Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. (AEV) is spending more than P70 billion this year as capital expenditures to fuel growth despite a slowdown in the economy.
Jose Emmanuel Hilado, AEV chief finance officer, said the company will continue investing in current and new businesses.
AEV is expanding to industries “that offer long term growth potentials.”
“We have actually not really zeroed in on anything specific, but it could be in healthcare, consumer goods, information technology, or any industry that could provide us opportunities for long term growth,” Hilado said.
He said the group “expects a slowdown (in the economy) as a result of higher interest rates and inflationary pressures” this year, a spillover from the challenges felt last year.
“But we don’t expect a recession similar to other countries in the developed economies that they’re expecting a recession for the latter part of the year,” he said, noting the conglomerate still sees the economy growing between 5.6 and 6 percent this year, slower than the 7 percent recorded last year.
“Some sectors have really slowed down, like the real estate sector …because of higher interest rates. And as a result, the slower construction activity and lower demand for cement consumption,” he said.
Hilado, however, said the company is positioning ahead of the expected recovery, particularly of spending, “as inflation trends lower and interest rates stabilize.”
“We think there are still a lot of investment opportunities in the country. And we will continue to invest in almost all of our current businesses. So we have allocated about P70 billion plus for capex this year,” he said.
“Our infra SBU (strategic business unit) Aboitiz InfraCapital is allocating about P30 billion plus for continuing expansion this year. The same with the power group, P30 billion plus, and for the AEV parent company outside of our SBUs where we are still on the lookout for new investments,” he added.
