LISTED industrial firm D&L Industries Inc. reported a recurring net income of P1.3 billion for the first half of 2024, a 6 percent increase from last year's P1.2 billion, as its Batangas plant had turned profitable.

For the second quarter, net income rose 13 percent to P698 million from P618 million a year ago.

"The good news is our Batangas plant has turned profitable in the second quarter. And then, we saw pretty good growth in net income. So, comparing [the] second quarter to [the] first quarter of this year, net income is higher by 13 percent," said D&L President and CEO Alvin Lao.

For the second quarter of 2024, the plant managed to generate revenue of P149 million, "compared to a peak loss of P315 million in the first quarter of commercial operations to almost breaking even in [the first quarter of 2024] to finally being profitable this quarter," D&L noted.

Lao added that the plant was still operating under 50 percent of capacity as it had been built "extra large and to really have a lot of room" for expansion.

"It's very easy to just add new lines and then [the] cost of producing or manufacturing on a per ton basis [comes out cheaper]," Lao told a briefing.

"One thing we want to communicate to our investors is that even if our utilization is low, we don't need high utilization [rates] to be efficient and profitable, to be profitable as a company."

High-margin specialty products were among the key earnings drivers as volumes grew 33 percent year-on-year in the second quarter.

Export sales grew 33 percent in the first half from 24 percent previously, driven by both existing and new customers.

Lao said that "for this year, we are keeping our guidance at low double-digit growth in earnings."

D&L shares on Tuesday rose 15 centavos, or 2.56 percent, to P6.00 apiece.