JG Summit hikes income to P20.7B

By Riza Lozada

JG Summit Holdings Inc. of magnate John Gokongwei posted a core net profit excluding non-recurring items of P20.69 billion for three quarters ending September, a 39.2 percent increase from P14.86 billion a year ago.

The main drivers of growth were Cebu Air Inc. (CEB) and JG Petrochemicals Corp (JGPC), the company said in a report.

Net income from equity holders of the parent registered P16.11 billion for the nine-month period increasing measly by 2.6 percent due to higher losses on foreign exchanges.

JG Summit reported consolidated earnings before income tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of P47.2 billion reflecting an improvement of 31.8 percent from a year ago.

Consolidated revenues reached P169.78 billion from P133.24 billion.

Despite hedging losses on fuels amounting to total of P1.56 billion during the first three quarters, CEB’s net income increased by 71 percent to P3.56 billion from P2.08 billion. Gross revenues reached P42.26 billion from P38.48 billion with the passenger traffic providing the bulk share with P32.13 billion from P29.13 billion.

CEB also reported incurring foreign exchange losses of P1.7 billion during the period as a result of a weaker peso against the US dollar.

JG Summit relied on US dollar denominated long-term loans for its acquisition of aircraft.

JG Petrochemicals Group turned around from posting a loss of P416 million in the nine-month period last year to a P1.3 billion profit this year attributed mainly to the start of operations last November 2014 of the JG Petrochemicals Corp (JGPC) and JG Olefins Corporation (JGOC) with combined revenues of P19.44 billion from P1.02 billion last year.

JG Summit said “revenues from our core investments, however, declined this period as dividend income received by the group dropped 15.4 percent from P3.3 billion last year to P2.82 billion this year mainly due to the lower dividend income declared by PLDT (Philippine Long Distance Telephone Corp.) for the period.”

As of September 30, the group’s balance sheet remained healthy with consolidated assets worth P577.7 billion from P558.8 billion as of December 30, 2014.

Universal Robina Corp (URC) posted a P9.46 billion profit or an 8.7 percent improvement from its level a year-ago.

The strong growth of its consumer products and services, both in the domestic and international markets, recorded consolidated sales revenues of P82.04 billion during the period reflecting an increase of 17.8 percent.

Robinson Land Corp’s (RLC) profit increased by 23.8 percent to P4.8 billion for the given period.

Total revenues reached P14.60 billion from P12.65 billion with the improvement in sales owing to the addition of seven new malls as well as of a number of new offices and hotels.

Robinsons Bank Corp generated revenue of P2.9 billion for the nine-month period from P1.99 billion last year with the increase attributed due to the higher interest income, commission income and trading gain.

Impairment loss increased from P86.88 million to P144.13 million. This contributed to the lower than expected net earnings of P126.35 million for the period from P175.39 million last year.

Equity in net earnings of associated companies and joint ventures amounted to P6.03 billion, a 4.8 percent increase from last year’s P5.76 billion.

The equity earnings from the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) increased 8.7 percent from P3.88 billion to P4.21 billion.

Equity income from URC increased 9.9 percent from P1.77 billion to P1.94 billion, the disclosure reported.