AGI profit nearly flat at P5.4 billion

MANILA, Philippines — Tycoon Andrew Tan’s holding company Alliance Global Group Inc. (AGI) posted flat profit growth in the first quarter due to higher interest charges and unrealized forex losses.

AGI said consolidated net income improved one percent year-on-year to P5.4 billion in the first quarter, while net income to owners dropped two percent to P3.5 billion.

All of the group’s major subsidiaries, however, delivered improved topline performance led by real estate arm Megaworld Corp., liquor subsidiary Emperador Inc. and quick-service restaurants business McDonald’s under Golden Arches Development Corp. (GADC).

AGI said even its gaming and leisure operations under Travellers International Hotel Group Inc. sustained its quarterly recovery in gaming revenues.

As a result, AGI registered consolidated revenues of P35.3 billion in the first quarter, up five percent from its year ago level of P33.7 billion.

“Our operating performance in the first quarter 2018 remained stable, attributed to the hefty investments we continue to pour into our various businesses as part of our long-term growth strategy,” AGI president Kingson Sian said.

“As a group, we have spent over P360 billion over the last five years for our domestic and international expansion projects. We have an investment commitment of another P80 billion to fund our capex for this year alone,” added Sian.

Megaworld, the country’s largest developer of integrated urban townships, reported an attributable net income of P3.2 billion in the first quarter, up 11 percent year-on-year.

Emperador, the world’s largest brandy company, registered an attributable net income of P1.6 billion in the first quarter, six percent higher from P1.5 billion a year before.

GADC, which holds the exclusive franchise to operate restaurants in the Philippines under the McDonald’s brand, saw a 23 percent year-on-year growth in net income to P329 million as sales revenues expanded 12 percent to P6.6 billion.

GADC’s total store count stood at 572 throughout the country as of the end of the first quarter,

“All our businesses are also operationally geared, such that any improvement in our topline can be amplified in our bottomline. We endeavor to remain cost efficient to protect our margins despite bouts of inflationary pressures,” Sian said.