AEV earmarks P48 billion capex for 2021

CEBU, Philippines —  The Aboitiz Equity Ventures (AEV) announced a total of P48 billion capital expenditure for 2021, as the company marches the road to recovery.

“COVID-19 may have affected our short-term plans, but we remain committed to our businesses and to the same growth pathway and trajectoty” AEV president and chief executice officer (CEO) Sabin M. Aboitiz told stakeholders during the virtual annual stakeholders meeting held Monday afternoon, April 26, 2021.

Of the P48 billion, the group is poised to spend P23 billion to fund its power business for the completion of GNPower Dinginin as well as the battery energy storage projects.

Its infrastructure unit,  Aboitiz InfraCapital’s will spend P13 billion for its water businesses with the remaining P2 billion to be earmarked for Republic Cement’s projects.

The food arm is spending about P4 billion for the expansion of its feedmill business.

AboitizLand will incur P3.1 billion mostly for landbanking and completion of its residential projects

UnionBank allotted more than P2 billion in capex for continued enhancements on digital touch points, as well as constructing an innovation hub to support customer needs during the current health crisis.

“At the onset of the COVID crisis, we embarked on an aggressive program to manage our cash flows, which included a group capex budget cut of about a third, opex budget revisions, and proactive customer and supplier management. So far, our business continuity plans are proving to be effective and our balance sheets are exhibiting resilience,” he added.

For 2021, Aboitiz will once again adopt a prudent approach to its balance sheet as it marches on the road to recovery. To that effect, the Group’s board of directors announced the following during the meeting:

The chief executive pointedly credited the resilience of the business to the innovation and dedication demonstrated by its team members. Upon the onset of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) last March 2020, the Group implemented work-from-home setups and stay-in shifts for team members working on location at critical infrastructures.

“All throughout, our priority was to ensure the wellbeing of our team members and that our strategic business units continued to operate at optimal levels, especially as our stakeholders relied on the essential services we provide,” he noted.

“As we have for the last one hundred years, all our decisions and actions will continue to be guided by our time-honored values of integrity, teamwork, innovation, and responsibility. We will continue to actively participate in nation building and grow alongside the Philippine economy as we drive change for a better world by advancing business and communities,” Aboitiz said.