By Myrna M. Velasco

Higher costs and finance charges have pulled down the net income after tax of listed firm Alsons Consolidated Resources, Inc. (ACR) to P120.3 million in the first half from last year’s rosier turnout of P190.5 million.

The company noted its general and administrative expenses have been up by 9.0-percent to P189 million from the year-ago level of P172 million.

In terms of revenues, the Alcantara group similarly logged downtrend to P3.48 billion in this year’s six months vis-à-vis P3.58 billion in 2017 for the same period.

Nevertheless, the firm’s consolidated earnings before interest taxes and depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) had been up 11.0 percent to P1.15 billion from last year’s P1.03 billion.

According to ACR Chief Finance Officer Robert F. Yenko, “the substantial increase in consolidated EBITDA this year highlights our group’s solid operational efficiency.”

The company is also sounding off optimism for a better financial performance in the coming periods as three key projects with aggregate capacity of 225.1-megawatts of the Alsons Power Group will be operational soon.

By next year, the 105-megawatt Sarangani unit coal plant of the group will be on-line; to be followed by its 15MW Siguil hydropower project in 2020; and the next one will be the 105MW San Ramon coal plant in Zamboanga City.

On top of these anticipated capacity additions, the Alcantara firm indicated that it is pursuing “new projects in the Visayas,” which it previously hinted to be hydropower opportunities.

“Demand for power in the Visayas is likely to grow particularly in light of the economic recovery in Leyte and Samar,” Yenko said.

He added that the company is “seriously looking at the Visayas region as a potential market, particularly for our diesel capacity.”