The Social Security System’s (SSS) ownership in Phoenix Petroleum Philippines, Inc. (PNX.PS) stands at 9.68% of the Company’s issued and outstanding shares as of March 31, 2010. This ownership in Phoenix combines the secondary shares accumulated by the SSS based on the Philippine Depository Trust Corporation beneficial ownership report dated March 31, 2010 and the 7,500,000 primary shares subscribed from Phoenix last November 2009. Phoenix Petroleum is one of the companies approved for inclusion in the equities portfolio of the SSS under the Small Market Cap Investment program it launched in 2009.
Phoenix president and CEO Dennis Uy noted, “The decision of the Social Security System to invest in the country’s only publicly-traded independent oil company is a very welcome development and we view this as a vote of confidence in the future of an emerging player in the downstream petroleum sector.”
He added, “We believe that Phoenix’s history of profitable growth, increasing market visibility and great potential to realize its vision of becoming the leading independent oil player continues to attract appreciative investors such as the SSS.”
SSS president Romulo L. Neri said, “The investment in Phoenix Petroleum is in pursuit of our basic commitment to our members that their contributions will flow into investments that would yield good returns at a manageable level of risk. We believe that with its track record and its positive business prospects, our addition of Phoenix Petroleum to the SSS’s list of investments was a good decision.”
The Company continued to deliver growth in 2009 with consolidated core net earnings of PhP178 million or 18.5% higher than 2008’s PhP150 million, derived out of 2009 consolidated revenues of PhP5.87 billion which was 27.3% over the prior year’s PhP4.62 billion. The underlying growth drivers were the 81% rise in fuel sales volume and the 39.5% expansion in its retail station network, from 86 stations in 2008 to 120 stations by end-2009.
The Company also recently reported a 113% rise in fuel sales for the first quarter of 2010 over the same period in 2009 which yielded a 145% quarter on quarter fuel revenues jump.
Phoenix Petroleum Philippines, Inc. is a leading domestic independent petroleum company engaged in the storage, hauling and distribution of petroleum products in the Philippine market through its national retail network and to institutional accounts.
