SEMIRARA MINING and Power Corp. posted a 53% year-on-year decline in third-quarter net income to P1.48 billion, as weaker global coal and electricity prices offset higher production and sales volumes.
Consolidated revenues fell 9% to P11.93 billion, with lower selling prices across both coal and power segments despite improved operating performance, the Consunji-led company said in a stock exchange filing on Monday.
Coal revenues slipped 1% to P8.04 billion, as a 27% increase in production to 3.8 million metric tons (MT) helped cushion the impact of lower selling prices. Shipments rose 23% to 3.6 million MT, supported by stronger exports amid steady domestic demand.
The company cited a 23% drop in the Newcastle Index to $108.50 and a 19% decline in the Indonesian Coal Index 4 to $42.10, reflecting weaker benchmark prices for both high- and low-grade thermal coal.
As a result, the average Semirara selling price slid 20% to P2,249 per MT, driven partly by a higher share of lower-grade output.
In the power business, revenues declined 5% to P5.54 billion, as spot market prices softened.
Total energy sales rose 9% to 1,324 gigawatt hours (GWh), but the average selling price of electricity dropped 7% to P4.44 per kilowatt-hour (kWh). Contracted power prices increased 11% to P5.19 per kWh, while spot rates plunged 23% to P3.73 per kWh.
For the nine months to September, Semirara’s net income slid 37% to P9.89 billion, while revenues fell 13% to P43.26 billion, reflecting weaker market prices and higher operating costs.
Capital expenditures are expected to reach P5.9 billion this year, up 11% from 2024, mainly for coal fleet expansion and equipment upgrades under the company’s plan to raise annual mining capacity to 20 million MT.
“This has been a more difficult year operationally, but we continue to adapt,” Semirara President and Chief Operating Officer Maria Cristina C. Gotianun said in a statement. “Our priority is to strengthen reliability, manage costs and preserve financial flexibility to navigate changing market and operating conditions.”
Semirara remains the country’s only vertically integrated power producer, supplying coal to its own plants as well as to cement and industrial facilities in the Philippines and key export markets including China, South Korea and Brunei.
Semirara stocks dropped 3.33% to close at P31.95 on Monday. — Sheldeen Joy Talavera