MANILA, May 14 (PNA) — Diversified conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC) said its profit surged slightly to PHP6 billion in the first quarter despite the inventory losses incurred by fuel and oil business due to lower global oil prices.
In a statement, SMC said the strong reported earnings of its core businesses and power unit cushioned the impact of Petron Corp.’s weak performance.
Net income of San Miguel Brewery Inc. surged 20 percent at PHP3.3 billion in January to March mainly on higher volumes from Philippine operations.
San Miguel Pure Foods booked a seven-percent rise in net income to PHP911 million also on the back of higher volumes and better selling prices.
SMC said operating income of Ginebra San Miguel Inc. grew by whopping 115 percent to PHP94 million.
Improved domestic sales of glass and paper products and higher exports pushed operating income of San Miguel Yamamura Packaging Group by nine percent to PHP479 million.
Likewise, SMC Global Power’s operating income improved three percent to PHP6.8 billion despite lower bilateral volumes from the Ilijan plant as a result of the scheduled shutdown of the Malampaya natural gas facilities.
Profit of Petron Corp. plunged to PHP257 million from PHP2.23 billion due to the impact of an inventory loss of PHP3 billion.
Benchmark Dubai crude averaged USD 52 per barrel, 50 percent less than the first three months of the previous year’s average of USD 104 per barrel.
Meanwhile, SMC realized higher contributions from San Miguel Holdings Corp. with the consolidation of South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) and Skyway starting March 2015.
Collectively, SLEX, Skyway, Star, Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEX), and the Boracay Airport contributed PHP2.9 billion in revenues.
“Construction of large-scale infrastructure projects such as the NAIA Expressway project, Skyway Stage 3, and the Boracay Airport upgrade are proceeding as scheduled,” the conglomerate said. (PNA)