By THEPHILBIZNEWS STAFF
Food, beverage and power businesses are the ones that made San Miguel Corporation (SMC) consolidated revenues in 2019 sustained with a steady P1.02 trillion at par with year-ago results.
However, consolidated operating income ended up with slightly lower at P115.7 billion, due to a challenging operating environment faced by Petron and San Miguel Foods. Net income ended at P48.6 billion, also at par with 2018.
EBITDA amounted to P162.4 billion, 3% higher than last year.
Food and Beverage
San Miguel Food and Beverage, Inc.’s consolidated revenues reached P310.8 billion, 9% higher than the same period last year, boosted by strong volumes of Beer and Spirits, up by 6% and 14% respectively along with better selling prices across its businesses.
Consolidated operating income grew 4% at P47.8 billion, mainly due to the Beer and Spirits businesses’ continuing strong performance, partly offset by the slowdown in the food business due to the effect of lower poultry prices during the first half of the year, the impact of African Swine Flu on hogs costs, coupled with start-up expenses for its new facilities.
Net income grew 6% at P32.3 billion
Power
SMC Global Power Holdings Corp. ended the year with consolidated off-take volume of 28,112 Gwh, 18% higher than in the same period last year. This was the result of higher bilateral sales volumes and longer operating hours for the Sual and Ilijan power plants. The full year operation of Unit 2 of the Malita, Davao plant and Unit 3 of the Limay plant, along with added capacity from Unit 4 of Limay, also boosted the power unit’s performance.
Power revenues and operating income rose 12% and 8% to P135.1 billion and P36.0 billion, respectively. Net income ended significantly higher by 73% to P14.4 billion.
Fuels, Oils, and Petrochemicals
Petron faced many challenges throughout the year: volatile international prices that resulted in significantly weaker margins, a major shutdown of its Bataan Refinery due to an earthquake, the implementation of the second tranche of the excise tax increase, and the continued proliferation of white stations.
Consolidated revenues amounted to P514.4 billion, down 8% versus 2018 on account of lower average selling prices of fuels and a slight decline in consolidated volumes. Petron Malaysia’s domestic volumes grew 3%, helping offset the decline in domestic volumes.
Operating income was also down 14% at P16.2 billion, due to lower margins from petroleum and petrochemical products resulting from oversupply, lower demand, and the temporary shutdown of the refinery after the earthquake. Net Income settled at P2.3 billion.
Infrastructure
Interestingly, SMC Infrastructure’s operating toll roads posted a combined 5% growth in vehicular traffic volume compared to the same period last year.