Ayala profit up 28%
Ayala Corp. said it grew its profit in the first quarter of the year by 28 percent to P13 billion from P10.16 billion.
Core profit hit P11.8 billion, up 26 percent.
The conglomerate said a “continued strong performances” from core businesses – Bank of the Philippine Islands, Ayala Land Inc., Globe Telecom and ACEN Corp. – led the growth.
“Including one-off items, BPI’s net income expanded 26 percent to P15.3 billion as strong revenue growth offset higher operating expenses and provisions. This was a new record quarterly profit for the bank,” Ayala said.
Ayala Land delivered “significant earnings growth” underpinned by healthy property demand and resilient consumer activity, leading to a profit jump of 39 percent to P6.3 billion.
Ayala said ACEN posted a 49 percent increase in attributable renewable energy output to 1,580 gigawatt hours and a strengthened net selling position in the wholesale electricity spot market, leading the company to grow profit by 34 percent to P2.7billion.
AC Energy & Infrastructure (ACEIC), the parent company of ACEN, saw its core earnings grow 34 percent to P3.1 billion on ACEN’s higher contributions, as well as higher net financing income and forex gains.
Globe Telecom profit declined 7 percent to P6.8 billion mainly due to higher depreciation expenses and non-operating charges, which includes the tower sale. Core profit was up 13 percent to P5.8 billion on the back of a 3 percent growth in gross service revenues to P41.1 billion and 4 percent growth in earnings before interest taxes depreciation and amortization to P21.4 billion, an all-time high.
AC Health’s revenues up 14 percent to P2.2 billion.
AC Industrials narrowed its loss to P931 million from P980 million last year.
Of the total losses, P670 million came from an impairment provision for Via Optronics.
“Excluding provisions, normalized losses were at P243 million from P270 million,” it said.
Bloomberry nets P2.6B
Bloomberry Resort Corp. said profit for the first quarter of the year dipped 11 percent to P2.6 billion from P3 billion.
Revenues declined 3 percent to P12.5 billion from P12.9 billion last year.
Net gaming revenue was at P10.3 billion, down 5 percent.
Bloomberry said Solaire Resort Entertainment City posted a gross gaming revenue (GGR) of P14.8 billion, down 8 percent from P16 billion.
Solaire’s VIP and mass tables GGR stood at P4.3 billion and P4.6 billion, down 33 percent and 6 percent, respectively.
The domestic-focused electronic gaming machine (EGM) segment posted a 24 percent increase in GGR to P5.9 billion. EGM also posted a 17 percent increase in coin-in.
The company’s Korea operation under Jeju Sun Hotel & Casino posted a GGR of P15.6 million, up 120 percent from P1.2 million in the previous quarter.
Non-gaming revenue was at P2.2 billion, up 4 percent from P2.1 billion last year.
Jollibee sales rise 11%
Jollibee Foods Corp. said profit in the first quarter of the year grew 26.9 percent to P2.62 billion from P2.06 billion.
Revenue grew 11.3 percent to P61.3 billion from P55.09 billion, over a system-wide sales (SWS) of P86.8 billion, up 10.4 percent from P78.6 billion.
Same store sales growth (SSSG) was at 5.5 percent, while
SSSG in the Philippine business increased 6.9 percent while the international business grew 3.2 percent led by Europe, Middle East, Asia and Australia (up 14.7 percent) and by brands Milksha (up 8.7 percent), Jollibee North America (up 12.3 percent), and Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf CBTL ( up 2 percent).
Operating profit grew 13.7 percent to P4.1 billion.
Richard Shin, Jollibee Group chief financial officer, said the company is “kicking off the year in a position of strength with the first quarter off to a good start.”
Shin said the group is slightly ahead of its guided growth rates.
Globe earns P6.8B
Globe Telecom Inc. reported a 7 percent decline in net income for the first quarter of the year to P6.8 billion from P7.3 billion in the same period last year, mainly attributed to higher depreciation expenses and non-operating charges.
While its home broadband and non-telco businesses declined, Globe said consolidated service revenues grew by 3 percent to P41.1 billion in the first quarter versus the same period last year, driven by the growth in mobile and corporate data businesses which accounted for 83 percent of its revenues.
