ACEN Corporation Reported a PHP 7.4 Billion Net Income in 2023, down 43%

ACEN Corporation, the Ayala Group's listed energy platform, today reported a net income of P7.4 billion for 2023. This marks a 43% decrease from 2022, which included P8.6 billion in accounting adjustments from various occurrences during that year. ACEN's profitability climbed 150% year-on-year, excluding the impact of all noncash items, led by a nearly threefold growth in core operational earnings.

FY 2023 vs FY 2022

Statutory revenues, which include the consolidated Philippine and Australian operations, increased 4% to P36.5 billion. Meanwhile, attributable earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA), which includes ACEN's share of EBITDA from non-consolidated operating projects, increased by 31% to P18.8 billion for the year. Overall, ACEN's key financial metrics improved dramatically year-on-year as a result of new operating capacity, increased wind and solar generation, the resolution of plant curtailments, and a strong net merchant selling position in the Philippines' Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM).
​
Income from operations, which represents the company's share of ongoing profits from both its consolidated and nonconsolidated operations worldwide, increased by 81% to P8.1 billion. With the continuous ramp-up of additional renewable capacity and generating output, core operational earnings tripled to P4.9 billion at the parent level after deducting overhead and development expenses as well as net financing costs.

​ACEN also recorded P4.5 billion in gains from the Salak & Darajat partial sale in the third quarter of 2023, which included P3.4 billion in remeasurements. This was offset by a P2.0 billion impairment on the India platform as a result of cost overruns and project delays. For comparison, net noncash items in 2022 totaled P8.6 billion, principally from revaluation gains from the acquisition of ACEN Australia.
​
Overall, this led to ACEN's consolidated net income after tax of P7.4 billion in 2023.

Q4 2023 vs Q4 2022

In the fourth quarter of 2023, operating income increased by 38 percent to P1.9 billion compared to the previous year. This was fueled by strong growth in the Philippines, Australia, and India, which saw new contributions from additional capacity coming online, while the domestic market benefited from a more consistent net merchant selling position over the period. The quarter, however, saw an increase in administrative and development costs as ACEN continued to invest in resources to support its long-term growth.
​
Core operating earnings increased dramatically in the quarter, totaling P1.0 billion, compared to a loss in 2022. ACEN's recovery from last year's headwinds, which included the high cost of purchased power, the buyout of a customer contract, and typhoon-related curtailment in the Visayas, helped the firm perform better in the fourth quarter.

For the quarter, attributable EBITDA increased by 74% to P4.7 billion. ACEN's consolidated net income after tax for the period was P830 million, a reduction from 2022 due to the same accounting modifications detailed in the yearly results.

Operating Highlights

As of the end of 2023, ACEN has approximately 4.7 GW of attributable capacity, with renewables accounting for 99 percent. Of this, 37% is presently completely operational, 28% is partially operational, and 35% is still under construction. Several new solar and wind farms joined the company's expanding portfolio this year. These include the 60 MW Pangasinan Solar and 300 MW Palauig 2 Solar in the Philippines in January; the 38 MW Stockyard Wind in Altoona, Pennsylvania, in March; the 600 MW Monsoon Wind in Sekong and Attapeu, Lao PDR in April; and the first phase of ACEN's acquisition of SUPER Energy's Solar NT platform in Vietnam in June.
​
Several plants also began or expanded operations. As a result, overall attributable renewables output at ACEN's facilities worldwide increased by 32% to 4,474 GWh, owing to production from new partially operational plants and greater wind resources in some markets.

Sustainability Highlights

​At the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai in December 2023, ACEN announced a collaboration with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and The Rockefeller Foundation to develop and test the use of Transition Credits to accelerate the transition of the SLTEC coal plant to clean technology as early as 2030. ACEN's SLTEC completed the world's first market-based energy transition mechanism in 2022.
​
ACEN also announced during COP28 the introduction of its Just Energy Transition (JET) Roadmap. This is a collaborative effort with the Coal Asset Transition Accelerator (CATA) to create a framework that will assist in the just transition of affected communities and workers, as well as the responsible decommissioning of the SLTEC coal plant.

Eric Francia, ACEN President and CEO, said, “ACEN remains committed to leading the energy transition with continued investments in renewables capacity expansion. We look forward to 2024 with full commercial operations of newly commissioned plants, a continually growing pipeline, and in turn, continued progress toward our aspiration to achieve 20 GW in attributable renewables capacity by 2030.”

Jonathan Back, ACEN CFO and Chief Strategy Officer, said, “Through our increased focus on execution, diverse sources of funding, and array of strategic partnerships, we have delivered strong core operating performance with the ramp-up of new capacity. Our balance sheet also remains robust and ACEN continues to be well positioned to achieve our long-term strategic goals.”

ACEN (PSE:ACEN) is the listed energy platform of the Ayala Group. The company has ~4,800 MW of attributable capacity from owned facilities in the Philippines, Australia, Vietnam, Indonesia and India, with a renewable share of 99 percent, among the highest in the region. ACEN’s aspiration is to be the largest listed renewables platform in Southeast Asia, with a goal of reaching 20 GW of renewables capacity by 2030. ACEN is committed to transition the company’s generation portfolio to 100 percent renewable energy by 2025 and to become a Net Zero greenhouse gas emissions company by 2050.​