Semirara Mining and Power Corp. reported its biggest ever quarterly profit in the third quarter as a surge in global coal prices and a pickup in economic activity fueled a strong demand for the world’s least liked commodity.
The largest domestic coal producer saw its net income rise more than five-fold to P4.01 billion in July to September, driven by record-high coal prices amid the looming energy crunch in China, India and Europe, as well as the weak peso.
The Consunji family’s coal business had a solid performance, logging a net income of of P3.63 billion during the third quarter or more than eight times the P428 million earned in the same period last year. Revenues more than doubled to P10.88 billion from P4.19 billion.
For the first nine months, Semirara reported a three-fold hike in earnings to P10.29 billion, exceeding its pre-pandemic annual net income of P9.7 billion.
Semirara supplies affordable fuel to power plants, cement factories and other industrial facilities across the country. It also exports coal to China, Japan, South Korea and other nearby markets.
The group’s power business swung to a net loss of P44 million, dragged down by lower output as a result of higher plant outages. Revenues contracted by six percent to P2.48 billion.
