MANILA, PHILIPPINES — Integrated sugar and ethanol producer Roxas Holdings, Inc. (RHI) (PSEI: ROX) today reported a 133% increase in Consolidated Net Income After Tax (NIAT) to PhP175 million for the nine (9) months ended 30 June 2017 from PhP75 million for the same period last year, driven by strong performance of its sugar business unit despite challenging market conditions.

The Group’s sugar business milled 3.461 million metric tons of cane (TCM) for the period, up 21% from last year’s 2.748 million TCM. It also produced 6.497 million 50-kg (LKg) bags of sugar for the period, surpassing last year’s production of 5.102 million LKg. The improvement in the production volume was partly negated by lower price levels for sugar.

The ethanol business unit’s production, however, slowed down during the period due to needed repairs.

Chairman Pedro E. Roxas said the slowdown in ethanol production was compensated by the gains of the sugar business unit during the period. He added that the Group expects to see the ethanol business unit’s pace to pick up in the last quarter. “With the concerns at our ethanol plants already addressed, we hope to see better results by yearend,” Mr Roxas said.

President & CEO Hubert D. Tubio said that the sugar business unit’s performance for the period shows that with improved factory and cost efficiencies, plants can deliver better-than-expected results despite concomittant challenges.

“We have seen how focused improvements in factory and cost efficiencies translate to significant gains. With that, RHI will continue to shape its operations according to the best industry standards,” Mr Tubio assured.

Meanwhile, the Group’s EBITDA jumped 22% to PhP1.21 billion for the nine months ended 30 June 2017.

CFO & EVP for Finance Celso T. Dimarucut said RHI would double its efforts to achieve an increased EBITDA by yearend. “We hope to inch closer to an EBITDA of PhP1.6 billion in the last few months to achieve our target for the full year,” Mr Dimarucut said.