Ayala earnings rise 20% to P22.3 B in 2015

MANILA, Philippines - Ayala Corp., the country’s oldest conglomerate, reported a 20 percent increase in net income last year, to P22.3 billion on the back of the strong performance of its real estate and telecommunications business as well as contributions from its power unit.

“We achieved a number of milestones as a group in the past year, with most of our major businesses continuing to perform well,” Ayala Corp. president and chief operating officer Fernando Zobel de Ayala said.

 The company strengthened its growing portfolio of power and infrastructure investments, with various projects coming to fruition, he added.

 Apart from this, the conglomerate increased its investments in social infrastructure with its entry into the healthcare space.

To ensure continued growth, Ayala Corp. has earmarked P174 billion for total capital expenditures primarily to support the growth strategy of its real estate and telecom units.  About 22.4 billion will go to the group’s pipeline of power generation projects.

 Real estate arm Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) sustained the performance of its residential and office developments and commercial leasing segments last year, bringing its net income to P17.6 billion or an increase of 19 percent year on year.

Globe Telecom posted another record year, with net income rising 23 percent to 16.5 billion, buoyed by higher revenues from data services across mobile, broadband, and fixed line segments.

Its banking arm, Bank of the Philippine Islands reported net earnings of P18.2 billion in 2015, slightly higher than the year earlier.  Revenues went up 6.4 percent to 59.4 billion driven by higher net interest income.

Manila Water posted a two percent growth in consolidated net income to P6 billion as revenues rose four percent to P16.9 billion.

 Integrated Micro-Electronics Inc. (IMI) reported a flat net income of $28.8 million (or 1.3 billion) owing to the volatility in the foreign currency markets and weakness in China’s economy.

AC Energy Holdings, meanwhile, recorded a net income of 2.1 billion during the year as its power generation assets came online and achieved more efficient operating levels.  It also realized gains from the partial sale of its stake in North Luzon Renewable Energy Corp., an 81-megawatt wind farm in Ilocos Norte.

 Excluding capital gains primarily from the partial sale of AC Energy’s stake in North Luzon Renewable Energy Corp. in 2015 and from the divestment of Stream Global Services in the previous year, Ayala Corp.’s net earnings actually grew 24 percent year-on-year.

 At present, AC Energy has an attributable capacity of 600 MW in its portfolio of conventional and renewable power projects currently in operations and under construction.

In transport infrastructure, AC Infrastructure Holdings successfully took over the operations of the LRT1 last September and has since increased the number of operational light rail vehicles (LRVs) by about 15 percent.

 Its automated fare collection system under AF Payment Inc. now has over 1.5 million Beep cards in circulation today.

Meanwhile, AC Infra’s Muntinlupa Cavite Expressway (MCX) started operations last July and is currently serving over 22,000 vehicles per day, helping motorists save over 30 minutes in travel time.