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The Gokongwei Group’s flagship JG Summit Holdings Inc., one of the largest and most diversified Philippine conglomerates, reported that its core net income tripled to P19.6 billion last year from P6.2 billion in 2022.
“This robust performance came from the significant turnaround in the company’s airline, along with expanding margins in its property and food businesses and tapering losses from its petrochemical unit,” the firm said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE).
It noted that these numbers were delivered on the back of a 14 percent increase in total revenues to P343.8 billion, owing to the first full year of unrestricted travel demand coupled with the broad-based growth in its real estate unit and the steady improvement in its food and petrochemical sales.
Despite the absence of the P3.2 billion gain on sale of Meralco shares that was recognized in 2022, JG Summit’s consolidated core net income surged 218 percent year-on-year (YoY) as the strong topline was boosted by better operating margins across all its subsidiaries.
Incorporating more favorable foreign exchange (FX) and mark-to-market adjustments, net income leapt to P20.2 billion, 30 times the P0.7 billion reported in the same period last year (SPLY).
“In 2023, we saw our airline and property businesses benefiting from fully lifted mobility restrictions while we carefully navigated the tough inflationary environment that affected demand and margins, especially for our food business,” said JG Summit President and CEO Lance Y. Gokongwei.
Cebu Air reclaimed its first full-year profitability since the pandemic. Its revenues grew 60 percent YoY to P90.6 billion, as it served over 20.8 million passengers and increased flights by 30 percent YoY.
Coupled with more efficient operations and lower fuel costs, this lifted net income in 2023 to P7.9 billion from a P14 billion loss in 2022.
He admitted that its petrochemical unit still suffered from weaker overall demand but, “We are encouraged by the internal progress of our transformation program that ensures it remains competitive when the cycle turns.”
Moving forward, the company looks to easing inflation and the potential rate cuts would bode well for consumer demand and lower input prices. “We hope to recover lost volume and market shares in our food business, sustain portfolio expansion in our real estate arm, increase capacity and short-haul recovery for our airline, and crystallize the financial gains from our petrochemical transformation program. These would allow us to bring our core profits closer to its pre-pandemic record levels within the next 12 months,” Gokongwei noted.
Universal Robina Corporation’s total revenues grew six percent YoY to P158.4 billion, primarily from the volume and value expansion of its Agro-Industrial division, together with the post-price correction recovery it saw in its international business, and the growth in most of its domestic categories that helped offset the challenged segments.
Meanwhile, key pricing moves, favorable product mix, and significant operating savings boosted margins, resulting in core net income improving by five percent YoY to P12 billion.
Robinsons Land Corporation posted a 24 percent growth in net income to P12.1 billion as its Malls and Hotels enjoyed increased mobility and consumer spending, as well as its Residential business that showed faster construction progress and its joint ventures that had higher contributions.
JG Summit Olefins Corporation (JGSOC) resumed operations in June 2023 and sales volumes began to ameliorate to close the year with a 19 percent growth YoY and led revenues to steadily expand by six percent to P38 billion amid lower petrochemical selling prices.
This, along with better margins from its new downstream products, helped JGSOC narrow losses to P12.9 billion.
The group’s share in Manila Electric Co.’s (MER) 2023 earnings jumped 26 percent YoY to P9.8 billion while its equity income from Singapore Land Group (SLG) fell to P2.5 billion from P3 billion SPLY due to the decrease in the contribution from its residential projects as most were substantially sold off by end-2022.
The company posted lower dividends from PLDT Inc. totaling to P2.6 billion as the telecommunications company halved its special dividends from tower sales to P14 per share. Nonetheless, its regular dividends increased by P5 to P94 per share. — James A. Loyola
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Credit belongs to: www.mb.com.ph
