San Miguel profit falls 50% in Q1 on forex losses

Diversified conglomerate San Miguel Corporation (SMC) saw a double-digit decline in its bottom line in the first quarter of 2024 on account of foreign exchange adjustments.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Thursday, SMC reported a consolidated net income of P8.887 billion for the January to March period, down 50% from P17.739 billion in the same period last year.

The company attributed the earnings decline to “loss on foreign exchange in the first quarter of 2024, a turnaround from the gain recognized in 2023 resulting from the revaluation of foreign currency-denominated long-term debt and cash and cash equivalents mainly of SMC and the energy business.”

SMC said its foreign exchange loss was partly offset by “improved operations of most businesses, mainly Petron, the energy and infrastructure businesses, the food division, and GSMI (Ginebra San Miguel Inc.).”

Meanwhile, the company’s consolidated sales grew by 13% to P392.713 billion, from P346.725 billion year-on-year, due to higher liquefied natural gas and coal consumption resulting from the resumption of operations at the Ilijan Power Plant in June 2023, the commissioning activities at the Mariveles Power Plant starting in April 2023, and a higher volume of power purchases in 2024 due to increased demand from bilateral customers and the spot market.

San Miguel Food and Beverage Inc. saw a 2% growth in consolidated revenues to P95.432 billion.

San Miguel Global Power posted a 7% increase in revenues to P44.123 billion from P1.12 billion.

Petron booked consolidated sales of P227.637 billion, up 21% year-on-year.

San Miguel’s infrastructure business sustained a strong performance with consolidated revenues of P8.886 billion, up 9% from a year earlier. —VBL, GMA Integrated News