Business

Pryce 2018 Net Income Up 12%

Pryce Corp. (PSE: PPC) has posted a consolidated net income of PhP1.405 billion for the year ended December 31, 2018, up by 12% from the PhP1.25 billion in 2017, on the back of an 11% revenue growth, from PhP9.23 billion in 2017 to PhP10.23 billion in 2018.

About 94% of the group’s consolidated revenues were from the sale of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), while the remaining 6% came from sales of industrial gases, real estate and pharmaceutical products.

LPG retail sales volume, primarily for household cooking, registered a 4% increase, from 189,562 metric tons (MT) in 2017 to 196,229MT in 2018. Luzon retail sales went up to 112,334MT in 2018 from 108,383MT in 2017, while the Visayas and Mindanao regions posted a 3% improvement year-on-year, from 81,179MT to 83,895MT. Contract prices (CP) for LPG in 2018 was at an average of $540.04/MT, compared to 2017’s 491.42/MT, a 10% increase.

Income from operations was at PhP1.6 billion, a 16% increase from 2017’s PhP1.37 billion, driven by revenue growth and efficient management of operating expenses. PPC’s unaudited consolidated net income for the year 2018 stands at PhP1.405 billion, up by 12% from the PhP1.25 billion net income in 2017, and is within the company’s target for the year.

In 2018, PPC completed the construction of 12 new refilling plants nationwide: four in Luzon, one in Visayas and seven in Mindanao, adding a total of 577MT to its total storage capacity and bringing its products closer to the market. For the year 2019, the company will continue its expansion projects in its marine-fed terminals and refilling plants to further increase its storage capacities and bring the company’s LPG products much closer to the intended markets.

Pryce remains positive that the continued implementation of the TRAIN Law, along with the company’s expansion projects, will drive the LPG volume up for the year 2019. PPC targets a net income of PhP1.75 billion (plus or minus 10%) for the year 2019. On June 7, 2018 and December 14, 2018, the company declared payment of cash dividends out of its unrestricted retained earnings, at PhP0.12 a share.

Sometime after the first half of 2020, when the company’s various expansions in its LPG business shall have been completed, PPC intends to adhere to a previously adopted policy wherein 50% of the prior year’s consolidated income after tax will be distributed in cash to the shareholders as dividends.

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