JG Summit incurs P689 million core loss

MANILA, Philippines — Gokongwei-owned conglomerate JG Summit Holdings Inc. incurred  a core net loss of P689 million in the first quarter of the year, a reversal of the P232 million  core net income reported in the same period in 2021.

Coupled with peso depreciation and mark-to-market losses, JG Summit ended the quarter with an even bigger net loss of P2.8 billion.

However,  revenue was up seven percent year-on-year as mobility restrictions eased. Top-line growth was also evident across all subsidiaries, except for Robinsons Land Corp. (RLC), whose strong recovery is masked by a high base that was boosted by revenues from its Chengdu Ban Bian Jie project  last year.

JG Summit president and CEO Lance Gokongwei said while there were improvements in revenue, market volatility and rising oil prices had cut  profits.

“For the first quarter of this year, we have seen that the reopening of the economy has positively impacted most of our subsidiaries, with our overall revenues exhibiting quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year improvements. However, market volatility with the increasing prices of oil and key input costs, coupled with peso depreciation have affected our profitability and we expect these to linger and put pressure on our margins,” he said.

To mitigate the still lingering risks, JG Summit is proactively managing pricing and  product mix, and at the same time, implementing productivity initiatives and cost management measures, Gokongwei said.

As of March this year, consolidated gearing and net debt-to-equity ratios stood at 0.70 and 0.53, respectively. At the parent level, cash amounted to P23.7 billion while net debt stood at P74.3 billion,  which shall be further reduced as JGS expects to receive cash dividends of P11 billion from its investments in the second quarter.