Semirara net income soars 250% in 9 months

MANILA, Philippines — A combination of elevated market prices, all-time high coal production, and higher spot electricity sales volume buoyed Semirara Mining and Power Corp. (SMPC)’s net income to a record-high level in the nine months ending September.

The integrated energy company said it has set a new record high profit during the first three quarters of the year, as its consolidated net income surged by 250 percent to P36 billion from P10.3 billion in the same period last year.

SMPC said its nine-month net income is also more than double, or 122 percent higher, than its full year 2021 net income of P16.2 billion.

For the third quarter alone, SMPC netted P10.2 billion, a 153-percent jump from the P4 billion recorded during the same period last year.

“Historically, the third quarter is our slowest because of the rainy season and sluggish demand. But because of improved market prices, we did much better than expected,” SMPC president and COO Maria Cristina Gotianun said.

SMPC’s coal production for the nine-month period rose by 27 percent to a record 13.7 million metric tons (MMT) from 10.8 MMT due to controlled water seepage levels in Molave mine and better coal access in East Block 4 and South Block 5.

SMPC said average selling prices of Semirara coal rallied by 122 percent from P2,351 per metric ton (MT) to P5,224 per MT due to the surge in global index prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The company’s power business, meanwhile, booked a 216-percent increase in spot market sales from 489 gigawatt hours (GWh) to 1,546 GWh during the nine-month period.

This was attributed to a five-percent uptick in plant availability, seven-percent improvement in gross generation, and pivot away from bilateral contracts.

SMPC saw average spot selling price rise by 38 percent to P7.33 from P5.30 on recovering demand, higher fuel costs and thin power supply margins.

SMPC is the only power producer in the country that owns and mines its own fuel source in Semirara Island in Antique, allowing it to generate affordable and reliable base load power for the Luzon and Visayas grids.

As the largest domestic coal producer, it supplies affordable fuel to power plants, cement factories and other industrial facilities across the country.