Globe’s mobile business recorded P29.1 billion in revenues as of end-March 2024, up 8 percent from last year’s P27.1 billion. The company said this is due to its effective market repair efforts, as customers continue to choose Globe for its differentiated network quality and service.
Corporate data revenues increased by 10 percent year-on-year to approximately P5 billion, primarily driven by the growth of core data services by 12 percent and information and communication technology services by 7 percent, the company added.
Globe reported a 4 percent increase in consolidated earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) at P21.4 billion.
“Our financial performance for the first quarter exceeded expectations, with an impressive 52 percent EBITDA margin, indicating a positive start of the year and building momentum going into the coming quarters,” said Ernest Cu, Globe president and chief executive officer.
LT Group flat in Q1
LT Group Inc. (LTG) reported its profit in the first quarter was flat at P6.42 billion compared to last year’s P6.38 billion.
Philippine National Bank (PNB) contributed P2.97 billion or 46 percent of total. The tobacco business added P2.65 billion or 41 percent. Tanduay Distillers Inc. added P254 million or 4 percent. Asia Brewery Inc., Eton Properties Inc. and Victorias Milling Comp. accounted for 2 percent each, at P155 million, P116 million and P100 million, respectively.
Other Income was P168 million of total or 3 percent, LTG said.
The group said as of end-March, debt-to-equity ratio was at 3.29:1 with the bank business and at 0.11:1 without the bank business.
Cash is at P1.89 billion.
Nickel Asia profit drops
Nickel Asia Corp. (NAC) suffered a 79-percent drop in profit in the first quarter to P202 million from P970 million last year.
The company said revenues from ore sales for the period declined 41 percent to P2.09 billion from P3.55 billion last year due to lower ore prices resulting from the oversupply situation faced by the nickel industry.
NAC said t its operating mines sold a combined 2.61 million wet metric tons (WMT) of nickel ore during the period which is 9 percent higher than last year’s 2.39 million WMT.
The mining firm added weighted average nickel ore sales price during the period decreased by 48 percent to $13.84 per WMT against $26.80 per WMT in the same period last year.
NAC added it also recognized losses from its combined equity share in investments in its two high-pressure acid leach plants in the amount of P193.90 million against a P252.12 million income in the prior year.
Manila Water income up 36%
Manila Water Co. Inc. booked a 36 percent jump in its net income for the first quarter of the year at P3.12 billion compared to the P2.29 billion in 2023.
The company said t sustained recovery of customer demand and implementation of tariff adjustments in both its East Zone Concession and several of its Non-East Zone Philippines (NEZ PH) businesses led revenues to grow by 19 percent to P8.82 billion from P7.38 billion.
Manila Water said capital expenditure reached P4.6 billion as of the first quarter with the East Zone Concession accounting for 82 percent of total for the period.
“We see the successful implementation of our approved tariff adjustments in the East Zone and several of our operations in the country as a clear sign of stability and recovery for our sector. These developments enable us to execute our projects aimed at improving service quality, providing reliable water supply, and expanding our network coverage to more communities,” said Jocot de Dios, Manila Water chief executive officer.
Converge revenues grow 10%
In the first quarter of the year, Converge reported a net income after tax of P2.6 billion, up 17 percent from the P2.2 billion reported in the same period last year.
Consolidated revenues grew by 10 percent in the first quarter to P9.5 billion from P8.6 billion a year ago, driven by the sustained growth of its residential and enterprise businesses.
Converge said its residential business grew to P8.2 billion during the period. FiberX registered gross additions above the quarterly 2023 gross additions. With churn rates significantly reduced, net additions reached 54,615, the highest since the first quarter of 2022, the company added.
Its consolidated subscriber base reached 2.25 million, with total net additions of 124,793 across all brands.
In the first quarter of the year, enterprise revenue grew by 10.5 percent year-on-year to P1.4 billion from P1.2 billion in the same period last year.
Small and medium enterprises continued to be the fastest growing subsegment with 31 percent revenue growth, Converge said.
Converge posted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of P5.8 billion in the first quarter, 12.8 percent up from P5.2 billion a year ago. Consolidated EBITDA margin improved to 61 percent in the first quarter versus 59.9 percent in the same period last year.
Converge said it spent P3 billion for capex three months into the year.
