Business

Union Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank) is focusing on its core lending business to drive profit, which, in the first four months, grew by 28.1 percent. 

State gaming firm Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) once again made a mark in the field of business communication when its noble projects won prizes at the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards in Australia and the Philippine Quill Awards of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC).

By Riza Lozada Property-based Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) and the Ty family’s GT Capital Holdings Inc (GT Capital) entered into an investment deal worth P22 billion that will raise GT Capital’s stake in MPIC. 

Communications giant Globe Telecom is investing close to $500 million (P23.5 billion) over five years beginning 2016 to expand its corporate data network to meet the ever-increasing bandwidth requirements of corporate and enterprise clients.

The Lucio Tan group’s Asia Brewery Inc., producer of the famous Tanduay rum since 1937, signed a joint venture agreement with famous Dutch brewer Heineken International B.V. for the local production and distribution of the premium beer and cider drinks under the famous Heineken brand for a still-undisclosed amount.

Effective this school year, at least 3,200 public elementary pupils from Pandacan in Manila and San Pascual municipality in Batangas will enjoy learning from well-trained teachers in world-class computer laboratories. 

Business confidence is up, based on the quarterly Business Expectation Survey (BES) of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

By Riza Lozada The Philippine Stock Exchange Inc. (PSE) reported a net income of P164.73 million in the first quarter of 2016, down by 13.9 percent from a year ago, due mainly to lower trading-related income and service fees as the stock market registered lower total value turnover during the quarter. 

Listed Phoenix Semiconductor Philippines Corp. (PSPC) has signed with Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (Samsung) and SFA Semicon Co., Ltd (SSK), formerly known as STS Semiconductor Telecommunications Co., Ltd., (STS) a master agreement for the production of memory chips for Samsung of South Korea.

Diversified engineering company Megawide Construction Corp. (Megawide) increased its first-quarter net income by 55 percent driven mainly by its core construction business.