051107: 3 conglomerates report hefty Q1 profit growths

May 11, 2007
Updated 03:09:09 (Mla time)

Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines -- Three major conglomerates reported hefty earnings growth in the first quarter, driven mainly by investments in banking, property and utilities.

Ayala Corp. reported an 80-percent jump in net income to P5.6 billion with strong operating results of major business units and capital gains from share sales.

The Ayala group’s Bank of the Philippine Islands reported a first-quarter profit growth of 28 percent, with revenues up 26 percent, driven by non-interest income from foreign exchange and securities trading. The bank’s net interest income rose 11 percent.

Property arm Ayala Land Inc. posted a 10-percent rise in net income to P1.3 billion, boosted by gains from the sale of Oakwood Premiere to the Ascott Group and brisk sales from residential projects.

Ayala Corp. president and chief operating officer Fernando Zobel de Ayala said the group was allotting P47 billion for capital expenditures this year, compared with P42 billion in 2006.

Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC), a unit of Hong Kong-based conglomerate First Pacific Co. Ltd., said its net income jumped 129 percent to P110.8 million in the first quarter from P48.4 million in the same period last year, mainly with contributions from water concessionaire Maynilad Water Services Inc. and improved performance of real estate arm Landco Pacific Corp.

MPIC revenues surged 308 percent to P1.13 billion from P277.7 million in the first quarter of last year.

DMCI-MPIC Water Co., a joint venture of MPIC and DMCI Holdings Corp. that runs Maynilad, recorded a net income of P440 million and contributed P136.3 million to MPIC’s first-quarter profit.

Landco contributed P12 million to the MPIC profit, compared with P2.6 million in the first quarter of 2006. The increase was attributed to strong sales generated by leisure and resort projects.

Landco sales rose 17 percent year-on-year to P222.1 million from P189.7 million.

MPIC chairman Manuel Pangilinan said the conglomerate would focus on infrastructure and delivery of healthcare services through its investments in hospitals. He said consolidation of Medical Doctors Inc., which runs the Makati Medical Center, into the MPIC portfolio in the second half of the year could help sustain MPIC’s profit performance this year.

Pangilinan said he expected MPIC recurring net income this year to reach about P450 million.

Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc., the holding company of the Aboitiz group, ended the first quarter with a 68-percent jump in net income to P1.08 billion, with banking units delivering the highest results.

The AEV banking group, which includes Union Bank of the Philippines, contributed P599 million to the profit, up 75 percent from the first quarter of 2006.

Union Bank reported a first-quarter net income of P1.63 billion, more than double the P790 million recorded a year earlier.

AEV also has interests in food manufacturing, shipping and power generation and distribution.

SM Investments Corp., of the mall tycoon Henry Sy, reported a 14-percent rise in first-quarter net income to P3.3 billion. Consolidated revenue expanded 108.6 percent to P25.9 billion, largely on expansion of department stores and malls last year and integration of 28 supermarkets and nine hypermarkets into SM’s retail sector in June 2006.

Real estate operations’ income contribution rose to 12 percent of SM Investments income from four percent in the first quarter of last year. Elizabeth Sanchez-Lacson, with INQUIRER.net

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