company has finally elevated its business to a new and higher platform and it is gearing up for new challenges,” Semirara said.
As a result, total local sales posted a 34 percent increase from 2006 sales volume of 2.076 million metric tons (MTs) to 2.776 million.
With export sales amounting to 798.8 thousand MTs, total sales volume was 3.575 million MTs or 72 percent higher than the year earlier volume.
Despite recording a five percent growth over the previous year’s volume of 1.3 million MTs, 2007 sales to the National Power Corp. (Napocor) of 1.365 million MTs reflected a decrease in market share from 63 percent to 38 percent this year.
Contributing to the increase were improving volumes from other power plants, augmented by two new markets, namely Asia Pacific Energy Corp. and Steag Power Energy Inc.
Total sales to power plants reached a record high of 1.867 million MTs, up 25 percent from the 2006 volume of 1.496 million MTs.
Another P90.7 million was generated from coal handling activities at the Calaca coal yard this year, posting a slight six percent decrease from 2006.
Economies of scale from increased production resulted in lower cost of coal sold to P1,453.04.
Of the total exports, 46 percent went to China, 44 percent to India and the remaining 10 percent to Hong Kong.
Operating expenses, on the other hand, jumped 144 percent to P324.38 million.
Semirara said the continued depreciation of the dollar against the peso afforded the company to continue to book foreign exchange gains amounting to P102.96 million, down 14 percent from the P119.96 million earned in 2006 as dollar-denominated liabilities declined with the regular principal amortization.
As of end-December 2007, total current assets went up 30 percent to P4.43 billion from P3.41 billion a year earlier as against liabilities of P1.81 billion.