JG Summit profit up 52% to P22.5 billion

MANILA, Philippines — JG Summit, the listed conglomerate of the Gokongwei family, grew its net income to P22.5 billion in the  first nine months, marking a strong recovery of 52 percent from last year.

It is also 16 percent ahead of 2018’s full year earnings of P19.2 billion.

Revenue reached P239.6 billion in January to September, up 10 percent, while third quarter revenue was also up 12 percent at P81.2 billion.

In its report, JG Summit said third quarter revenue rose because of Robinsons Land Corp’s incremental revenue from the completion of its China phase 1 project, coupled with solid performances across most divisions; Cebu Pacific’s robust passenger volumes, as well as higher average fares and ancilliary revenues and Robinsons Bank’s net interest margin expansion and trading gains.

“We are happy to report another solid quarter and the business continue to post strong topline and profit growth for the year. Growth was mainly driven by our core businesses in food, real-estate and airlines, while challenges still remain in some of our business units like petrochemicals. Overall, the diversity of our portfolio including our minority investments has resulted in the group’s increase in earnings,” said JG Summit president and  chief executive officer Lance Gokongwei.

Universal Robina Corp. said its net income grew to P7.1 billion, while third quarter earnings declined five percent to P1.9 billion.

Robinsons Land Corp.’s net earnings for the quarter grew three percent to P3.3 billion, due to relatively lower margins from the China business, higher depreciation expenses mainly from the newly opened hotels and higher interest expenses.

Nine-month net income amounted to P7.3 billion, up 12 percent.

Cebu Air posted a third quarter net loss of P317 million although narrower than last year’s P520 million because of forex losses and mark-to-market losses.

Nevertheless, year-to-date net income more than doubled last year’s to P7 billion.

JG Petrochemical, on the other hand, registered a 33 percent decline in revenue to P7.5 billion in the third quarter.

Robinsons Bank Corp., meanwhile,  ended the period with  a 65 percent jump in nine-month income to P484 million.