Publicly-listed Aboitiz Power Corporation logged remarkable 99-percent improvement on its net income during the third quarter to P2.2 billion from P1.1 billion in the same period last year.

The company’s year-to-date bottomline was also on a better note, with 20-percent increase to P3.8 billion from the previous year’s P3.2 billion. This translated to P0.52 earnings per share.

AP emphasized that the stronger peso enabled it post P97 million non-recurring gain due to the revaluation of its dollar-denominated loans and placements on a consolidated basis, reversing the P158 million non-recurring loss it booked last year.

However, the company noted that it still registered non-recurring loss of P171 million for the period, due to “one-off expenses” related to its acquisition of the 747-megawatt Tiwi and Makiling-Banahaw geothermal plants. The figure could have been higher had not been for the offsetting of gains from the revaluation of its loans.

The biggest income contributor during the quarter was the power generation segment of its business, with P1.9 billion share in the income pie. The strong performance of its newly-acquired Tiwi-MakBan plants, as well as improved earnings from hydro and oil-fired facilities built up income growth in that segment by 189 percent.

The total volume of power sold from the company’s generation portfolio climbed 183 percent to 1,396 GWh during the period from last year’s 494 GWh.

“The expansion mainly came from the operation of the Tiwi-Makban geothermal power plants, which were turned over to APRI (AP Renewables Inc) in May 2009. Moreover, higher rainfall for the quarter resulted to a 38-percent YOY (year-on-year) increase in AP’s attributable energy sales from its hydro assets,” the company stressed.

In the distribution segment, electricity sales of subsidiaries grew 8.0-percent to 857 GWh from last year’s 796 GWh, which already considered a remarkable feat in the industry considering the demand slump triggered by slower pace of consumption due to the economic crisis.

The income contribution of the sector was P477 million, posting an equivalent increase of 34 percent.

The improved margin, it qualified was mainly due to factors, such as: the rate increase implementation of Cotabato Light & Power Company with its entry into performance-based regulation; and the tariff hike of Subic Enerzone Corporation from the enforcement of its rate unbundling.