Pryce Corporation's (PPC) net income grew 28 percent to P1.6 billion for the first nine months of the year from P1.2 billion in the same period in 2022 on higher liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) sales.
PPC said that P1.6 billion is the highest nine-month period net income recorded by the property development company, which can be attributed to the improvement of LPG margins in the Luzon market.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), LPG sales, sold through PPC’s subsidiary PRYCE Gases Inc. increased to eight percent.
However, its overall revenues declined by 2.3 percent at P13.9 billion in the first nine month period of 2023 compared to P14.3 billion last year.
The revenues comprise of P13.1 billion or 94.21 percent from the LPG business, P597 million or 4.26 percent from shared industrial gases, P178 million or 1.3 percent from real estate, and P35 million or 0.25 percent from pharmaceuticals.
The decline of revenues was attributed to the 27.44 percent decrease in the average Saudi Aramco Contract Price (CP) to $568 per metric ton in 2023 from $776 per metric ton in 2022.
Sales of LPG would have also been higher if not for the reduced CP.
However, the sales volume of industrial gases increased by 31 percent.
Notably, PPC said its operating expenses also increased because of inflation and further increases in compensation, logistics, and fuel.