Phoenix outpaces Petron’s income gain

UPSTART Phoenix Petroleum Philippines Inc. saw its core profit shooting nearly three-fold in the third quarter, outpacing market leader Petron Corp. whose net income grew by just a sixth, according to separate disclosures made by the two listed oil companies.

Petron said it earned P1.8 billion in the July to September period, up 16 percent from the P1.6 billion in the same three-month period last year.

The company attributed the increase to higher interest income and foreign currency exchange gains, which mitigated a reduction in its gross profit.

Revenues rose by 15.9 percent to P54.4 billion from last year’s P47.0 billion.

A unit of San Miguel Corp., Petron is the country’s largest oil refining and marketing company, and operates a 180,000 barrel-per-day refinery in Bataan as well as nearly 1,500 retail stations across the country.

For the first nine months, Petron sold more than 35.8 million barrels of oil, up by 11 percent from last year’s 32.3 million barrels.

The company, which earlier raised P20 billion from the sale of bonds to repay debt, said that the increase was prompted by higher diesel, fuel oil and petrochemical sales.

Separately, Phoenix said its net income fell 78 percent to P123.1 million in the third quarter, from P551.2 million in the same period last year, which was when it booked a P497.2 million gain from the excess fair value of Bacnotan Industrial Park Corp. (BPIC).
Phoenix acquired BPIC in March last year at a cost of 658.8 million despite an appraised fair value of P1.2 billion.

BIPC operates the Batangas Union Industrial Park (BUIP), which Phoenix plans to tap as its storage hub in Luzon.

Excluding this non-recurring item, Phoenix earned P123.1 million in the third quarter, nearly three times the P42.7 million the company enjoyed in the same period last year.

Unlike leading refiner Petron, Phoenix, which has only 153 retail stations, is primarily engaged in the trading of refined petroleum products, lubricants and other chemical products. The smaller firm also operates oil depots and storage facilities in Southern Philippines.

Phoenix’s shares closed flat Monday at P7.3 apiece, while Petron closed higher Monday at P6.76 a piece from its previous close of P6.71. –Euan Paulo C. Añonuevo, Manila Times