By Roderick L. Abad
ALSONS Consolidated Resources Inc. (ACR) of the Alcantara Group has declared a property dividend, accompanied by a special cash incentive.
The company disclosed on Monday its issuance of all the common shares of its wholly owned subsidiary, ACR Mining Corp. (ACRMC), as property dividend in favor of all stockholders.
As for the ratio of distribution, one ACRMC share is equivalent to every 200 ACR shares held.
The publicly listed company revealed an entitlement to a special cash dividend of P0.0005 per share to be covered by the unrestricted retained earnings of the company as of end of last year.
The record date on June 5 and payment due within 30 days after the corresponding certificate authorizing registration from the Bureau of Internal Revenue is obtained will be applied for both the property and cash dividends.
“The special cash dividend shall be applied to the payment of any withholding taxes on the property and cash dividends, if applicable, or otherwise paid to the stockholders,” said Jose Saldivar Jr., ACR finance manager. Meanwhile, the issuance of a total of P67.315 million regular cash dividends has been approved by the company’s board of directors.
Common and preferred stockholders as of June 5 will receive P0.01 and P0.0008 each share, or a total of P62.915 million and P4.4 million, respectively, on June 16.
ACR is a diversified company involved in aquaculture and agribusiness, energy, property development and services through its various units.
It operates diesel-fired power-generation facilities in Mindanao, such as the Western Mindanao Power Corp.’s 100-megawatt (MW) plant in Zamboanga City, the 55-MW Southern Philippines Power Corp. plant in Alabel, Sarangani province, and the recently reacquired and rehabilitated 103-MW facility of Mapalad Power Corp. (MPC) in Iligan City.
ACR’s expansion plan includes the development of the 105-MW San Ramon Power Inc. plant in Zamboanga City, which is slated to commence operations in the last quarter of this year with an initial capacity of 105 MW, and is scheduled to become fully operational with a 210-MW capacity by 2017.
Another coal-fired facility—the 210-MW Sarangani Energy Corp. plant in Maasim, Sarangani—is set to begin operations next year. As of December 31, 2014, retained earnings of ACR stood at P2.19 billion. It increased to P2.3 billion by end of March this year.
Meanwhile, the company reported a gross revenue of P1.2 billion in the first quarter of 2015, up P70 million from P1.13 billion during the same period in 2014. Net income after tax rose by P25.28 million, from P188.42 million to P213.7 million year-on-year.