GMANews.TV – Monday, May 4, 2009

MANILA, Philippines, May 4 – Listed Chemrez Technologies Inc. (ChemrezTech) reported that its earnings in the first three months of the year jumped by more than a third on higher sales.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, ChemrezTech said its net income jumped 37.2 percent to P131.7 million owing to higher oleochemical and biodiesel sales, and improving margins.

The company added that net profit margin improved to 11.4 percent in the first quarter of 2009 compared to nine percent in 2008.

Consolidated revenues for the first three months of 2009 reached P1.15 billion, up by 7.7 percent from the P1.07 billion recorded for the same period in 2008.

The bulk of revenue growth was in the domestic market, primarily due to the sizable volume contributed by coco-biodiesel sales driven by the step-up in local requirements after the national mandate for biodiesel blend was increased from one percent to two percent last February 6.

However, the gains from the strong volume growth for coco-biodiesel was partially dampened by its general soft pricing on account of much lower coconut feedstock costs and a more intensely competitive market environment.

Latest data from the Department of Energy showed that total registered annual capacity of local bio-diesel manufacturers expanding further to 380 million liters as at March 31, 2009, more than double the 150 million liters required under the B2 mandate.

Sales volumes in the various resins products groups registered mixed results in the first three months of 2009 relative to the unusually high across-the-board cost increases experienced in the same period in 2008.

The Company had no substantial capital expenditures during the first three months of 2009, and currently does not expect any substantial capital expenditures for the year.