First Philippine Holdings net income drops 73% to P1.2 billion

MANILA, Philippines - Lopez-controlled First Philippine Holdings Corp. (FPHC) reported a net income of P1.2 billion in 2008, a 73-percent drop from P4.5 billion in 2007.

In its financial statement submitted to the Philippine Stock Exchange, FPHC attributed the decline in earnings to high financing costs and foreign exchange losses.

FPHC president and COO Elpidio Ibanez said despite the financial challenges during the year, they had employed several measures to keep their financial standing steady.

“The turmoil in the global financial markets compels First Holdings to continuously pare down its debts,” he said.

According to the FPHC official, the company will focus on raising funds. “Fund raising activities, therefore, have been and will continue to be our priority,” he said.

Ibanez said the FPHC board also approved the amendments to the company’s by-laws which will allow the company ample time to review candidates being nominated as directors and validate proxies being submitted for regular or special stockholders’ meeting.

FPHC is a holding company whose core businesses are power and infrastructure, with strategic initiatives in manufacturing and property.

For the past 47 years, it has served as the leading private sector holding company in the development of the country’s utilities and infrastructure. Its power generation subsidiary, First Gen Corp., is now the largest vertically-integrated power generation company in the Philippines with an installed capacity of 2,582 megawatts, accounting for approximately 16 percent of total installed capacity in the country today.

FPHC’s power distribution arm, Manila Electric Co., has a franchise area producing 50 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) and servicing 60 percent (about four million customers) of the electricity nationwide.