Ayala Corp income jumps 69% in Q4

MANILA, Philippines — Ayala Corp., the country’s oldest conglomerate,  posted a 69 percent growth in net income to P5.8 billion in the fourth quarter.

Core net income was up 46 percent quarter-on-quarter to P6.8 billion.

Full year results, however, were still down as the company felt the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ayala’s reported net income decreased by 51 percent to P17.1 billion while core net income was down 16 percent to P26 billion.

Ayala president and COO Fernando Zobel de Ayala said the company’s sequential growth in the fourth quarter reflects a recovery in consumer confidence that started to show in the latter part of 2020.

“We expect this trajectory to continue and lead to a full economic revival by 2022 as mobility further improves and as the country executes on the vaccination rollout as planned,” Zobel said.

For 2021, the Ayala Group will continue to execute on its growth strategy and has allocated P196 billion in capital spending to fund its growth recovery efforts.

“A continued push for private sector investments would help revitalize the economy,” Zobel said.

Ayala’s core businesses include property through Ayala Land,  banking (BPI), telecoms (Globe Telecom), industrial through (AC Industrials),  power (AC Energy) and water (Manila Water Co.).

Ayala Land endured the severe impact of COVID-19. It  recorded a 74 percent drop in net income to P8.7 billion.

BPI’s net income declined by 26 percent to P21.4 billion on the back of P28 billion in loan loss provisions it booked in anticipation of an increase in NPL levels.

The provision was five times higher than the P5.6 billion allocated in the same period the previous year.

Likewise, Globe’s net income contracted by 16 percent to P18.6 billion due to a moderate decline in gross service revenues, higher depreciation expenses from its continued network investments, and higher non-operating expenses.

AC Energy recorded a net income of P6.2 billion, a decline from its year-ago level of P24.5 billion, which included gains from the partial divestment of its thermal assets.

AC Industrials still posted a net loss but this narrowed to P1.8 billion mainly due to improved results of MI and MT Group as well as lower parent impairment provisions.

Manila Water’s net income decreased by 18 percent to P4.5 billion due to a one-off recognition for additional estimates for probable losses and lower contributions from domestic subsidiaries due to the impact of COVID-19.