Phoenix Petroleum suffers 33 percent decline in net income

HOMEGROWN oil company Phoenix Petroleum Philippines suffered a 33 percent drop in its net income during the second quarter of 2012 at P206 million from the P305 million for the same period last year.

Lawyer Socorro Ermac Cabreros, Phoenix assistant vice president for corporate legal affairs, said the decline took place after the oil prices in the world market plummeted in the previous months.

"We are also affected of the unsteady cost of fuel in the world market," Cabreros said in an interview Sunday.

She, however, reported that the oil firm's revenue increased by 21 percent in the first semester of 2012 at P17 billion, up from P14 billion for the same period last year.

The growth was due to the increased in sales volume of its refined petroleum products and higher revenues from fuels service and storage by 19 percent.

Cabreros said their strongest market remains in Mindanao, but added they are expanding to Luzon and Visayas this year.

The oil firm ended the second quarter of 2012 with a total of 255 retail stations nationwide. Cabreror said they are planning to open up at least 100 retail stores across the country before the year ends.

She also reported that the firm ended the year 2011 with at least five percent market share and that the expansion plan in Luzon and Visayas are part of their initiative to leap on top of the market competition of all oil firms in the country.

"We would like to be number one," Cabreros said. (ALC)