Ayala net income climbs 20% to P7.3B

MANILA, Philippines - The property and banking businesses carried Ayala Corp. (AC), the country’s oldest conglomerate, to a healthy double-digit profit growth in the first half of the year.

In a regulatory filing, the conglomerate said its net income hit P7.3 billion in the first semester, up 20 percent from the same period last year.

“The robust performance of AC’s property and banking units, boosted by its increased stake in the latter, primarily drove its strong earnings momentum,” the company said.

“Higher earnings of its water unit and improved performance of its business process outsourcing (BPO) business likewise contributed to AC’s profits during the period,” it added.

Without the impact of the accelerated depreciation as a result of the network modernization of Globe Telecom, AC’s core profits picked up 42 percent to P8.9 billion.

Equity earnings of AC increased 24 percent to P9.5 billion while consolidated revenues expanded 21 percent to P74.6 billion.

“The first half broadly turned out as expected as we sustained growth momentum across our key businesses,” said AC president and chief operating officer Fernando Zobel de Ayala.

“Our core businesses made great strides in growth and expansion while our international businesses continued to improve,” Zobel said.

Specifically, property giant Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) reported a net income growth of 30 percent to P5.6 billion in the first half “ as it sustained its revenue growth across all business segments and achieved stable margins during the period.”

Total revenues gained 36 percent to P36.6 billion due to the 38-percent jump in real estate revenues.

Financial service unit Bank of the Philippine Islands’ (BPI) net income increased 27 percent to P12 billion, backed by a 14-percent improvement in the bank’s total revenues, which grew at a faster pace that the six-percent increase in operating expenses.

Globe Telecom, for its part, said its consolidated service revenues gained nine percent to P44.5 billion “driven by its mobile business which accounted for 80 percent of revenues.”

East Zone concessionaire Manila Water Co. Inc.’s earnings rose 11 percent to P2.9 billion on higher billed volume and expanded service connections.

Integrated Micro-Electronics Inc.’s revenues improved eight percent to $350.5 million due to better performance of its operations in Europe, Mexico and the Philippines that offset the slowdown in China.

AC’s BPO unit LiveIt recorded a 15-percent improvement in its revenue share to $190 million.

“With its strong balance sheet and cash position, AC remains on track with its investment plan to scale up its power assets and participate in the government’s transport infrastructure-related Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects,” AC said.

AC Energy Holdings Inc. recently entered into partnerships for an 81-megawatt (MW) wind farm in Ilocos Norte and a 405-MW thermal power plant in Kauswagan, Lanao del Norte.

AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp. is working with various partners to bid for infrastructure like the Light Rail Transit 1 extension, the automatic fare collection system projects, and the Mactan Cebu International Airport.

“We are confident this strong performance will carry on this year. The encouraging macroeconomic conditions continue to present opportunities for further investment and we will continue to take advantage of these moving forward,” Zobel said.