Meralco Q1 net income flat

The Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) delivered flat quarterly earnings in the first three months of the year, the company's sales volume growth hounded by several constraints.

In a filing on Tuesday, Meralco said it posted a P4.598 billion core net income in the first quarter of the year, broadly unchanged from P4.590 billion in January to March 2016.

Revenue rose by 10.6 percent to P64.724 billion, while costs and expenses grew by 12.2 percent to P60.512 billion.

In January, Meralco announced a decrease in electricity rates, followed by an increase in February and March.

The company said there were "constraints" to sales volume growth, including faster inflation of 3.4 percent in March – the highest in over two years.

The United States Federal Reserve also raised interest rates by 25 basis points in March, the second hike in three months.

Meralco Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan said the company is nevertheless optimistic, given the sustained growth of the economy.

"Strong macroeconomic fundamentals underpin the past growth trajectory of the Philippines and we see these as being sustained in the short- to medium-term," he said.

"Hence, despite global growth and geo-political uncertainties, we remain confident that the domestic economy will continue to expand at the current pace, or potentially faster, as new drivers weigh in, such as government and public private partnership projects with more bilateral funding from regional powerhouses," he added. — Jon Viktor Cabuenas/VDS, GMA News