Business

By Riza Lozada The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved bourse trading in US dollars or the so-called US-Dollar Denominated Securities (DDS) at the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) to provide issuers an opportunity to raise capital without incurring foreign exchange risks.

By Riza Lozada Listed PAL Holdings Inc. reported a nine-month profit of P2.96 billion, lower by 54.8 percent from a year ago.

Basra Gateway Terminal (BGT), International Container Terminal Services Inc.’s (ICTSI) Iraqi unit operating at the Port of Umm Qasr, was recently conferred the “Contribution to the Development of the Regional Maritime Cluster Award” at the 2016 Seatrade Maritime Awards for the Middle East, Indian Subcontinent, and Africa.

By Riza Lozada Remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) grew 4.7 percent in the first nine months to $20 billion after $2.6 billion in money transfers were recorded in September.

Three new directors were named to the board of the state-owned Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP). They are Luis Bonguyan, Emmanuel Galicia Jr., and Rolando Metin vice Daniel Laogan, Reynaldo Geronimo, and Cecilio Lorenzo.

Financing firm First Circle is targeting to more than double its small and medium enterprises (SME) client portfolio by 2017 through the use of technology that provides easy access to collateral-free loans.

East West Banking Corp. (EastWest) reported a net profit of P2.33 billion for the first nine months which was 78 percent higher from a year ago with net interest income delivering a 24 percent growth in the period to P11.21 billion.

By Riza Lozada A Brown Company Inc. (ABC), with its consortium partners, has entered into a cooperation agreement with MTD Philippines, a subsidiary of infrastructure conglomerate AlloyMTD of Malaysia, for the development of the Philippine National Railways (PNR) East-West Rail Project.

The Philippine Stock Exchange Inc. (PSE) recently recognizing listed com­panies and trading participants that adhere to the highest corporate gover­nance standards through the 5th PSE Bell Awards.

Ayala Corp. (AC) posted an 11 percent increase in net income to 19.6 billion for the first nine months buoyed by the strong equity earnings from Ayala’s business units which amounted to 23.6 bil­lion, which was 10 percent higher than a year ago.